Is it any wonder people are confused about the different therapies available all claiming to help anxiety and or depression and that’s on top of the pills and potions you can now buy or get prescribed by the doctor.  How do you know which ones do actually help and which one is right for you?

This article is aimed at helping you to find a direction that is right for you and uncover some of the myths, misconceptions and misunderstanding around what is the best help for anxiety and depression.

Before we do however, it is worth understanding a little bit about anxiety and depression and what has gone wrong so you have a grounding on which to begin your recovery, starting with five facts:-

1. Anxiety and Depression are both fully curable
2. Neither are caused by external factors such as events and circumstances
3. Focussing on the problem and trying to figure out what cause them can make them both worse
4. Both come from thinking in a negative way about things, either worrying about the future or introspecting about yourself, the past or circumstances.
5. Something needs to change in your life, keep doing the same things and thinking in the same way and you will keep having the same problems.

How do anxiety and depression develop?

Neither happen overnight and often it takes years before the symptoms start affecting your life to the point where you feel you need to seek help, in fact, many people live with the conditions for years thinking the way they feel is completely normal and that ‘everyone worries’ or they are a ‘cup half empty’ type of person just fated with bad luck and accepting that life is hard.  Others think something has triggered the condition and it’s not untrue that life events can become overwhelming to the point where we just can’t cope any more and that ‘thing’ becomes the straw that broke the camels back.  The reality for most is that the anxiety and/or depression has been building for a long while but, from time to time, a person previously free from negativity can encounter a situation such as a serious illness that engages part of the brain reserved for crisis, emergency or danger but then once the crisis is over, they are unable to switch back to their previous happy disposition.

Anxiety, depression and anger are all primitive responses to perceived emergency, crisis or danger coming from part of the brain called the Amygdala, otherwise known as the flight fight response.  This perception of emergency, crisis or danger is coming from your own mind, it’s not events in your life, it is the way you think about those events.  People who think negatively are activating this flight fight response and putting their brain into survival mode which will do anything it can to prevent you from putting yourself in danger, even creating panic attacks or making you unable to get out of bed.  Normally the emotion is diffused by dealing with the crisis and the brain returns to functioning in a positive solution focused mode, but the brain doesn’t know the different between real danger and worrying that you’re going to be late for an appointment or the boss will be disappointed or what your partner might be thinking or doing for example, it just understands the negativity. Often this negativity is learned as a child by mirroring language and responses from parents or people close to you which is why it seems so normal as an adult and seemingly hard to retrain.

But it can be retrained and the first step is to become aware and accept that it is coming from within you and that it is you are ultimately in control of your brain and how you think.

The next step is to find help which brings us back to the purpose of this article – how do you know what will help?

There are so many therapies out there and claims of help that it is impossible to take one individually, so we’re going to give you a few crucial factors in deciding which therapy to go for.

Do’s

1. It needs to be something that creates serotonin and dopamine.  Serotonin and dopamine are the ‘feel good’ neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) or hormones that are essential for a healthy mind and body.  Things that create serotonin and dopamine include positive activity or in other words doing stuff that feel like you’ve achieved something.  They don’t have to be big things, it can be something as simple as opening the post that you haven’t been able to face or doing the washing up.  Positive interaction which means spending time with other people in a positive way and not going over and over your problems and finally positive thinking, don’t dwell on what is wrong in your life, you don’t need to find the source of the problem, you just need to find a solution to how you’re going to deal with it, if you can’t do that, put the problem down until you can.
2. It needs to make you feel good.  If you like to indulge in a massage because it relaxes you, then do it, but make sure you follow it up with something from point number 1 to build on the good feelings and increase serotonin
3. It needs to be something that helps you to figure out what needs to change in your life, not what help you to figure out what’s wrong.  If something is not right in your life right now, you need to change something or you will just keep getting the same results and it is up to you to change it, not wait for circumstances to change.
4. You need to take an active role in making change happen, you have actively created the anxiety and/or depression, sitting back and waiting for something to change isn’t going to resolve it.  You need to be prepared to put work into it, they can be little steps at first, but you do need to take them in order to get to a better place in your life.
5. You need to be prepared to change your thinking and open your mind to new ideas and concepts that are going to help.  Your mind has become fixed in a way of thinking that is not healthy for you and, as it is your mind, you are going to have to decide to change it.
6. Exercise.  Both anxiety and depression sufferers benefit immensely from the hormones and neurotransmitters that come from exercise.  It may be hard to get started, but you will immediately feel better and be motivated to do it again because you are taking an action that is good for you.  You are not only burning off adrenalin and cortisol the stress hormones, you are also creating the good ones, win win.

Don’t

1. Therapies that involve endless talking about the problems and how you got there are going to prolong anxiety and depression.  You will probably come out the other end several years later, but going over and over what is wrong is going to embed it and possibly even make it worse.
2. Relying on medication such as anti-depressants will help in the short term, but they are aimed at getting you to a point that you can make changes and do things differently.  If you don’t change your patterns of behaviour you are likely to relapse as soon as life gets tough again.
3. Taking a passive role in your rehabilitation is going to prolong the condition.  With both anxiety and depression you need to understand that it is how you are thinking or acting that creates the condition, so although many therapies will help you to feel relief in the short term and even help you feel better after one treatment, you then need to actively take advantage of the ‘feel better’ to do something else that will help.
4. Don’t accept that it is something you have to live with, it’s not.  Unfortunately the nature of the conditions and the negative thinking make you believe ‘nothing will help’, ‘I’m never going to get better’ and so on, it is not true, you will get better if you are prepared to work at it and do your bit.

The final point in answer to ‘what therapy is best for anxiety and depression’ is the therapy that makes you feel better.  That sounds a bit of an opt out, but if you believe something is good for you and you come out feeling better than when you went in, then it is probably the right thing for you.  Will it help you long term?  I refer you back to the do’s and don’ts above, you need to create serotonin and dopamine and you need to make the appropriate changes in your life, including how you think about things, if the therapy you choose helps you to think more positive and do more serotonin creating things, then it’s good for you.  If you don’t notice a difference after six to eight weeks, then it’s probably not helping, try something else.

Change your attitude and you will change your life and whatever helps you to do that is the right therapy for you.  There isn’t one size that fits all and you may need to try several things before you find the treatment that resonates with you most, but don’t stop trying, if your intention is set to get better, keep going until you get there.  You’re worth it!.