PTSD is a complex mental issue and thus needs a professional who is an expert in treating PTSD. One of the major PTSD treatments includes short-term psychotherapies. Since each person suffering from PTSD may show different symptoms, a treatment that is the best fit for him needs to be worked out. 

Accordingly, a treatment that may have worked for someone else may not work for you. Thus, the mental health professional specializing in PTSD treatment would look at the symptoms faced by you and then suggest the necessary treatment. 

What is the Most Effective Treatment for PTSD?

The APA specifies various treatment interventions that clinicians adopt considering their practice. All of these are an evidence-based treatment for PTSD that clinicians use to help patients in decision-making. 

The following section answers the question ‘What are the best practices for trauma treatment’. There are four interventions that are highly recommended for PTSD treatment and are nothing but variants of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). 

1. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

CBT is one of the best therapies that is used for PTSD treatment.  This is considered to be the most effective short-term as well as the long-term treatment for treating PTSD. It is a therapy that concentrates on the link between thoughts, behaviors, and feelings and observes how alterations in one area can enhance the functioning in other areas. 

It is cognitive psychotherapy that concentrates on solving the individual’s present problems. It is an approach that alters an individual’s dysfunctional behavior and thought process. 

How CBT Helps People With PTSD? 

There exist a host of theories related to trauma that explain how CBT helps people in improving PTSD symptoms. 

• Emotional Processing Theory

As per this theory, people who experience a traumatic event build connections. They build such connections among the meaning, responses, and things that serve as reminders of the trauma. 

For instance, they may relate certain people or instances with trauma (reminder), draw the meaning that the world is an unsafe place, and go through feelings of fear (response). 

In CBT, the therapists help patients in identifying these connections. This is done to change such associations which result in impaired functioning of the patients. 

• Social Cognitive Theory

As per this theory, there are people who attempt to integrate the traumatic experience into current beliefs about themselves, others, and the world. This is what leads them to misunderstand their experiences and their understanding of regulating themselves and the world around them. 

For example, say someone believes in the fact that you are your karma and experiences sexual abuse. Such a person may think that it is due to one of her bad karma’s that she faced this traumatic event of sexual abuse. Whereas, she should instead understand this episode as a pure act of violence on the act of the person who did this to her. 

How is CBT Used to Treat PTSD? 

CBT therapists use a variety of techniques to enable patients to reduce PTSD symptoms and improve overall functioning. They help patients to re-think their thought patterns so as to recognize the unreasonable thoughts or distortions. These may include negative thoughts that kill the positive ones, over-exaggerated outcomes, over-generalizing bad outcomes, etc. The intention is to help patients develop a more effective thought pattern. 

This helps individuals to re-understand their traumatic experiences together with their awareness about themselves and their potential to deal with PTSD. 

Thus, CBT helps an individual to understand the way he or she construes his problem. Further, it also enables the individual to know how such perceptions would impact his/her emotions. 

CBT involves a therapist and the patient working together. In the CBT session, the therapist helps the patient identify automatic thoughts that occur to the patient. These are thoughts that occur to the patient spontaneously and that take the patient away from reality. 

Thus, such thoughts interfere with the patient’s routine functioning and that is why the therapist helps the patient to analyze in a conscious way. 

Likewise, the CBT therapist helps the patient to:

• recognize his emotions
• differentiate between the negative thoughts and emotions
• label his emotions 
• quantify the degree of emotions they are experiencing
• understand the degree of emotions he is currently facing
• analyzing his automatic thoughts
• identify how he will respond to the automatic thoughts

Therefore, the therapist exposes the patient to the trauma reminders, feelings, and the trauma account. This is to help the patient lessen the negative connections with the traumatic experience. 

Now, all of this is undertaken slowly, in a regulated way where both the therapist and the patient work together. 

The intention is to help the patient learn skills like self-control, self-confidence, and reducing maladaptive behaviors. 

Thus, the skills learned during the CBT sessions are practiced repeatedly which helps in improving PTSD symptoms. Typically, the CBT treatments last for 12-16 weeks. 

2. Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

CPT is also a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that has proven to be effective in lessening PTSD symptoms. These symptoms could be the result of traumatic events like child abuse, sexual or physical assault, natural disaster, military combat, etc. 

This therapy helps patients to question and change the illogical thoughts associated with the traumatic event. CPT generally undertakes over 12 sessions which help the patient to challenge his thought pattern and develop a new and improved understanding of the traumatic episode. 

Such a change helps in reducing the impairment caused due to unreasonable thoughts in respect of trauma in routine functioning. 

How is CPT Used to Treat PTSD? 

1. Psychoeducation 

The first thing that the therapist undertakes is that of psychoeducation in respect of PTSD, its symptoms, and associated thoughts, and emotions. In this, the patient becomes increasingly aware of the thoughts and emotions and the connection between them. This helps him to identify the automatic thoughts that are responsible for sustaining the PTSD symptoms. 

2. Writing the Traumatic Event 

In addition to this, the patient is asked to pen down a statement that reveals the impact the traumatic event had on him/her. This statement details the patient’s present understanding of the trauma, why it took place, and the influence it had on the beliefs about oneself, others, and the world around. 

 3. Socratic Questioning for Challenging Illogical Thoughts

Socratic questioning involves the therapist asking questions that help the patients to direct their thoughts and behavior towards goals that help them alter their thinking. These questions are not instructional in nature. Instead, they are such that they help the patients build new perspectives. 

These questions enable the patients to challenge their negative thoughts about the traumatic event. Lately, once the patients learn these skills of recognizing and questioning unreasonable thoughts, they use these skills repeatedly. This enables them to analyze and alter their unreasonable beliefs in respect of the traumatic event. 

At this stage, the therapists attempt to help the patients learn and practice these skills outside therapy sessions. And this is what helps in improving the overall functioning of the individuals. 

In addition to this, CPT can be undertaken both through individual and group sessions. Also, therapists give practice assignments that are to be done outside the session. 

4. Cognitive Therapy (CT)

Cognitive Therapy is a technique that is acquired from CBT. As per this theory, an individual is bound to show PTSD symptoms if he processes the traumatic event in a manner that results in he/she feeling severe threat. 

This is the result of excessive negative analysis of the traumatic event or some issues in one’s memory of the traumatic event. In this, the individual tends to relive some part of trauma in an unregulated way. This results in unreasonable behavior and cognitive coping responses. 

How is CT Used to Treat PTSD? 

