THE SCIENCE AND ART OF TREATING DEPRESSION

You think there is no way anyone understands your feelings and your struggle. You‘ve lost all your joy and hope, and you see no reason to do anything. You're most common thought might be something to the effect of "Why bother." You don't have any energy and may even see no reason to get out of bed. You feel the darkness surrounding you; it is a heavy, wet blanket, and you can't get it off you no matter how hard you try. You wonder why you even exist. You wonder if it would be better if you were dead. Sometimes, you think something like, "I wish God would just take me." Maybe you have gone so far as to wish for an accident that was someone else's fault. Unfortunately, far more often than should happen, you may even think about taking your own life.

You have lived your life trying your best to be loved and wanted. You do everything you know to do to help the people you love, and you just want them to love you, too. You feel unloveable, though. You feel as if there is some part of you that is deeply flawed, broken beyond repair, and there is no hope for you. You barely exist, getting up each day in the dark, fighting that black fog hovering over your very existence and trying to suffocate you slowly and painfully. You think you are the only one and that no one understands. You think it will never end and that there is no hope. You think you are beyond help and beyond being saved.

Depression Is As Old As Humanity

The truth is, these feelings are as old as humanity itself. You can see it in the third chapter of the first book of the Bible. Genesis 3.8-19, they heard God coming and hid themselves because they had disappointed God. Does that sound like you? You struggle and sometimes literally think, "You are a disappointment," "You let everyone down," or "You can't do anything right." The thoughts are called "negative self-talk" and create a downward spiral that leads to the deep darkness of depression. Depression entered the world for the first time when human beings chose to distance themselves and betray the trust God placed in them. You are paying the price of that original betrayal. You are not just paying that price; you are also paying the price for the ongoing betrayal of those around you. You know the phrases, "All parents mess up," "No one is perfect," and "We all make mistakes." Depression's beginnings are found in the decisions of your ancestors, and you are paying the price. The problem doesn't stop there; you've made your mistakes, too, and you have decided to distance yourself from God. You may have made the decision that God doesn't exist and have completely shut Him out of your life. Regardless, depression has been in existence from the very earliest days of humanity, and the responsibility for your healing falls on you, even though you are carrying the consequences of chronic betrayal.

You may not realize just how common these feelings are; you just know how you feel and that sharing those feelings with anyone else doesn't feel safe. Society has reached a point where teenagers group themselves according to their mental health struggles, and they embrace them with every expectation of lifelong difficulty. Mental Illness has become an identity rather than a problem to grow from and to resolve. You may be having a similar struggle, thinking this is just who I am. You may feel content to remain depressed for your entire lifetime, sadly, many do. However, you may be thinking that you don't want to live that way. You want to find joy, peace, and contentment. Happiness is a temporary and fleeting emotion that comes with the excitement of new things. However, contentment, joy, and peace are lasting states of mind that mitigate the mood fluctuations of depression and other emotional difficulties.

You may think that there is nothing that can be done for your depression, but that just is not the case. The work to make the changes necessary to mitigate your depression is not easy. Generally, you have to become so uncomfortable with your depression that the discomfort of remaining where you are is far worse than the discomfort of the work to heal. You are ready to heal. Otherwise, you wouldn't still be reading this.

The Book Of Depression

There is an entire book of the Bible that is a lament, the name of it is Lamentations. The book, believed to be written by "the weeping prophet," Jeremiah, is wrought with all of the ills of the world and the hopelessness one finds in the world. The second verse of the book describes the feeling so very well it says,

>She weeps bitterly in the night >And her tears are on her cheeks; >She has none to comfort her >Among all her lovers. >All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; >They have become her enemies.

You identify with this, the bitter weeping and the loneliness that fills the night, waking up in the morning after fitful sleep at best feeling as if you have been discarded like a meaningless piece of trash.

Even Jesus Longed For Death

Hebrews 4.15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way we are. You might want to dismiss this and think he never wanted to die. You might know the Bible well enough to filter through his forty days of temptation in the wilderness, but there is no indication he wanted to die there. You might even be able to filter through all of the events in the gospels and decide that even when he wept over Lazrus's death and felt the pain of loss, Jesus did not want to die. Go to the garden on the Mount of Olives with me, the night Jesus prayed, "not my will, but yours." That night, He prayed, but his friends didn't get it and fell asleep, he was frustrated because they couldn't even stay up and hurt with him for an hour. I know that some of you who are reading this have never read the Bible or haven't read much of it. I want to encourage you to read it and not take anyone else's word for what it says.

Jesus is quoted,  " ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' he said to them." "Stay here and keep watch." (Mark 14.34, NIV) Jesus told the disciples that he was so distraught he wanted to die. They handled his distress by falling asleep. Jesus understood the severity of his problem and the pain he would experience over the next few hours, but his disciples did not understand. Even Jesus understands the severity of your depression and that feeling of paying for everyone else's mistakes.

There are plenty of other examples of depression in the Bible, the book of Psalms is filled with the prayers of the depressed. Elijah had just won a battle against the followers of Baal, and instead of feeling victorious, he wanted to die.

