How to Treat Depression without Medication

Introduction

As real as depression is, so many people do not realize that it is a big problem in society until they are faced with it. However, for one who is undergoing this experience of depression, the question is usually how to treat depression without medication. This is because people do not want to be identified as patients as such and most times, the mere thought of taking a load of drugs for the sake of mental health, is disturbing. People want to find out ways to handle issues of depression without recourse to official medical admission.

The purpose of this article is to help you discover ways that you can treat depression without medication. There mere mention of this topic makes you understand that it is possible to treat depression without medication. Before we go into discussing the ways in which we can treat depression without medication, it is necessary to find out if depression is something that should be treated and why it should be treated.

What is Depression

A wonderful definition of depression by the American Psychiatric Association defines depression as a common and serious illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. Depression is best seen as an emotional illness that affects a person wholly and leads to gloomy states. On another level, depression is a situation of despair where one is negative about events and situations in life. This is characterized by the emission of a negative aura and a pessimistic outlook on things.

As opposed to normal feelings of sadness and grief, depression goes further to touch on the aspects of one’s interaction with the environment over a longer period. This means that the feeling of depression goes on to influence thoughts, actions and decisions. Depression is usually characterized by feelings of worthlessness, loss of pleasure in activities, excessive thinking, suicidal thoughts and so on.

Popular Ways to Treat Depression

Given the fact that 1 out of every 15 adults undergo depression yearly, it is likely that you may be experiencing depression anytime soon. For this reason, it is necessary that you know some of the basic things that you can do on your own in order to help yourself without having to go to the doctor or any specialist. Some of the known medications for treating depression include;  

These are majorly pain killers and stress reductants that help to put a depressed person back to shape. Of course, it is not even healthy to attempt the treatment of depression merely with the use of drugs because they can be counterintuitive. Depression is more related to emotional health and focusing primarily on drugs that only affect physical health may be causing more damage to the individual.

How to Treat Depression without medication

Some simple acts can help one to come out of depression. These may be day-to-day activities that will not cost us much except some extra level of consciousness while carrying them out. Treating depression without medication majorly involves avoiding most of the triggers of depression.

Some of the ways to treat depression without medication include:

#1 Spend Time with other People or Groups:

One of the triggers of depression is loneliness. When you begin to spend so much time alone, you may gradually begin to drift away into sadness and this may eventually lead to depression. Even if you do not think that it is the cause of your depression, just try to spend some time outside your usual space. You can leave your room and engage with other people in the same house or visit a friend or join a group discussion in the neighbourhood or at school.

Spending time with other people can be highly therapeutic for a depressed person because you get amidst other people and get affected by their energy. As much as it is important to reach out, it is also important to reach out to the right person or persons. Do not visit a person you know that emits negative energy because such a person cannot help your situation. Even if you cannot visit another person physically, you can call or chat with them and let them in about your current life challenges.

#2 Avoid Stress

Stress can trigger depression and it avoiding it will also do the opposite which is to reduce depression. Depression usually surfaces as an aftereffect when one is stressed up due to tedious tasks or unfinished work. If you begin to feel symptoms of depression, it will do you so much good if you lessen the burden you have at hand. Whether they are office work, house chores or schoolwork, relieve yourself of the stress and have some free time as it can be a cause of your depression.

So many things can cause stress. Things like overthinking, over engagement, loss of a job etc can all lead to depression. It is usually best to look at yourself and weigh the activities in your life and environment that may be leading you to depression. This will go a long way to help you take control of your activities and be one step ahead of your depression and all its effects.

#3 Make out Time to Exercise:

This is one of the most underrated methods of overcoming depression without medication. It may sound cliché but exercise has so many benefits due to the changes they effect in the body. Depression is usually linked to a decrease in the secretion of certain hormones like dopamine that makes one feel good. Instead of taking drugs that will help these hormones to function properly again, it is advisable to take on some exercise routines which will eventually put the whole body system back to its normal functioning.

Exercise does not have to be a burden, it can be something you love doing. You can try out certain types of exercise that you consider fun before you finally try out the more difficult ones. Even if you feel that you are not an exercise person, you can reach out to a coach or a partner that will lead you through the entire process. The thing is that you will never know what you will get out of exercise until you try it out. It is a nice substitute for several prescriptions from doctors as it is naturally positioned to increase performance.

#4 Stay away from Gadgets:

The source of your depression can be your gadgets. It could be the television, your phone, your laptop or any other device that connects you virtually to the outside world. Sometimes when the information flowing in from these sources are toxic, they begin to affect the psyche even without your consciousness. It could be that the channels you watch or the friends that you follow are feeding you with information that is not good for your mental health.

It is wise to step back from your gadgets for a while. You may discover that you have started gaining an addiction to them or something similar. Usually, when you stay away from them for some time, you are able to discover what channels you need to follow and what friends you need to follow after evaluating their usefulness in your life. Staying away from your gadgets can be a good way of gaining a greater consciousness of the level of control your devices have over you.

#5 See a Psychotherapist or a Counsellor

So many people find it difficult to trust anyone at the time of falling into depression. The availability of such persons like the therapist or counsellor is actually an advantage because these people have certificates that confine them to operate on professional grounds. What this entails is that if you meet a psychotherapist and open up, they cannot use the information you have provided without your consent. Whatever is revealed or discovered during counselling or psychotherapy remains private and cannot be for public use except in extreme cases.

Confidentiality is a really important aspect of psychotherapy that can lead to the withdrawal of one’s license when broken. As such, whenever you find yourself falling into a depression, instead of taking medications to solve the depression, you can reach out to a psychotherapist nearby or online and request help. In as much as you feel that you know yourself too well, it is usually best to let the professionals do their job and delve into areas of your life that you may not be able to investigate and amend on your own.

Conclusion

If you have been seeking ways to overcome depression without medication, then this article must have gone a long way to elucidate what steps could be taken. Most people are stuck with the belief that once someone falls into depression, there is no way to help the person except through ‘foreign’ medications prescribed by a doctor. This is not true in any case because depression is more common than it appears in our society.

Those who are diagnosed of having depression are only a fraction of the actual number of individuals who are actually going through depression in society. As such, care should be taken when addressing such issues because it could your family member, a close friend or even you. It is important to know that you could begin with simple steps in order to take care of your depression. This also boils down to emotional intelligence.