CT too focuses on changing the negative analysis and memories linked to trauma. The intent is to break the thought patterns that impair the individual’s routine functioning. 

CT, much like CBT, is offered in weekly sessions over a period of three months in the form of individual or group sessions. 

1. Identifying Negative Triggers

The first step involves the therapist recognizing negative memories, analyses, and triggers linked to trauma. This is because it is these negative associations that result in sustaining PTSD symptoms. 

Once the negative evaluations are identified, the therapist helps the patient to understand the meaning of his/her traumatic memories. In addition to this, the therapist also explains how the patient is understanding them at present. He also explains that negative evaluations of trauma may result in increasing the feelings of threat. 

Here too, the therapist uses Socratic questioning to help the patient alter his evaluation of trauma. 

2. Incorporating Modified Evaluation With Trauma

The altered evaluation is now incorporated with trauma memories. This is achieved through patient writing and thinking about the new, improved evaluation as he thinks about the trauma memory. 

Alternatively, the new analysis is incorporated by the patient reliving the trauma in his imagination with this new evaluation in mind. 

Similarly, the therapist guides the patient to develop a new, meaningful account of the traumatic experience. This is achieved through various means. For instance, the patient can either write the account of the traumatic experience, relive the trauma in his imagination, or visit the same location again where the traumatic event took place. 

No doubt the patient here is exposed to the aspects of trauma. However, the aim here is to see particular trauma-related memories that trigger certain responses. 

This is done so that the therapist can use cognitive restructuring to help the patients to question the unreasonable thinking connected to trauma. 

3. Alter Behaviors to Reduce PTSD Symptoms

Lastly, the therapist helps the patient to prevent behaviors and thought processes that may reduce the current threat. However, it may let the PTSD symptoms persist in the long run. 

Thus, both the patient and the therapist work together on issues like suppressing thoughts, rumination, and behaviors that seek safety. Thus, the therapist makes the patient realize that these are unhelpful strategies and avoid these to reduce PTSD symptoms. 

5. Prolonged Exposure (PE)

This is a strategy that is used by therapists to help patients face their fears. PE is a type of CBT that guides patients to approach memories, emotions, and circumstances related to trauma slowly. 

Typically, people try to avoid everything that triggers them to remember the traumatic experience they have gone through. However, preventing these cues only adds to fear. However, if the patient faces what he’s trying to avoid, it increases the chances of reducing PTSD symptoms. This is because facing what they have been avoiding helps them to learn that trauma-related triggers are not risky. 

How is PE Used to Treat PTSD? 

 In this, the therapist begins by giving the patient an outline of the treatment and knowing the patient’s prior experiences. They then continue educating the patient about PTSD and its treatment and teach breathing exercises to the patients to deal with anxiety. 

The therapist then initiates the exposure after making an assessment and taking the first session. Now, many patients get anxiety-ridden going through the process. That’s why the therapist makes sure that the patients find this therapy relationship to be safe. This is to allow the patients to face even the scariest of the stimuli during the therapy session. 

The following types of exposures are used with the speed of the exposure adjusted as per the comfort of the patient. 

1. Imaginal Exposure

 In this, the patient describes the traumatic event during the therapy session. Thus, both the therapist and the patient come together to understand the emotions that come out as a result of describing the event in detail. 

Further, the session is even recorded. This is to make the patient listen to the audio for processing the emotions and practicing breathing techniques. 

2. In vivo Exposure 

These are therapy sessions where the patient is asked to face the traumatic triggers outside the session. Typically, the therapist and the patient together work on recognizing the events, places, persons that act as triggers. 

Then, both the patient and the therapist work out the triggers that the patient needs to face. These are typically experienced by the patient in between the therapy sessions. Thus, the therapist motivates the patient to face these triggers gradually. This enables the patient to experience some success in facing these triggers and helps him to deal with them. 

Apart from the above treatments that are highly recommended, there are treatments that are recommended on the basis of certain conditions. These include:

6. Brief Eclectic Psychotherapy (BEP)

BEP is a technique that combines some components of CBT with the psychodynamic approach. Here, the focus is on altering the feelings of shame and guilt and the relationship shared by the patient and the therapist. 

This is a 16-session approach where the patient is asked to narrate the traumatic event. They are then taught breathing techniques for relaxation that help them to concentrate Further, the patient is also asked to write a letter to the person whom he blames to be responsible for the event. 

Next, the therapist and the patient together review the progress made during the therapy and make changes accordingly. The patient is guided on how the event has impacted him and what things he can learn from the same. 

In the last session, the therapist devises a relapse plan and the patient identifies that trauma once ruled over him. He understands that PTSD and its symptoms are now things of the past.  

7. EMDR Therapy 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is a technique that is divided into various stages. In this, the patient is motivated to focus on the trauma memory and at the same time made to experience eye movements. 

The various stages of this therapy include:

• knowing the trauma history
• preparing the client
• evaluating the trauma memory
• desensitizing where the client focuses on the memory with eye movements. The therapist then reports these eye movements to the patient. 
• helping clients understand the physical symptoms they go through as they think over trauma
• reevaluating in which the therapist looks at the current psychological position of the client and sees how therapy sessions have helped the patient. The therapist also identifies aspects that still need improvements. 

8. NET

Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) is a type of treatment that focuses on the patient narrating his traumatic experience. This includes describing in detail his emotions, thoughts, sensory information, and physical responses. 

This way, NET helps the patient in creating a complete biography or account of what happened to him. NET is based on the understanding that a person’s narrative of the trauma that he describes or tells himself impacts the way he thinks about his experiences and overall well being. The patient receives the documented autobiography towards the end of the session which is created by the therapist. 

This narrative helps the patient to appreciate his human rights and regain his self-respect. 

9. Medications 

One of the typical questions in respect of PTSD treatment is “what is the best medication for PTSD? Well, SSRIs and SNRIs are commonly recommended PTSD treatment medications by doctors. 

• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

Sertraline, paroxetine, and fluoxetine are the commonly recommended SSRIs for treating PTSD. These are the first class of medication used in PTSD treatment. Further, only sertraline and paroxetine are the SSRIs approved by the FDA. 

• Serotonin Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs)

Venlafaxine is the SNRI that is recommended conditionally for treating PTSD. 

Also Read:

What are the Top 5 Causes of Depression?

10 Tips for Living With Depression

Should I See a Psychologist or Psychiatrist for Depression?

Is PTSD a Mental Illness or Disorder?

