Managing Depression: Self-Help in Managing Your Mood

Depression is the most common mood disorder in the world, a problem that is still growing steadily across all age groups.  Depression is also one of the more treatable disorders, as long-term therapy and follow-up studies indicate. Despite the overstated and oversimplified view that suggests depression is caused by a neurochemical imbalance in the brain, the clinical and research evidence make it quite clear that depression is about much more than just “bad chemistry.”  In fact, depression can have many causes, and there are many factors, including psychosocial ones, that can influence its course and prognosis. 

  Medications alone are not and can never be an entirely adequate reply to the growing rates of depression for reasons that will be explored in this brief presentation.  “Adjusting” individuals chemically while individuals, couples and families face life challenges they are not adequately prepared to meet suggests the problem is always in their biology and not their circumstances. This is an untenable and extreme position to take in light of the relevant psychosocial research findings.  Furthermore, for every person who gets appropriately medicated, many more sink into depression that is either undiagnosed or inappropriately untreated.  No one should be led to believe they are “diseased” or that  “a pill a day will keep the depression away.”

  Our knowledge of depression has greatly expanded in recent years, firmly establishing the essential roles of education about the disorder  and using self-help strategies to better manage one's moods. In this presentation, viewers will receive an overview of some of the key things we have learned about the onset and course of depression, identifying the kinds of personal and social patterns that give rise to the disorder. The value of targeted self-help strategies will be discussed, and the stage will be set for more in-depth presentations to follow.

  Depression is highly responsive to good treatment, and it is up each depressed person to learn to manage his or her moods skillfully. This presentation will not only help you get started on the path to feeling  better, but being better.