Holistic approach to treating depression

[amylc]

I'm a psychiatric nurse. If you are 10mg Lexapro, you will probably be ok and not have too much discontinuation syndrome (it's rare that I have seen it with Lexapro, but some people do feel rotten), but be careful if you are on 20mg and definitely take michelem's advice and maybe drop to 10mg and then off. (having said that....you should always talk to your Dr. when stopping any meds....sorry...nurse in me)

My recommendation would be to not stop it until you have been involved in some type of talk therapy or have some other support group or coping skills in place. Most psychiatrists are going to prescribe meds rather than doing therapy so maybe get some recommendations of really good therapists in your area and let them know you want off meds due to weight gain. Some psychiatrists are good therapists, but in my experience.....just tend to write meds.

I don't know a lot about diets or recipes for depression....sorry but a holistic approach to therapy would look at spiritual, biological, physical, emotional, environmental issues and such.... so maybe when looking for a therapist, look for someone who does "multi-modal" approach to therapy instead of someone who maybe has a psycho-analytical approach (Freud).

[anakiwa]

St. John's wort can be used for depression. I don't have any experience with it (it's possible it could cause weight gain too), but it might be worth looking into.

[limewave]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm definitely going to check out those books.

I was on 10mg of Lexapro and have been off for 4 days now. I was starting to feel really anxious last night but am doing better today. The munchies are going away. I don't find myself wanting to snack as much

I am offered 6 free counseling sessions through work, so I will check that out first. Otherwise I can look into a different counselor, one that will work with a holistic approach to depression.

[KnottedYet]

I know you're not near Creative Wellness in East Lansing, but maybe you could contact them and ask if they know a similar group near you? Several of their practitioners studied here in Seattle at Bastyr University. Huge reputation, great holistic approach to everything.

You might also contact Bastyr directly and ask if they have graduates or clinics info in your area.

http://creativewellness.net/

http://www.bastyr.edu/

[Wahine]

Limewave, acupuncture can help. I will second what everyone here has said about counselling. It's good to ask around and while I'm sure doesn't work well for everyone, rapid eye movement desensitization helped me a great deal.

This seems to be a pretty well balanced view on EMDR.

http://skepdic.com/emdr.html

You can see from the infromation presented that the psychological problem (be it depression or anxiety) is caused by a traumatic event that needs to be reprocessed. If there is not traumatic event and your problem is chemical, it's not likely to help.

I hope you find some things that work for you.

[Torrilin]

A big component of depression for many people is destructive thinking patterns. Therapy that helps you catch your particular destructive thinking patterns and "rewrite" them can help a great deal in terms of living with depression. Usually this is called cognitive therapy. The goal here is to have you in more control of how you think, so that many depressive episodes get beaten off before they can really start. For most people, learning cognitive therapy works best while they're on an antidepressant. Many patients can go off the antidepressant once they're fairly stable (*waves* like me!).

It's also helpful to have your family and friends trained in the signs of suicide and major depression, even if you've never been suicidal before. It's not a cure-all, but it does help if you're in such bad shape that getting treatment feels impossible. (This also has the useful side effect that if you've got a genetically linked version of major depression, your family members have better odds if they're affected)

If you don't feel comfortable enough with your psychiatrist to call them about a meds change, find a different one. You need to have a doctor who you feel safe with, so that if you're feeling suicidal you call your doctor for help.

Oh and *please* treat St John's Wort as a drug. It can be quite effective, but your doctor(s) need to know you're taking it.

[michelem]

Timely article in today's Wall Street Journal (Weekend section):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1184...weekendjournal