How is PTSD Usually Treated?

Can PTSD Be Cured Without Medication?

How Can We Reduce Avoidance Behavior?

How to Find a Good PTSD Therapist?

If you’re showing clinical depression symptoms, you may not know whom to approach to seek help. This is typically the case with first-timers. You may have a questions like “Should I see a psychologist or psychiatrist for depression.”

Medical professionals may go for physical examination, laboratory tests, and blood tests to make a correct diagnosis for depression. They would talk to you to know about the depression symptoms you have been experiencing, how long you have been experiencing them, your family history of mental illness, etc. 

The first step is a personal interview with the medical professional. In this he tries to analyze the depression symptoms by asking you about your feelings and if you have been going through the depression symptoms. 

They consider the following DSM-5 criteria for diagnosing depression symptoms in individuals. Doctors would talk to you and hear about the symptoms you are currently experiencing. For instance, you may tell the doctor about your behavior patterns, moods on a routine basis, your lifestyle, etc. They may ask you a set of questions for screening depression. 

Symptoms of Depression 

As per DSM-5, the following are the symptoms of clinical depression, also called Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Further, you must experience at least five or more of the following for the two-week period. Also, a minimum of two of these symptoms must be either lack of interest or loss of interest that you should experience almost daily. 

The following depression symptoms help you answer common questions like:

• What are the three main symptoms of depressive disorders?
• What is the number one symptom of depression?
• Which are the 5 characteristics of depression?

• Depressed mood
• Lack of interest or pleasure in activities you used to enjoy earlier
• Insomnia or hypersomnia
• A noticeable weight gain or weight loss
• Fatigue or loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness and excessive guilt
• Psychomotor agitation or retardation
• Repetitive suicidal thoughts
• Inability to concentrate or focus and indecisiveness 

Is it Possible to Diagnose Yourself With Depression? 

You can take our depression test online to know if you are experiencing depression symptoms. This is a self-assessment questionnaire that will put you in various life situations to help you identify depression symptoms. Taking this test will help you understand how you are feeling specifically from the past 12 months. However, this is not a diagnostic tool and in any way does not replace the diagnosis made by a mental health professional. 

Much like the above symptoms, there are certain physical signs of depression.

Physical Signs of Depression

People experiencing depression commonly face Physical symptoms. These physical signs of depression can result in severe pain as well as complex treatment. 

In fact, people who go for treatment in primary care settings typically claim to experience physical symptoms only. This makes it very difficult to diagnose depression. In fact, physical symptoms and depression share a strong connection. 

The neurotransmitters like norepinephrine and serotonin impact pain and mood. And it is the deregulation of these neurotransmitters that causes depression and pain. 

Some of the physical signs of depression are as follows.

• Severe joint pain
• Back pain
• Fatigue
• Sleep issues 
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Limb pain
• Changes in appetite
• Psychomotor activity changes 

Given these depression symptoms, it is important to know that depression is very different from anxiety. Let’s have a look at the signs of anxiety to understand how anxiety varies from depression. 

What are Signs of Anxiety?

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most common anxiety disorders. Excessive fear, anxiety, and associated behavioral disturbances mark all anxiety disorders. Where fear is an emotional reaction to a real or imaginary threat, anxiety is a forecast of a future threat. 

The following are the signs or symptoms of GAD. 

• Excessive anxiety and worry for more than a minimum of six months
• Finding it difficult to control excessive worry
• Feeling restless or on the edge
• Getting easily tired
• Finding it challenging to focus or mind going blank
• Feeling irritated
• Muscle tension 
• Disturbed or excessive sleep 

How Do You Diagnose Depression?

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and American Academy of Family Physicians recommend that all adults 18 years and above must be screened for depression. This is irrespective of whether there exist any risk factors for depression. 

Since depression occurs differently in different individuals, it is hard to diagnose depression. For instance, some people suffering from depression may have disturbed sleep and loss of appetite. While there may be others who may have a sad mood and loss of interest in routine activities or hobbies they used to love before. 

Likewise, at times, a depressed person may have severe internal issues relative to the behavioral patterns that are visible. 

How Do Depression Symptoms Help in Diagnosing Depression? 

As specified earlier, you must experience a minimum of five depression symptoms as mentioned above for a period of at least two weeks or more. Also, the two symptoms must be a depressed mood and lack of interest which you must experience almost every day.

Going through these symptoms can impact your social, personal, and professional life. They interfere with your routine functioning, making it difficult for you to undertake daily chores. These may include difficulty in eating, moving out of bed, taking care of your health and hygiene, etc. 

Now, there can be a host of reasons for feeling depressed. Letting your doctor know about such triggers can help in giving him the correct diagnosis. 

What are 4 Major Causes of Depression? 

You may not experience depression for any specific reason. There are a number of reasons why depression may occur. Depression symptoms occur differently across people. Therefore,  a number of events can trigger depression symptoms.

For instance, various stressful events like losing a job, experiencing a divorce, death of a loved one, etc may trigger depression. 

Similarly, age could be a factor to cause depression in people. You may experience financial distress with time or a dull social life which may get them into depression. 

Also, there are people who feel depressed as a result of multiple distressing events that take place simultaneously. 

For example, they may have lost a loved one and at the same time experience feelings of worthlessness.

Let’s see what 4 major causes of depression are. 

1. Environmental Factors

The kind of experiences a child has is one of the critical causes of depression later in life. Unfavorable experiences like child abuse, losing a loved one, seeing the separation of one’s parents can trigger depressive symptoms in such individuals in their teenage or adulthood.  

2. One’s Temperament

Your personality type or nature can also trigger depression during later life. For instance, you could be a person who excessively criticizes yourself for everything happening in your life. Likewise, your self-esteem issues are linked to your experiences as a child, your genes, or both.

3. Genetic and Physiological Factors

It is quite likely to inherit depression from someone in your first blood. In fact, if you have someone in a first-degree family who suffered from depression, the chances of you having depression increase by two-four times.  

4. Course Modifying Disorders 

As per DSM-5, all the non-mood disorders increase the risk of depression in an individual. Some of the common non-mood disorders include anxiety, substance use, and BPD. 

A serious illness may also result in one showing depressive symptoms. These illnesses could be diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or morbid obesity. 

5. Loneliness 

You may experience loneliness which may be an outcome of withdrawing from family and friends. Similarly, those who decide to stay alone or do not seek partnerships suffer from the loneliness which has a higher possibility of leading to depression. on-mood disorders increase the risk of depression in an individual. 

