Treatments for depression should only be referred to and learned from, not imitated and copied

As a person recovering from depression, many people will share their depression treatment process, but not all depressed people can use the same methods to treat their depression. Different people have different personalities, different body types and, more importantly, different causes of depression. When treating depression, we can only treat the symptoms, not copy and imitate other people’s recovery therapies. If you want to learn something, that’s fine. But that should not be the only way to treat depression, but a rational reference.

Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States, suffered from severe depression. After suffering from depression, Lincoln started taking the blue pill for mental depression. However, after using them for a while, Lincoln realised that the little blue pills were making him grumpy. Lincoln then stopped taking the pills. Later, after extensive research, retired physician and medical historian Hirshhorn discovered that the pills contained enough mercury to kill Lincoln. Had Lincoln not stopped taking it in time, he would not have been able to command the army so calmly and win the Civil War.

There was a huge outcry about this incident with the blue pill. It certainly tells us to be careful with our medication. Not to mention the fact that we imitate and copy other people’s treatments, even our own treatment at the beginning may not be entirely suitable for us. Even for the same disease, there are significant differences in the use of medication at different stages. For example, in the early stages of high blood pressure control, only one medication is needed, whereas in the later stages of severe disease, several medications are needed at the same time.

If you do not consider your own situation and blindly learn from the experience of your patients, you are likely to worsen your condition. Furthermore, there are interactions between medications and many of them can cause serious side effects when used together. If we borrow the medication of patient A and take the medication of patient B, there is a high risk of adverse reactions. It is also worth noting that if a pregnant woman is depressed, her treatment will be different from that of a normal person, and she should not copy someone else’s experience of curing her depression, as this may cause irreparable damage to both the pregnant woman and the foetus. Here is what a depressed person has to say about herself.

I am a quiet person and I don’t like to socialise. It was probably after I went to university that I hated talking to people even more. It was hard for me to have fun with my friends, I had no energy to do anything, and I hadn’t even taken part in my favourite fishing activity for a long time. I had always been used to being quiet and my family didn’t really see any change in me.

From 2013 onwards, it became apparent that my moods were up and down and that I was lashing out over the slightest thing. There was a time when I wanted to jump down the stairs when I saw them and there was no point in living anymore.

After tests, I found out that I was suffering from severe depression, the most obvious manifestations of which were the following.

Insomnia, not being able to sleep until 2 or 3am every night. A sense of meaninglessness, there is no value in living. Frequent fatigue and lack of energy. Loss of interest in everything and not knowing what happiness is. Decreased willpower and slowness of movement. Anorexia and loss of appetite.

After the test last night, I took a couple of pills from the doctor and started taking them, but after a few days, I just couldn’t get better. I later learned that a college friend of mine had also had depression. He told me which medications he had taken to get better and suggested I try them. So I took the medication recommended by my classmate in addition to the original prescription, but I still did not get better.

A month later, I came to the doctor and the mild depression had become exclusively moderate depression. The doctor was furious to learn that I had taken another prescription without permission, he said that only major depression would result in multiple medications being taken together, which meant that I was doing myself even more harm by taking the medication ……

In the same case of depression, some people are completely cured with just a few medications, while others get worse the more they take. In the case of the depressed patient, the worsening of his condition was the result of blindly copying someone else’s treatment. This is a wake-up call to all of us who suffer from depression that when treating depression, it is important not to blindly copy other people’s treatments, but to prescribe the right medicine for the right condition. To use a common phrase, it is important to “start from the ground up”.

Sharing our experiences with each other will certainly help us to recover from depression. For example, Patient A is a music lover who likes to force himself to listen to music when his depression is severe, and every time after listening to music, his mood stabilises and his condition improves. If you like music in general, you may want to do the same thing when you are depressed and see if it works for you. If, of course, you hate listening to music and are as uncomfortable as the Monkey King when he hears the Monk’s curse, then there is no need to refer to Patient A’s “music therapy”. If it doesn’t make you feel happy, then there is no need to put yourself through it.

It is important for people with depression to understand the difference between the two so that they don’t take a wrong turn in the treatment process. Here are a few of the complementary treatments for depression that are worthy of reference, but remember, they are references, not copycats.

1. Reading therapy.

Also known as bibliotherapy. It is a method of treatment through reading books. Many doctors, teachers and especially psychotherapists or counsellors use this therapy. These practitioners recommend books to be read according to the depressed person’s situation.

In the process of reading these books, the depressed person will be able to empathise with his or her thoughts, relax, relieve stress, stimulate thinking and change his or her attitude to life, thus achieving a therapeutic effect. This therapy is widely recognised abroad.

If depressed people like to read, they may wish to take advantage of this therapy and read some of their favourite works on the recommendation of a counsellor or other relevant person to meditate, concentrate and heal. Of course, please bear in mind that this is only an auxiliary measure, and do not utilitarianise reading as a life-saving cure for depression. The best attitude is to treat reading as a hobby.

2. Music therapy.

Most of us are fond of listening to music. We may have different styles of music, but we all have a special feeling for music. Therefore, we can use music therapy to relieve depression.

When doing music therapy, it is best if we seek the help of a music therapist. If not, try to listen to music that is a little more upbeat. Some people are naturally inclined to listen to sad music and if they continue to listen to such music when they are depressed, they will inevitably become more and more miserable and worsen their depression. So listen to relaxing light music or yoga music, or serenade yourself to the sound of running water or waves, and let yourself be baptized by nature.