Getting Therapy For Depression

Having weighed in on the antidepressant medication issue, here are some comments I have about getting therapy.

• There's no "magic bullet" in your past which you can uncover and then suddenly be free of depression. Only in Hollywood do people have those kinds of momentous "breakthroughs." More commonly, you will simply figure out more-and-more things over time. It will have a slow, cumulative effect on your life. Progress may seem slow and fitful at times, but eventually it all "flattens out," so that what seemed to be of no help becomes important later.

• Therapy is not just telling a therapist what you think. If that were all it was, it'd be useless. It's a give-and-take, an analytical process. You will go over things thoroughly and spend much of your time looking for ways to change your behavior and/or thinking that could have led to the depression. That is what therapy is all about--making changes.

• As much as you may dread the prospect, yes, therapy can force you to face uncomfortable things about yourself. It's not as bad as you think though, and I know of no decent therapist who will judge you because of anything you've done or that's happened to you. In the end, you'll be glad you talked about uncomfortable subjects. Believe me.

• Therapy has a stigma attached to it, just as with antidepressant medications--perhaps more so. Don't be ashamed of having to see a therapist. From what I've seen, there are lots of mentally-healthy people who'd nevertheless benefit from a little therapy, themselves!

• Both individual and group therapy have their advantages and drawbacks. Individual therapy focuses on you, but offers only one person's (that is, the therapist's) input. Group therapy offers many voices, but time is divided among patients. There may be times when one or the other is best for you. Don't assume that only one or the other will work for you. Things just aren't that cut-and-dried.

next: If You Know Someone Who's Depressed
~ back to Living with Depression homepage
~ depression library articles
~ all articles on depression