Dismissing Other Possibilities 

1. Laboratory Tests for Diagnosing Depression

Much like depression symptoms, doctors would ask you to go for various laboratory tests. This is to dismiss that the depression symptoms are not a result of some other illness. The other issues may include medical illnesses like thyroid, vitamin D deficiency, etc. For which the medical professionals may ask you to go for blood tests. 

Therefore, when conducting physical tests to reject other causes of depression, the medical professionals mainly concentrate on the endocrine and neurological systems. 

It is because both the central nervous system and endocrine system issues can result in depression. For instance, endocrine disorders like the following can result in depression. 

a. Hypothyroidism

This is a thyroid disease in which the thyroid gland becomes underactive. In other words, your thyroid gland does not make enough of the thyroid hormone. 

The thyroid controls your body’s metabolism, which is nothing but how your body cells take energy from food. Also, metabolism also impacts your heart rate, body temperature, how properly your body burns calories. Thus, your body metabolism goes for a toss if it does not produce enough thyroid. 

b. Hyperthyroidism

This relates to the overactive thyroid gland producing excessive thyroid hormone called thyroxine. Since your thyroid controls metabolism and heart rate, hyperthyroid can make the metabolism accelerate due to excessive thyroid hormones.  

c. Cushing’s Disease

This disease is related to adrenal glands in which these glands produce excessive cortisol. Thus, you suffer from Cushing’s disease when there is excessive cortisol in your body for a long period of time. 

And depression is one of the critical symptoms of this disease. Therefore, doctors conduct lab tests to check if you suffer from depression because of this disease. 

d. Central Nervous System Issues and Injuries 

Illnesses associated with CNS and related injuries can also result in depression. Some of these issues may include stroke, CNS tumors, head trauma, etc.  

2. Additional Tests for Diagnosing Depression

Apart from blood tests, doctors may at times suggest you undergo supplementary tests. Some of them may include: 

•  ECG to detect heart issues
•  CT scan or brain MRI to reject issues like brain tumors
• EEG to track the electrical activity of the brain

3. Screening Instruments for Diagnosing Depression 

Professionals use various instruments for diagnosing depression. These instruments help in assessing depressive symptoms that enable professionals to work treatment options. 

1. Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ – 9)

PHQ is a self-reporting technique used to screen depression symptoms. It is a three-page questionnaire that a patient can completely self-administer. The PHQ-9 is a 9 item depression module from the complete PHQ. This helps in identifying symptoms of various types of depression

Further, the mental health professional checks the test for positive responses once the patient completes the test. This is done by using the diagnostic criteria given towards the bottom of every page. 

Also, PHQ checks for 8 diagnoses that are categorized under the threshold and subthreshold disorders. The threshold disorders include MDD, panic disorder, bulimia nervosa, and other anxiety disorders. On the other hand, the subthreshold disorders include binge eating disorder, other depressive disorder, possible alcohol abuse, and somatoform. 

2. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

This is a self-reporting tool that is commonly used for screening depression, measuring behavioral changes, and severity of depression. The BDI screening test contains 21 self-reporting items which you have to finish using the multiple-choice format. 

3. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D) 

HAM-D, also written as HRSD or HDRS screens depression in people before, during, and after the treatment. Medical professionals conduct this test which contains 21 items. However, you are given scores on this test based on the first 17 items. 

4. Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D)

CES-D is a 20 item self-report screening tool for depression that was specifically designed for the general population. However, it is also used as a screening tool for depression in primary care settings. This test accounts for major dimensions of depression witnessed in the last week. 

5. EQ-5D

EQ-5D is a standard instrument in the form of a questionnaire that is not related to any specific illness. It is an instrument that measures the quality of life with respect to health. Also, it evaluates the quality of life in respect of the following five parameters: 

• Mobility
• Self-care
• Pain or discomfort
• Usual activities
• Anxiety or depression self-report screening

6. Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)

 This is a rating scale that measures the severity of depression in people 18 years and above using a 10-item questionnaire. MADRS is the changed version of HAM-D and has an increased sensitivity to change over time. 

What are the Levels of Depression?

Different classification systems have been used for determining different levels of depression. These systems have been based on a combination of factors such as duration, severity, nature, number, and pattern of symptoms. 

Different studies have been conducted to know the best way to describe various levels of depression. As per one such study, it is critical to assess three dimensions to diagnose a depressive disorder. These include severity, duration, and course. 

i. Severity

We can’t define severity alone as the dimension for defining the level of depression. However, it is useful in judging the severity of at least the number of major depression symptoms. Therefore, major depression based on severity using DSM – IV criteria can be classified as follows. These should be taken as examples and not as separate categories. 

ii. Subthreshold Depressive Symptoms

This is when an individual shows less than five symptoms of depression. 

iii. Mild Depression

This includes the individual showing a few symptoms over and above five symptoms that are needed for diagnosis. These symptoms lead to only minor functional impairment. 

iv. Moderate Depression

This is a level of depression that lies between mild and severe major depression.  

v. Severe Depression

Here the majority of the symptoms occur with or without psychotic symptoms. Further, these interfere with a person’s routine functioning. 

vi. Duration

Major depression can be classified into the following based on duration: 

vii. Acute Depression

This includes meeting one of the severity parameters for at least 2 weeks and not longer than 2 years. 

viii. Chronic Depression: 

This is when the individual meets one of the severity criteria for more than 2 years. 

ix. Course

This is not taken as a classificatory parameter. However, it is important from the point of view of the recurrence of depression. 

x. Number of lifetime depressive events and the time gap between the recent events

The number of depression episodes ranges from a single episode to repeat occurrences. A minimum of 2 months of complete or partial remission are needed to differentiate the episodes.  

xi. Stage of the Episode

This relates to where the individual is in the course or journey of his depression. That is, if the depression is worsening, improving, or static. 

Why See a Professional: Role of Mental Health Professionals

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) or clinical depression is one of the most common depressive disorders across the world. As seen earlier, it is different from normal sadness and is much more than that. It is extreme sadness that lasts for over two weeks and interferes with one’s routine functioning. 

You need to understand that depression may be one of the major causes of disability in the world. Yet, it is a mental issue that needs the right professional help for treatment.

This is because mental health professionals are trained individuals with the right amount of experience. They know what medications and know various psychotherapy approaches they can adopt to treat depression. 

Also, they hear you out and have the right knowledge, instruments, and experience to identify depression symptoms. Not only this, these mental health professionals help you meet your recovery goals and help you cope better with your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.  

