Getting the right professional help is important in getting out of or successfully treating depression. In most cases, it goes beyond your personal physician i.e. it is not just for one professional to handle.
Studies have shown that depression is best treated with a combination of therapy and drugs. These are administered by different professionals. So you might need a doctor, psychologist and a psychiatrist for effective treatment.
To get this across effectively, let’s look at some common questions people ask as it has to do with getting the right professional.
What type of professional must I consult? We have already mentioned three but you don’t have to see all of them. You may need a combination of a doctor and a psychologist or therapist and might settle for a psychiatric nurse rather than a psychiatrist. The practical thing to do first would be to get in touch with the health insurance company you signed up with and get to know whether you are covered to get a therapist or not. What you can afford counts, if you are not covered, you can alternatively get a therapist that offers professional services based on income levels.
Must I see more than one professional? The answer is simply yes, but you can go about this in a way that it is affordable. You need others beside your personal doctor or general practitioner. Your doctor can prescribe the drugs for you while the psychiatrist will take you through the sessions. It will be more expensive for you if the he does both. But your personal doctor can’t do the counseling as such. This is why it’s more affordable if you allow your physician do the prescription while the psychiatrist who can do both only does the counseling sessions with you. Therapists that are psychologists or social workers usually charge less than psychiatrists.
But aside from the money factor, you need the expertise of the various fields of medicine because of the nature of the ailment. The treatment of depression cut across various fields in medicine and it just can’t be handled by one person.
How do I get hold of a psychologist or a psychiatrist? The most trusted person to ask is usually your personal doctor. He will recommend someone that you won’t have a difficulty trusting since the person is coming from someone you know. On the other hand, you can get one from the list of registered practitioners in your area. Just make sure that they are registered with recognized bodies because some people use the term ‘therapist’ loosely. So you must go for the ones that are licensed to practice.
You don’t have to pick the first one you see, get to know them by asking about how they go about their treatment. Most have their own unique ways of treatment, only settle for the one you are most comfortable with.
What if treatment doesn’t help? There is usually a time factor associated with treating depression. It is not an ailment that goes away with the taking of a tablet. The time factor also includes the period you begin to see results, they don’t just happen immediately. And the thing is it can even take months before you start seeing the results of the treatment.
Getting professional help is very important to treating depression. The combination of professionals gives a wholesome approach to an ailment that just can’t be treated by one person.