Depression affects your mental health through symptoms such as a low mood, sadness, pessimism, feelings of hopelessness, irritability, thoughts of suicide, and other negative emotions. However, not only does this condition take its toll on your emotional wellbeing, it can present itself in symptoms that affect your physical wellness, including headaches, body pains, muscle weakness and fatigue. But who does it affect?
The truth is, everyone experiences bouts of mild depression that usually last no more than a few days, but when this carries on for long periods of time, you may have a more serious mood disorder that needs professional attention. This seems to be the case for more and more people, as rates of depression have significantly increased in the past 15 years.
But what causes depression? This condition is not just the result of a chemical imbalance in your brain, nor can it simply be treated with medication. According to medical experts, there is a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors that causes depression, meaning that your choices, relationships, and coping skills matter just as much, if not more so, than genetics. You’re also more vulnerable to depression if you’re experiencing career, financial or family stress, recent loss, loneliness, or chronic disease and/or pain, and your risk is also affected by a family history of depression, gender, previous history of depression, and a history of abuse or a lack of support.
So that’s depression, but how do you treat it? Counselling and pharmaceutical treatment are more conventional ways of treating the condition, but you can also relieve the burden of depression through a number of alternative and complementary therapies, including naturopathic medicine. This includes lifestyle counselling (such as advice on sleep hygiene, stress management and exercise therapy), nutritional advice, botanical medicine, acupuncture, emotional counselling and others.
However, remember that taking alternative medicines can interfere with any pharmaceutical treatments for depression that you’re taking, so consult a physician before taking any herbal supplements. You can also alleviate your depressed feelings by asking friends and family for support, exercising for 30 minutes a day, eating regular, healthy, high-protein meals and going out into the sunshine to make vitamin D. Most importantly of all, remember that depression is not something to be ashamed of, and there are treatments, people and programmes to help you through it.
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