Whom to Consult?: Psychologist Vs Psychiatrist Vs GP

One of the typical questions for people showing depression symptoms is  “Should I see a psychologist or psychiatrist for depression?” Well, this question is bound to trouble you for both psychiatrists and psychologists who treat depression. However, they differ in terms of their education, experience, and treatment approaches. Therefore, it is important to consider all these things before deciding whom to approach for menstrual health support. 

Let’s have a look at the various mental health professionals and how they can help. This will help you in understanding whom to approach for seeking depression treatment. 

1. What is a Psychologist?

Practicing psychologists are professionally trained individuals who possess the necessary clinical skills to help people deal with life and mental health issues.

They hold a doctoral degree in clinical psychology or another area of expertise like education or counseling.

They are trained to understand the person’s mental health position through clinical interviews, psychological tests, and analysis. Accordingly, they can diagnose mental health issues and offer individual or group therapy. 

After the requisite years of study and experience, they are licensed by the states to offer a host of services. These include analyses and psychotherapy. They use a wide range of techniques and take into account the patient’s circumstances, unique values, characteristics, and goals. 

How Can a Psychologist Help You? 

Not many people are aware of the wide range of behavioral health issues that psychologists are trained for. You may talk to a psychologist for dealing with mental issues like feeling depressed, anxious, or angry for some time. You may even seek their support for severe conditions that impact your routine functioning and your physical and mental health. 

There are still others who seek help from psychologists for short-term issues they want to deal with. These may include bereaving over the death of a loved one, dealing with the anxiety of a new job, etc. 

Similarly, you can also consult a psychologist for: 

• overcoming opioid abuse
• diagnosing and treating dementia
• diagnosing and managing autism
• helping you maintain a healthy lifestyle
• controlling your diabetes
• getting your weight under control
• helping with anxiety disorders
• helping with insomnia
• managing severe pain

Further, they use a variety of evidence-based techniques to help improve the lives of people dealing with such issues. The most widely used treatments by psychologists include psychotherapy or talk therapy. 

Psychotherapy further includes several therapy styles that can be adopted. The psychologist talks to you and hears you out to see what style is the best fit to treat your mental health issue. 

Commonly Used Therapies

There are various types of therapies that a psychologist may use. These include: 

• CBT
• Interpersonal therapy 
• Psychodynamic therapy
• Humanistic therapy, and
• A combination of these

Also, psychologists use these therapies for individuals, couples, and families. In addition to this, some psychologists are also trained for hypnosis to treat anxiety disorders. 

Thus, psychologists help you manage chronic illnesses, get rid of addictions, deal with stressful events, and conduct tests and evaluations. 

These help them to diagnose your current conditions and help them understand your feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and moods. These evaluations also give them a better understanding of your intellect, strengths, weaknesses, personality traits, choices, etc. 

Psychologists And Their Study

Psychologists are medical professionals who graduate in psychology. In graduation, psychology students are trained on various characteristics of human behavior and personality. It also includes courses on research, statistics, and psychotherapy. Assessment, and ethics. 

As per the American Psychological Association (APA), the doctoral degree is the minimum that is needed as an educational requirement for psychologists. 

The doctoral degrees range from the Ph.D. – doctor of philosophy, PsyD – doctor of psychology, or EdD – doctor of education.

Total Period for Study: 

• 2 years for masters
• 4-6 years for a doctoral degree
• 1-2 years of full-time internship

How to Choose a Psychologist?

There are several factors to consider when choosing a psychologist you want to work with. 

1. Look for Comfort

Make sure you share comfort with the psychologist so that you can come out with your issues in detail with him/her

2. Check for License

See if he is licensed by the state in which he is a practicing psychologist

3. See if He’s An Expert in Dealing with Your Issues

You should let the psychologist know about your feelings (like anger, anxiety, excessive worry, etc) and issues you are currently facing (like marriage, losing a loved one, job, etc). Then ask him whether he is trained or expert in dealing with such issues. 

4. Ask for His Area of Expertise

You also need to know if the psychologist is trained in dealing with families, couples, children, or individuals. 

5. Types of Treatments He Uses

Be clear about the type of treatments used for dealing with various issues. Also, be clear about how effective such treatments have proved for others. 

5. Check for the Fees and Insurance

Look for the number of charges a psychologist takes for a typical session that lasts for 45-50 minutes. Also, see if the psychologist accepts your insurance under Medicare or Medicaid. 

5. Check his Credentials

You must see the psychologists’ education, years of experience, clients handled, star ratings, and reviews, if available. For the qualifications he must have, you can check the above section. Similarly, you also need to check if the psychologist is licensed by the state in which he undertakes his practice.  

2. What is a Psychiatrist?

As per APA, a psychiatrist is a physician who is a specialist in diagnosing, treating, preventing, and studying mental, personality, and behavioral disorders. He is a medical doctor who is a specialist in mental health and substance use disorders. 

Further, he is a licensed doctor who has attained psychiatric training. Accordingly, he can diagnose mental health issues, prescribe and regulate medications, and also offer therapy. 

In addition to this, he is equipped to evaluate both the mental and physical problems of psychological issues that you go through. Thus, people approach psychiatrists for seeking help for: 

• Suicidal thoughts
• Panic attacks
• Dreadful hallucinations
• Hearing of voices
•  Long term issues like hopelessness
• Prolonged sadness
• Excessive worry and anxiety

How Can a Psychiatrist Help You?

A psychiatrist is a medical doctor who can carry out a wide range of laboratory and psychological tests. This, together with the conversations with you, help him to understand your feelings and state of mind in a better way. 

 Thus, it is their education and training that enables them to understand complicated things like: 

• the connection between emotions and psychological illness
• the link between genes and family history
• understanding the complex psychological data
• diagnosing a mental illness
• working out treatment plans with the patients

Further, a psychiatrist helps to ascertain if you need medication to cope with depression symptoms. He will ask you about the other medications that you are currently taking. This helps him to understand what drug to prescribe, given your current medications. 

Commonly Used Treatments

A psychiatrist may use treatments like psychotherapy, medications, psychosocial treatments, and others like ECT. This is based on the condition of the patients in question. 

Psychiatrists And Their Study

A psychiatrist is a licensed medical doctor who has undertaken his psychiatric training. He/she is a physician who is a specialist in diagnosing, preventing, treating, and studying behavioral patterns. 

