Depression Treatment
Depression is a mood disorder that affects how you think, feel, and deal with your daily routine, sometimes emotionally sabotaging your day-to-day activities.
However, treatment for depression can help you understand how the disorder creates unhelpful thought patterns and how you can take control and create new ones.
Blue Hills Recovery in Massachusetts offers treatment options for mental disorders like mild, moderate, or severe depression and can help you find relief from debilitating symptoms through psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Overview of Depression
Depression sits in a category of mental illnesses called mood disorders, and it affects parts of your brain that control or interact with emotions.
As one of the more common mental health conditions, people with depression often feel a sense of worthlessness and express a loss of interest in things they used to be interested in.
Depression can make you feel hopeless, as though there is no way to recover from it. However, there is effective treatment for depression at Blue Hills Recovery that can help you regain emotional well-being.
What Causes Depression?
There is no single cause of depression. In fact, there are a variety of factors that can cause episodes of depression.
One cause may have to do with neurotransmitters in the brain (or what people sometimes call brain chemistry). Imbalances in serotonin and dopamine (neurotransmitters related to emotions and well-being) can cause depression.
Genetics may also be a cause. If depression runs in your family, it may be that genetics plays a contributing factor if you’re experiencing the disorder. But there are other risk factors.
Risk Factors for Depression
A risk factor is something that increases your chances of developing a mental health condition. It doesn’t guarantee that you will get it. Risk factors for depression include:
- Growing up with a parent with depression
- Experiencing trauma
- Feeling isolated and unsupported
- Life events such as the death of a loved one or divorce
- Chronic medical conditions like diabetes or chronic pain
- Side effects of some medications
- Anxiety disorders (which can progress to depression if not treated)
- Alcohol abuse
- Substance use
If you have experienced or are experiencing one of these risk factors, you may be vulnerable to severe, moderate, or mild depression.
Who Is Affected by Depression?
Anyone can be affected by depression. Almost 30% of adults in the United States have been diagnosed with depression at least once in their lives. Almost 18% of adults are currently being treated.
However, some groups are more vulnerable to depression than others:
- Almost 38% of women have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives.
- Adults between 18 and 44 have higher rates of diagnosis within their lifetimes than adults older than 44.
- Women and adults between 18 and 29 have the highest rates of current depression.
- Black and Hispanic adults have higher rates of depression diagnosis in their lifetimes than White adults.
- Hispanic adults have higher current depression rates than Black or White adults.
- About 20% of adolescents face an episode of depression each year.
Signs & Symptoms of Depression
Symptoms of depression can vary by person and by the particular form of depression that you have. But general symptoms of depression include:
- Pervasive sadness
- Not able to enjoy what you used to enjoy
- Eating too much or too little
- Frustration and irritability
- Fatigue
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Thoughts of self-harm or suicide
But you don’t have to live with these symptoms affecting your well-being and disrupting your life. You can find treatment in Massachusetts at Blue Hills Recovery.
Types of Depression
here are different types of depression that can affect you with varying degrees of intensity. Symptoms and treatment can vary as well.
Understanding what kind of depressive disorder you have can help you understand how to address it and what interventions are going to help you manage it.
Major Depression
Persistent Depressive Disorder
Bipolar Disorders
Seasonal Affective Disorder
Other Types of Depressive Disorder
What Happens When Depression Goes Untreated?
Some people try to deal with depression themselves by taking supplements like St. John’s Wort or by telling themselves to just get over it. But when depression goes untreated by a mental health professional, symptoms can worsen and even cause health problems.
If an episode of major depressive disorder goes untreated it can result in the following:
- Episodes that last 6 to 12 months
- Increased chance of contemplating suicide or making suicide attempts
- Increased chance of recurrence
- Weight gain
- Increased risk of heart disease
- Risk of substance use and alcohol abuse
But you don’t have to continue without treatment. Blue Hills Recovery in Massachusetts can develop a treatment plan that addresses your needs and gives you the tools to manage depression.
Depression Treatment in Massachusetts
If you are facing depression in Massachusetts, you can find treatment today through the services and programs we offer at Blue Hills Recovery.
Blue Hills Recovery is a compassionate environment where health care professionals and peers in recovery help you overcome the depressive disorder you’re struggling with.
Mental Health Recovery Programs
Dual Diagnosis Care
Therapies & Counseling
Continuing Care
Get Compassionate Care for Depression at Blue Hills Recovery
Getting treatment for a mental health disorder in Massachusetts doesn’t mean that you are giving up. It means that you are taking control.
At Blue Hills Recovery, we give you everything you need to take control of your life and begin managing depression.
Our caring and compassionate staff can help you discover what is hindering you in your journey and how to move forward in positive and healthy ways.
If you are ready to get treatment for depression, call us today.
Depression FAQs
How does depression affect daily life?
How can people cope with depression?
Can you cure depression with treatment?
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A Life of Healing Can be Yours.
You deserve to become your best self. With decades of combined experience in the field of addiction medicine, our staff knows what it takes to build a foundation for recovery.