Dealing with Depression – could Complementary Therapies help?

Dealing with Depression – could Complementary Therapies help?

Recently in the media there has been a lot of news about the beneficial effects of anti-depressants for treating depression. According to a major study in the medical journal The Lancet, anti-depressants are ‘definitively good for depression and better than any placebos.’

The question of how best to treat depression has been an ongoing debate for decades and it is certainly not an uncommon issue in the clients we see here at Thame Therapy Clinic. Many of our clients come to us to try and get off or lessen their anti-depressants. Predominantly these people come for counselling, psychotherapy, acupuncture, homeopathy, hypnotherapy or some combination of these.

As in western medicine, there is no predicting what will work best as ‘depression’ is an all purpose term covering a wide range of experiences, often with complex causes. At one end of the spectrum are people with suicidal moods and barely getting out of bed, at the other end are people who are more end of tether, can’t be bothered, and angry and restless.

The anecdotal feedback from most people who tolerate anti-depressants is that initially it lifted them out of the hole, but after a few months life starts to feel flat and without much interest.

These people can also feel trapped and apprehensive about coming off the drugs, often in the case of those on citalopram.

Typically, once these drugs are reduced, moods start to become less stable and dealing with life’s ups and downs starts to become a struggle again.

This stage in the process is usually familiar because these are the difficult feelings that got on top of the client in the first place. This is usually where complementary therapies have a role to play.

Working with the mind and body in a holistic way restores a sense of integration which had previously fractured, and it brings stability to the healing process. Clients who get better in this way typically go through the rocky feelings quicker and with more optimism.

 For more information on this contact Andy Roscoe, Acupuncturist and Director at the clinic.