For a psychiatrist in the United States of America, the education includes: 

• 4 years of pre-medical training in college 
• a 4-year course in a medical school. During this, the last two years of the course are spent in clerkships. This includes studying with physicians in a minimum of five specialty areas
• a 4-year residency in a hospital or agency that is allowed by the American Medical Association
• on completing residency, Apart from  completing their residency training in psychiatry, they are Doctor of 

What to Look for in a Psychiatrist?

Much like a psychologist, you need to consider the following before choosing a psychiatrist.

i. Area of Expertise

The first thing you need to check is the psychiatrist’s area of expertise. This is to understand if the psychiatrists’ area of expertise matches your needs. As in, are you ling for a general psychiatrist or the one with a subspeciality in say BPD, additions, etc

ii. Educational Background and Other Screening Factors

This should include checking the selected psychiatrist’s medical school, residency, and post-residency. You can also see if the mental health professional has any certifications like psychopharmacology. Likewise, you must check the years of experience, the publications are written, and any academic affiliations like teaching psychiatry, etc. 

iii. Check For Insurance

You must check with your insurance provider if the psychiatrist you have selected is part of the insurance network. Accordingly, see what percentage of your therapy fees are covered and how much would you be required to pay.  

iv. See if He Provides Online Therapy

It may be the case that it might not be possible for your loved one with PTSD to see a doctor in person. In such a situation, having an online therapy facility is helpful. 

v. See Your Comfort

This relates to considering factors that will make you feel comfortable to share your worries and feelings with the psychiatrist. For instance, there may be patients who feel comfortable with a psychiatrist who has been practicing for many years. While there may be others who would open up in front of a younger practitioner. 

Likewise, you may even consider gender and if you want to visit in person or go for an online session. 

Should I See a Psychologist or Psychiatrist for Depression First?

Many people are experiencing mental health issues. However, they do not have an understanding of whom to consult or where to start from for treating their mental health issues. 

In the above section, we have laid out the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist. This is to help you seek professional treatment from trained professionals who can better diagnose and treat depression and other mental health issues. 

Since now you have clarity about the roles of both the psychiatrists and psychologists, it will be easy for you to choose. 

Here are certain things that you can consider to choose between the two. 

• You can visit a general practitioner who may evaluate your symptoms, family history, etc. After hearing you out and making his assessment, he may suggest to you whom to visit. 
• Psychologists use psychotherapies like CBT and talk therapy to deal with your mental health issues. Thus, they may evaluate your issue symptoms and have a one-on-one session to work it out. 
• Whereas, psychiatrists, on the other hand, suggest medication to reduce your mental health issue symptoms. 

3. Other Mental Health Professionals 

1. Counselors, Therapists, and Clinicians 

These professionals hold master’s degrees and are trained to analyze the person’s mental health condition. They use a variety of therapeutic techniques and work under job titles like counselors, therapists, or clinicians. 

Accordingly, people facing mental health issues can reduce their symptoms and improve their way of thinking if they choose to consult them. 

License and Certifications

Their licenses and certifications vary depending on the state they are practicing in. Typically, these may include licensed: 

• Marriage and Family Therapist, LMFT
• Professional Counselor, LPC
• Clinical Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor, LCADC

2. Clinical Social Workers 

These are also trained to understand and analyze an individual’s mental health. In addition to this, clinical social workers use therapeutic techniques as per particular training programs. 

Further, these workers also have training in advocacy services and case management. Advocacy services include these social workers helping individuals be engaged in the important decisions that impact the individual’s life. These advocates help individuals:

• to express their viewpoints
• in understanding and exploring their choices
• by attending meetings, writing letters, etc. 

Similarly, as case managers, these social workers help individuals to meet their individual and family health needs. This is achieved via advocacy, communication, and available resources. The idea here is to provide safety, quality of care, and cost-effective results to the patient. 

3. Psychiatric or Mental Health Nurse Practitioners 

These are mental health professionals who can evaluate, diagnose, and offer therapy in respect of various mental health issues and substance use disorders. In the case of certain states, psychiatric or mental health nurse practitioners even prescribe and regulate medications. 

Educational Qualifications and Licenses and Credentials

Degrees they hold include:

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Master of Science (MS) in nursing with a special focus on psychiatry

Likewise, licenses and credentials include: 

• National Council Licensure Examination, NCLEX
• Board Certification in Psychiatric Nursing via the American Academy of Nurses Credentialing Center, PMHNP-BC

4. Family Nurse Practitioners (FNPs)

FNPs are professionals who can offer general medical services. These include services as provided by a primary care physician considering the state laws in which they practice. 

Accordingly, FNPs can prescribe medication to the patient. However, he would prefer to see a mental health specialist for that. Therefore, both mental health specialists and FNPs need to work together to work out a plan for the mental wellbeing of the patient. 

Educational Qualifications and Licenses and Credentials

Degrees they hold include:

• Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) or Master of Science (MS) in nursing 

Likewise, licenses and credentials include: 

• National Council Licensure Examination, NCLEX
• Family Nurse Practitioner Board Certified, FNP-BC  

5. Primary Care Physicians

Primary care physicians can also recommend medication. But, you would always prefer consulting a mental health professional for the issues you face. Here also, both primary care physicians and mental health professionals should work together to work a plan that works best for you. 

Educational Qualifications and Licenses and Credentials

Degrees they hold include:

• Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO)

Likewise, licenses and credentials include: 

• Licensed physicians in the state in which they are carrying out their practice. 

6. Psychiatric Pharmacists

 They are pharmacists who carry out an advanced practice and specialize in mental health care. Further, they can even prescribe medication if they are permitted to do so in the state they are practicing. 

In addition to this, they moderate medication based on how you respond to them and alter treatment accordingly. Also, many of them have even completed additional training in geriatric psychiatry, substance use disorders, and child or adolescent psychiatry. 

Educational Qualifications and Licenses and Credentials

Degrees they hold include:

• Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD). Further, completion of residency training is not needed. However, it is commonly undertaken by Psychiatric Pharmacists. 

Likewise, licenses and credentials include: 

• Having a pharmacist license in the state in which the psychiatric pharmacist is carrying out his practice. 
• He may also be given a Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist by the Board of Pharmacy Specialities. 

7. Social Workers

Social workers have B.A. or B.S. degrees and offer case management, placement services, etc. This helps in supporting the healthy life of individuals. 

8. Pastoral Counselors 

These are clergy members who are trained in pastoral education. They have proper training in diagnosing and providing counseling. 