The Science Behind Depression

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Five Text Revision lists the criteria for calling someone's problem depression. The list does not include a single blood test, tissue sample, or any other specific biological marker for diagnosing depression. Therapists are taught to send clients to their primary care physician for a check-up to rule out a medical or chemical such as alcohol or other drug cause for their symptoms. Once the doctor has said there is no indication of any medical condition, then depression should be diagnosed. If you have ever gone to your primary care provider and discussed symptoms of depression, you may note that many times, there is no testing, just a conversation, and then medication is offered.

The diagnostic criteria include a depressed mood most of the day lasting more than two weeks, a lack of interest or enjoyment in things one used to enjoy, weight gain or weight loss when you are not trying, difficulty with sleep, whether insomnia or sleeping too much (hypersomnia), noticeable changes in physical movements whether agitated or slowed (retarded), fatigue or loss of energy every day or nearly everyday, feeling worthless or excessive feelings of guilt, difficulty with concentration or indecisiveness, recurrent thoughts of death different from fear of death and even thoughts of suicide. You only have to experience five of the above symptoms to be diagnosed with depression. There are questions to determine the severity and to rule out other problems, but the determining factors for diagnosing depression are very subjective and only have to " cause clinically significant impairment or distress in social or occupational functioning." (DSM 5 TR, 3/2022, p 34)

Treating Depression

Often, doctors and therapists will ask you to complete a screening tool and use the results of that tool to help decide if you should be diagnosed with depression. Once the provider has enough information and the diagnosis is made, treatment can begin. Typically, a provider with the ability to prescribe medication will begin fishing for the correct medication for you. They will prescribe the medication they believe best treats the symptoms you are experiencing. Then, after a few weeks, they will check in, see if you are having side effects, and increase the dose or offer another medication. This is the beginning of the art of treating depression. Many people, maybe even you, start to complain that they "feel like a guinea pig." You begin the never-ending cycle of trying to find the right medication for you and take it until it doesn't work anymore. Once it stops working, the search for a new medication will begin, and you are trapped in a lifelong cycle of taking medication riddled with side effects and often physical dependence. There is a time and a place for this, and you may need it. Hopefully, you want to take as little as possible.

Psychotherapists are also available to you, and you can find a therapist to talk with, often, they take insurance and will embark on a journey to help you figure out the source of the depression and work with you to help you become happy again. You will process emotions and learn triggers, warning signs, and symptoms. You will learn coping skills and self-care, and you will work hard to overcome the depression you feel. Psychotherapists rely on what are called evidence-based theories. The psychotherapist will take these theories and use specific techniques to help apply them to you and your situation. The irony is the most effective treatment psychotherapists use is their relationship with you. That's right, the most important deciding factor in your improvement is your relationship with the psychotherapist and not the techniques or theories used. You will get the best results for learning to manage your depression if you have a positive relationship with your therapist.

Healing

You wonder about healing, though. You don't want to spend your life battling depression, or any other mental illness for that matter. You want to heal and never have to think about it again. Earlier paragraphs of this post mention the root causes of your depression. You may recall humanity's general betrayal of God, the offenses of the people around you who have hurt you, and, of course, your own mistakes.

There is hope for healing, the technique is evidence-based and has extremely high efficacy. The efficacy appears to me to be tied to motivation. There are three criteria for this to work: you have to want to heal, you have to be able to hold a thought, and you have to be able to move your eyes from side to side. Many psychotherapists choose not to use this technique because it often takes more time than your allotted fifty-minute session. Sometimes, it takes ninety minutes. You heal quickly, most of the time within just a few sessions, therefore, the psychotherapist ends up spending more time on intakes and turnover in their client base. The technique requires a different type of work from your psychotherapist. This technique is called Accelerated Resolution Therapy, and it works for almost everyone, especially those who want it to work.

I am a therapist in Maryville, TN, and if you are looking for fast, effective, and affordable treatment for your depression, then I am the psychotherapist for you. You can click the link and schedule a free consult, and that is the easiest way to get a good conversation. with me. You can call me or text me, and I would love to help you.

Cost

Maybe you are wondering what it costs. There are many variables to answer that question. Private pay clients tend to be most concerned about the cost. Accelerated Resolution Therapy almost always takes fewer than ten sessions, and there is very little conversation with this type of therapy because you do the work inside your head. So, at a charge of $175 for a fifty-minute session for ten sessions, the cost would be $1750. Most of the time, we do fifty-minute sessions, and only occasionally do we go past that time. I have learned some methods to help decrease the time it takes. Even if you were to do ten ninety-minute sessions, that cost would be $2400. The cost of medical care in the United States has become ridiculous, but part of the problem with the cost is providers only treat your symptoms, and you never get to leave treatment, insurance companies profit if you stay sick, and many providers are trapped in the same repetitive cycle with no clear way out. You do have the freedom to make a different choice, to leave the never-ending cycle of targeting symptoms and heal.