Life is a complex journey. You’ll face different challenges along the way, and it’s normal to experience bouts of sadness or depression from time to time. Your mood can be affected by life events, sleep, nutrition habits, relationships with others, and even changes in the weather. However, if your mood is affecting your ability to complete daily activities like eating and sleeping normally, completing your schoolwork or work, or maintaining relationships with loved ones, something more serious might be happening. Our depression treatment program could make a difference.
Columbia Associates offers comprehensive mental health conditions treatment to help you get back to thriving. Our depression treatment center can help clients recognize the signs of depression and work towards managing it to improve their overall mental health. Call us at 703.682.8208 today to learn more about our depression treatment programs and how getting help can make a difference.
Understanding Depression
Depression is formally diagnosed as major depressive disorder (MDD). It is a common but serious mood disorder in which someone experiences low moods that affect their ability to think, feel, and act the way they normally would. There is no “cure” for depression. However, treatment is available that can help people with depression find joy and retake control of their lives.
The Signs and Symptoms of Depression
Depression looks different for different people, but some common signs and symptoms can indicate you are experiencing something more than a temporary feeling of sadness. Remember that someone with depression may not experience all of these symptoms, and the symptoms they experience can vary in severity. If you are experiencing five or more of these common symptoms of depression, you might benefit from a depression treatment program:
- Low or depressed mood every day for more than two weeks
- Sleep disturbances, including sleeping much more or less than usual
- Losing interest in activities that used to be enjoyable or meaningful
- Intrusive thoughts about death or suicide
- Cognitive disturbances, including difficulty thinking, focusing, or making decisions
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Changes in appetite, including eating much more or less than usual
- Fidgeting or moving more slowly than usual
- Feelings of guilt or worthlessness
People with depression experience symptoms like the ones above that disrupt their usual functioning and get in the way of them living their lives and pursuing their passions. It’s important to remember that there are different types of depression and that depression can present differently in men and women.
Depression is not the only condition that can cause these symptoms. Medical conditions such as certain thyroid disorders and vitamin deficiencies can also include symptoms like low mood, fatigue, and sleep disturbances. Make an appointment with your doctor to rule out possible underlying or contributing medical conditions and ensure your diagnosis is as accurate as possible.
The Causes of Depression
Depression is a complex condition that can affect anyone, even if it appears that everything in their life is going well. Depression is caused by genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors.
Genetic Causes
Do you have a family history of depression? Like other conditions, depression can run in the family. Studies have shown that the offspring of parents with depression are more than twice as likely to experience this mental health disorder compared to children whose parents don’t suffer from it.
Biological Causes
Several biochemicals in your body impact your mood, including neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Differences in the way someone’s body handles these chemicals can affect their risk of developing depression.
Environmental Causes
People do not exist in a vacuum. Their life circumstances can significantly impact their mental health. People exposed to trauma like violence, abuse, neglect, and poverty may have an increased risk of depression.
Psychological Causes
Depression is a psychological disorder, and various psychological factors can impact it. Those who do not have healthy methods of coping with stress, who have low self-esteem or self-worth, and who otherwise exhibit pessimistic psychology are more likely to develop depression.
How Our Depression Treatment Program Can Help
Just as different factors can cause depression, there are many different ways it can be treated. Because depression involves some physical and mental risk factors, and certain medical conditions can cause depression-like symptoms, the first step in finding the proper depression treatment includes having a thorough diagnostic evaluation by a physician. Once your physician understands the factors causing your depression, they can start to build a treatment plan tailored to your unique situation.
Treatment for depression may include:
- Medication – If biochemistry is a factor in your depression, a doctor may prescribe antidepressants to help rebalance the chemicals in your brain.
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy – TMS is an FDA-approved depression treatment that uses painless magnetic pulses to stimulate areas of the brain that are less active in people with depression. It is a non-invasive, non-drug alternative that can be effective even for people with treatment-resistant depression.
- Therapy – Individual or group therapy can help address psychological causes of depression and resolve trauma that may be causing symptoms.
- Lifestyle changes – Improving physical health can positively impact mental health, so a doctor might suggest making lifestyle changes such as taking vitamins or increasing exercise.
- Ketamine therapy – Safely used as an anesthetic in hospitals for decades, recent research suggests that ketamine therapy shows promise in individuals with severe depression that hasn’t responded to other medications or therapy.
Our depression treatment center could change your life. Call Columbia Associates today to learn more.
Benefits of a Depression Therapy Program
Participating in our depression therapy program can help you to:
- Regain control of your moods, thoughts, and emotions
- Improve relationships with family and friends
- Enjoy activities and experiences that depression may have made difficult in the past
- Increase self-esteem and confidence
- Learn how to manage depression triggers
- Take an active role in your depression treatment plan
- Develop healthy coping strategies for depression symptoms
We understand depression and how it affects individuals and families. Our team is committed to providing effective mental health services with compassion, understanding, and respect.
Find Depression Treatment at Columbia Associates
We’re dedicated to helping people in our communities access life-changing mental health care. Our services aim to meet the needs of individuals, couples, families, children, teens, young adults—and everyone in between. Our depression treatment program can help give clients the tools they need to stay healthy and maintain their mental well-being. If you believe you are experiencing depression, contact us at 703.682.8208 to learn what our compassionate care providers can do for you.