9. Certified Peer Specialists 

These are people who have themselves been through a mental health issue or a substance use disorder. They are usually trained, certified, and prepared to help patients in recovering from mental health issues. This is done by helping patients set goals and build on strengths. These specialists typically provide guidance and support. 

Why is Googling Symptoms a Bad Idea? 

It is a common practice for many of us to search on Google when experiencing any medical condition for symptoms. For instance, you or your loved one might be experiencing nasal congestion. And you may have found yourself googling for symptoms to know more about the health condition. 

1. Anyone Can Post Content Online

Google search can put you in the right direction and make the right decision if you’re aware of your health condition. But, if you are self-diagnosing your health condition by looking on search engines, you may be misleading yourself. 

This is because it may be the case that you or your loved one may have normal nasal congestion. But search through a search engine like Google may show you symptoms of acute sinusitis or sleep apnea. 

Likewise, there is a higher probability that the insights you come across may not be correct. This is because your search query may serve you with a medical website with credible content. 

However, it may also show information posted on personal blogs, forums, or Wikipedia pages, which can’t be trusted.  

2. Google Ranking Factors May Not Show Content you Want

Google ranking factors rank those articles higher that are well optimized for the search engine. That is to say that many credible resources that are not well optimized as per the Google algorithm may not rank higher. Likewise, priority is assigned to the content that is repetitively searched on the internet. 

Thus, if more people are searching for headaches under brain tumors, information related to brain tumors would appear higher on google. 

Therefore, it can be difficult to come across the right resource for information given the algorithm and the volume of information available. 

3. Googling Symptoms Causes Anxiety 

As per a study, googling for symptoms adds to worry and anxiety. This is specifically the case with people who have no medical background or training. 

The behavior of googling for health symptoms is termed Cyberchondria (CYB). It is a behavior that is marked by too much online searching for medical conditions leaving the searchers anxious. 

Dealing With Depression? Seek Help

If you’re dealing with depression or any other mental illness, it is highly recommended to see a mental health professional. Mental health professionals conduct proper analysis and recommend treatment and medication based on the diagnosis. 

Also Read:

What are the Top 5 Causes of Depression?

10 Tips for Living With Depression

Should I See a Psychologist or Psychiatrist for Depression?

Is PTSD a Mental Illness or Disorder?

How is PTSD Usually Treated?

Can PTSD Be Cured Without Medication?

How Can We Reduce Avoidance Behavior?

How to Find a Good PTSD Therapist?

Depressive disorders like Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Persistent Depressive Disorder are some of the costly disorders across the world. As per WHO, depression impacts close to 280 million people in the world. And despite having effective treatments, over 75% of people having depression in middle and low-income countries do not get treated. This is where some of the best books for depression come in handy.

These books about anxiety and depression help you to understand what depression is, the signs of depression, and the things you can do for depression treatment. Before getting into some of the best self-help books for depression, let’s understand what depression is.

What is Depression?

Major depressive disorder (MDD) makes for one of the best conditions under depressive disorders. As per DSM-5, MDD is a depressive disorder that is characterized by a depressed mood or lack of interest during the last two weeks. Apart from these two signs of depression, the depression symptoms seen during the last two weeks are as follows.

• Major weight gain or weight loss
• Sleep issues like insomnia or hypersomnia
• Fatigue or loss of energy almost each day
• Feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt
• Difficulty in concentrating
• Repeated thoughts of death
• Psychomotor agitation

One of the major causes of depression includes temperamental factors. An individual experiencing neuroticism has a higher risk of the initiation of MDD. Likewise, high levels of neuroticism increase the chances of MDD even higher specifically in response to stressful events.

Likewise, the environment one is exposed to during childhood or otherwise also causes depression. For instance, a child exposed to bad childhood experiences like sexual assault and multiple such episodes is at a higher risk of MDD. Similarly, a person exposed to stressful events like financial crises is at a higher risk of experiencing MDD.

In addition to this, MDD is also at times the outcome of one’s genetic makeup. Persons with first-degree family members suffering from MDD have a higher risk of suffering from MDD. This is relative to the general population.

Further, all non-mood disorders pose a higher risk of depression in an individual. For instance, MDD which develops against the backdrop of other disorders like anxiety, substance use, and borderline personality disorder. Such a depressive disorder adopts a more difficult approach. This may delay the identification of the depression symptoms.

Finally, severe medical conditions may also result in major depressive episodes. These may include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.

Thus, to help you understand what depression is, and what depression feels like, books to overcome depression are very useful.

This article covers some of the best books for depression that you must read to help you deal with depression.

Best Books for Depression

1. The Noonday Demon

The Noonday Demon is one of the best books for people with depression by Andrew Solomon. Solomon himself has struggled with depression and hence brings out insights from his own experience. Additionally, he counts on the interviews with doctors, fellow sufferers, scientists, etc to bring out the complications and the pain associated with the illness. Thus, Solomon puts out the details, complications, and pain associated with depression.

One of the important goals of the book is to get rid of the stigma attached to mental illness. Secondly, he aims to face the challenge of defining depression as a mental illness, the drugs available to treat the mental illness, the efficiency of these drugs, and the impact it has on the populations at large.

According to Solomon, depression is a vehicle of despair. When despair occurs, it results in self-degradation. This self-degradation is what results in diminishing one’s ability to receive and give affection. He further adds that this loneliness with oneself and others is what makes one lose connection with others as well as oneself.

But, if a person with depression can love oneself and others, it can serve to protect the mind from having negative, suicidal thoughts, feeling depressed, and losing interest in life.

This is where antidepressants and psychotherapy come in handy. These make it easy for people with depression to love themselves and give love to others.

2. Feeling Great

Feeling Great is also one of the best books for depression by Dr. David D. Burns. He discloses some of the great methods that people with anxiety and depression can practice to see a lasting improvement. It is a book that acts as your personal toolkit for changing feelings of anxiety and depression into joy and confidence.

This is not a book that replaces therapy. This is because the techniques mentioned may not apply to everyone reading the book given each one may experience depression that varies in severity and type.

In this book, Dr. Burns shares the stories of various people with anxiety and depression. These are positive stories of their recovery and how Dr. Burn’s techniques have worked for them. Such examples of people with depression improving significantly give hope to readers with depression. And hope is an important part of healing.

He further claims that depression is an outcome of how you think about things. That is the negative thoughts that occur and the content of things that one says to himself.

