Treating Depression & Anxiety Without Medication
The question of whether to use medication when we have anxiety or depression can weigh heavy on our hearts. We’ll both discuss the pros and cons of medication below and the tools that can help whether you choose medication or not.
Should I medicate or not?
Before we look at some of the non-medication options for anxiety and depression, it's important to examine the very personal question of whether to take medication or not. The truth is that there is no one-size-fits-all answer here and it very much depends on the individual involved. For some medication can be a literal lifesaver, while for others it can act as a support to allow the effects of other treatments to take hold.
Others have had a less than positive experience with reported medications used for anxiety and depression, with some reporting things like ‘cymbalta ruined my life’ and that coming off it was tough and that they would have benefited from the support of a professional addiction recovery That is why it's very important to first look at all the potential effects of taking medication both positive and negative before you make your decision before you decide whether you will medicate or not.
Embrace therapy (& your fears)
First of all, one of the most valuable things you can do for yourself aside from medication when struggling is to see a therapist. The key here is to make sure you see the right type of therapist for your particular problem as things like traditional CBT can work well for generalized anxiety disorder, but you will need CBT with ERP for things like OCD.
Avoid avoidance
When we feel swamped with anxiety or negative feelings it's easy to get into a pattern of avoiding things, and places and people that trigger these. Ironically, this is usually one of the worst things we can do because it means we make our lives small and lose connection with those that are valuable to us. To that end, identifying what you may be avoiding and then using some of the techniques in acceptance and commitment therapy to embrace these experiences can help.
Move your body
There are so many benefits for our physical health and mental health to moving our bodies. Exercise oxygenates your blood, rids the body of toxins and fills it with happy chemicals. Moving our bodies can also be very therapeutic when we are feeling anxious as it provides an outlet for all that energy we feel. The best way to approach this is to find a form of movement you really love and that you can easily fit into your day, and start small. Even 5-10 mins a day will help.
Try mindfulness
Mindfulness is a meditative practice where we direct our focus to a specific thing. The thoughts in our brains, our reactions to outside stimuli, and our experiences in our bodies will all try to grab our focus as we do this, and inevitably we will get distracted by them. The aim here is to not prevent this from happening, to realize it when it does happen and gently return our focus to our chosen subject. In this way, we train our minds to refocus on what we choose to value and this can be very helpful when moving through the experiences of anxiety and depression.
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