Depression therapies are very varied and diverse and actual course of therapy treatment depends upon the type of depression and severity of the illness. These treatments deal with several issues pertaining to a person’s state of mental health, previous treatment history, physical difficulties, personal and domestic issues, occupational tensions, and social behavioral problems. Therapy can also be sought to get back strongly in life after mental and personal upheavals, such as mental disorders, emotional distress, family problems, financial breakdown, marital troubles, etc.

Types of Depression Therapies

There are innumerable types and methods of therapies and treatments that are available to address mental illnesses. The following are some of the methodologies:

Talk Therapy: It is simply talking or discussing one’s problems and difficulties with either a therapist or a family member or a close friend. Talking helps a person to try and identify the things that are bothering the person. Other people will be able to think and reason out things in some other different way than the patient and this will help in finding some solutions from a different prospective of life for the patient. People with anxiety and panic disorder symptoms are found to be relieved from the symptoms using this talk therapy methodology.

Electroconvulsive (ECT) Therapy: Earlier, inECT method, patients suffering from mental disorders were used to be injected with chemicals to stimulate seizures. In modern times, these chemicals are replaced by electrical charges. These seizures cause induced brain activities that secrete many neurochemicals called neuritransmitters. These neurotransmitters are messengers between nerve cells and help in nerve communication. These seizures help in more activity in the brain and improve a person’s mood.

Light Therapy: The main and best purpose of the light therapy is to get a depressed person exposed to more amount of light energy than in normal circumstances. The gear for this light exposure consists of light source that emits full spectrum of light. Generally this therapy is done during the early part of day. The duration may last from half hour to three hours a day. throw more light The sun is the natural occurring full spectrum light source.

Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS Therapy): This simulator is similar to a pacemaker that is set under the skin of a depressed person on the left side of chest and connected to vagus nerve and is charged with mild electric power. These simulations are sent to brain, and brain cells get activated. This is used to treat chronic depression.

rTMS: Repetitive Transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) technique consists of an electromagnet coil that is placed on the scalp of a depressed person and it generates magnetic field charges. The idea is that these charges induce cerebral cortex to reduce its activity to get recurrent mood swings to subside.

Rational Emotive Therapy (REBT): Its main purpose is to release a person from irrational and illogical thought processes that lead to pessimistic tendencies. Persons with fixed notions, dogmatic rigidities, and stubborn beliefs can be treated with rational emotive therapy.

Family/Marital Therapy: Family is the basic source to provide succor to psychological and personal behavioral problems. In family therapy, a therapist will, in collaboration with a person’s family, will try and address the person’s ways of interacting with people, communication with others etc.

Psychoanalytic Therapy: The unconscious is the origin of set feelings, inspirations, and divergences. This therapy tries to get access to the unconscious. The therapist tries and analyzes situations to associate a person’s thought processes with the difficulties the person faces by resorting to free personal access methodologies and dream analyses.

Alternative Therapies

There are several alternative methodologies to treat depression. Here are some of them:

Yoga & Meditation: These are rest and relaxation techniques through simple exercises and postures. These will help in controlling stress and anxiety. Meditation is basically deep breathing technique that soothes and relaxes mind and body. Yoga and meditation help in relieving symptoms of a depressed person.

Acupuncture: It is a preventive and curative Chinese healing technique that deals with diseases and conditions. The method consists of placing solid and thin long needles into the top skin at specific points of the body that are considered as the stimulating points of the functioning of certain organs of the body.

Ayurveda: As per ayurveda, all mental and physical problems are due to imbalance and dissonance in the three doshas (maladies) such as vata, pitta, and kapha dosha. So, Ayurveda therapy is mainly concerned with removing imbalances in these three doshas and to restore original balance back in a depressed person.