Depression Treatment - How I Battled Depression and Won... So Could You!
Article
Effective Depression Treatment That Worked For Me!
By Alan Hands (January 2007)
Happy New Year everyone! I really hope you had a great time over the
festive season and that the new year brings everything you hope it
will.
Sadly, for many people Christmas and New Year isn’t as joyful and
triumphant as they would wish. Single people in particular, both
young and old, can feel isolated at this time of year and even if
you are surrounded by family and friends there can still be plenty
of stress, anxiety, noise and squabbles to deal with.
If you add
this to the normal stresses and strains of our busy lives it is no
wonder that calls to depression and suicide helplines rise by
nearly ten per cent at this time of year.
There have been many studies of Clinical Depression and depression
treatment, with just as many different statistics produced claiming
that anywhere between 16% and 33% of people will suffer from
depression at some point in their lives. Without becoming hung-up on
the figures, it is plain to see that even using the lower estimates,
EVERYONE at some stage in their lives will be affected by depression,
either their own or someone else’s.
Unfortunately for me I became one of these statistics, having
experienced symptoms of depression and later fell victim to Clinical
Depression through a variety of reasons and circumstances.
At this stage, maybe I should introduce myself.
My name is Alan and I am an ordinary person from the UK. This may
come as a surprise to you – not that I am from the UK, but that I
am a MAN! Yes, men do read Health Womens Inside Insight Newsletter too!
I have an ordinary job, ordinary life and face the same ups and
downs as many of you. Like countless millions of others I have had
my share of good times and bad but never thought for one moment that
I would experience symptom of depression, let alone fall victim to
that ever increasingly common illness known as Clinical Depression.
I always prided myself on my laid-back attitude to life and couldn’t
understand those people who got stressed about things, never mind
those who suffered anxiety or even worse, those that got depressed.
What a shock to the system then that I became a victim of
circumstances which saw me not only suffering from severe stress
but which also led me down the path of anxiety and panic attacks -
a symptom of depression, and ultimately to that dark place where
I was medically diagnosed as suffering from Clinical Depression.
My full story is much too long to re-tell in the short space
available in this Article, but briefly my recovery started out
the same as many people with an ongoing symptom of depression. The
doctor prescribed depression medication - anti-depressants. Not
surprisingly this wasn’t the answer for me and I believe that in
the majority of cases there are far more effective ways and means
of depression treatment.
I also tried some counselling – some good, some bad, but my second
counsellor pointed me in the direction that would change my life
forever. She encouraged me to find out as much about anxiety
depression as I possibly could and, having a thirst for knowledge,
I thoroughly researched the subject. This led me to make some
surprising discoveries about depression and depression treatment.
For instance, that there is a connection between excessive
dreaming and depression. In turn this understanding led me to find
ways to improve my sleep (something I had a longstanding problem
with). This important, yet small step on the
road to depression Self Help, ultimately helped in a small way in
the overall battle with depression.
As I started to become more proactive, my depression self help
skills increased. I tried many other things to help with various
aspects of my life. Some of my self-help depression
treatment included aromatherapy and self-hypnosis and before long
the combination of these things and the effects they were having
helped change small areas in my life. All these small things had a
cumulative effect and I soon found my depression lifting, as a
direct result of my self-help depression treatment efforts.
This might seem a strange thing to say, but looking back on things
now I am actually GLAD that I went through my battle with anxiety
depression. I say this because my life is now so much richer for
the experience, having learned so much about an illness that I
didn’t understand before and having learned that depression
medication - anti-depressant drugs are not always the answer. This
has led me to keep an open mind to alternative therapies
for depression treatment and not be too quick to discount any
possible solutions for any problems in life.
I also made a HUGE discovery which initially helped me in my battle
with depression, but which now also benefits all other areas of my
life and has led to improvements in everything from my health and
wellbeing, to my career and relationships and everything in between.
I am also confident that the techniques and the self-help depression
treatment strategies I learned would enable me to banish depression
if I were ever in the unfortunate position where it started to
return. I am sure that anyone with Clinical Depression could learn
from and adapt my techniques to help themselves beat depression like
I did.
If you would like to read more about my journey from the darkest
days of my depression to the fantastic place where I am now –
depression-free, then please visit my website, where you will learn:
The full background to my depression
What depression is
My experiences with various depression treatment
what is the cause of depression
What are the symptoms and sign of depression
My personal experience with conventional depression treatments
The major discovery that totally transformed my whole life
What are some of the more detailed techniques I used in my battle
I will sign off by wishing you every success for 2007 and leave you
with some words which have given me the inspiration to continue in
the darkest times – ‘Your past does not equal your future.’
Alan Hands
Return From Depression Treatment To Article Health Womens Page