3. Lost Connections

Lost Connections is also one of the amazing books to help with depression by Johann Hari. In this book, Hari makes use of cases in history and science to reveal the reasons people go through depression.

Hari himself has struggled with depression and was just eighteen when he first had antidepressants. His doctor told him that depression is primarily caused due to lower levels of a brain chemical called serotonin. And SSRIs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors were the solutions to depression.

He used to feel grateful for SSRIs and tell his fellow mates in college and wrote articles in newspapers when he became a journalist. These articles explained how sadness came back to him due to the diminishing brain chemicals. And why he felt blessed to have SSRIs as the cure for depression.

But with time, his dosage per day kept increasing. As he was expressing his feelings about SSRIs being a savior to his therapist, his therapist explained that Are still appeared depressed to him. That’s how Hari explains his experience in the book that depression is not necessarily a result of the chemical imbalance.

There exist a host of usual reasons for depression. For instance, difficult life situations can result in depression. Similarly, feeling disconnected from people can lead to depression. Also, a disconnect from bad childhood experiences can cause depression.

4. The Mindful Way Through Depression

The Mindful Way Through Depression is one of the good books for depression written by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, and Zindel V. Segal. This book is a guide to how experiencing depression is not one’s mistake. In other words, a person experiencing depression becomes a victim of his efforts to free himself from this illness. We are habituated to free ourselves from the pain we suffer. And the more we try to liberate ourselves, the more we get trapped in the pain.

Further, the dampening of mood during the first stages is not what causes the damage. However, it is how one reacts to the diminishing mood that makes all the difference.

Thus, this book unveils some of the practices that one can adopt in daily life. These practices help one to get rid of the mental habits that keep one entangled in unhappiness. This program is called mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). This includes various forms of meditations and current scientific understandings that have been proven useful within prevailing medicine and psychology.

This book helps you to know various ways in which you can know your mind and body. And this is what helps in making a major shift in your association with negative thoughts and feelings.

Thus, such a shift can help you chart a path to prevent the downward spiral of mood so that it does not transform into depression.

5. The Happiness Trap

The Happiness Trap is a book that is founded on the growing scientific research that reveals that we all are gripped in the psychological trap. As per the author, all of us live lives based on incorrect beliefs about happiness. This is why we get stuck in a vicious cycle where the more we attempt to find happiness, the more we suffer.

But, we can learn how to identify this happiness trap and come out of it. This book provides you with the skills and tools you need to identify and come out of this vicious cycle. Such knowledge is based on a new development in human psychology called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The goal of ACT is to help people live a meaningful life and at the same time effectively deal with the unavoidable pain.

Further, the book reveals the definitions of happiness. Where one defines happiness as having more in terms of money, status, sexual activity, etc. The other definition relates happiness to having a meaningful life. That is a life marked by taking actions on things that matter to you and taking a stand for what you believe. This book defines hap[piness in the second way mentioned above.

It teaches you that pain is inevitable and that we can’t avoid it. However, we can learn how to handle this pain in a better way. Further, it emphasizes creating a meaningful life that is fulfilling.

6. Essential Art Therapy Exercises

This is a book written by Leah Guzman, who is a registered, board-certified art therapist. (ATR-BC). The book provides a launchpad for mindfulness, acceptance, insight, and self-expression. The author shares several exercises that help people suffering from mental illness to visually represent their thoughts and feelings.

These exercises help people with anxiety, depressions, PTSD, etc to learn how to control their thoughts and feelings. Such learning impacts their behavior and helps in identifying new ways of responding to given situations. Further, this book is not only for people who have artistic abilities. It is also helpful for those who take themselves to be non-artistic.

Further, this book talks about art therapy which makes use of art and psychology to improve the lives of people. People with anxiety, PTSD, depression, etc can express their feelings through various art-making processes. This helps them to heal.

7. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple

As the name suggests, the book is on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy written by Seth J. Gillihan, a PhD. In this, the author explains that over two decades of his experience, there are two things he’s understood about effective treatments for mental disorders. The first is that they are simple. And that is what he has tried to do to explain Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as a technique for anxiety and depression.

According to Seth, when one is depressed, he isn’t motivated to even take up activities that he loves doing. Accordingly, one doesn’t have the energy or time to read something complicated.

Secondly, treatments might be simple but they are not easy. The one suffering from mental illness like anxiety and depression has to make a lot of effort. This is because it is difficult for him to take up something he loves doing when he is depressed. This is where this book comes in handy. CBT is a powerful technique that gives one goal that he needs to work towards. Further, it also provides one with techniques and a course that help him to achieve his goals.

Even if you don’t know anything about CBT, you need not worry. This is because Seth has designed this book in such a way that it can be used by anyone. These may include people who are about CBT for the first time to those who have used CBT before and want a refresher.

The book puts together a host of research-based techniques that are useful for various mental illnesses.

8. Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts

Written by Sally M. Winston, PsyD, and Martin N. Seif, a Ph.D. this is one of the best books to help with depression. As the name suggests, the book is about those distressing, fearful thoughts that come to you uninvited. These are intrusive thoughts that you are scared to share as they may be something shameful about you.

This book helps you to define your intrusive thoughts and acknowledge that there are numerous good people like you who have such thoughts. Additionally, it helps you to deal with your thoughts without any shame or fear which is useful in reducing your distress.

Further, it also reveals various types of intrusive thoughts that you can think of, why they occur, and various ways you can adopt to overcome them.

Further, it also exposes some of the myths that lead to intrusive thoughts and answers questions many people have about such thoughts. Also, these books give you an understanding of how your brain turns such intrusions so concerning for you. And why you aren’t able to get rid of them despite your best efforts.

9. Furiously Happy

Furiously Happy comes from the New York Times best-selling author Jenny Lawson. She is one of those who has herself struggled with different forms of mental illnesses, depression being one of them. And through this book, she analyses her lasting struggle with mental illness.

As Jenny Lawson puts it, Furiously Happy is about taking those moments when things are just fine and turning them extraordinary. It is because it is these moments that make one who he is and these are the same moments that push us into a war with our brains. It is these moments that make us challenge our very existence.

Also, it is a book about accepting everything about oneself, both the beautiful aspects as well as the flaws. And once done, using such acknowledgment to look for joy in amazing and outrageous ways. This book is for people fighting with mental illness that puts together a number of essays that are funny and honest.

10. The Upward Spiral

The Upward Spiral is one of the good books for depression that helps you explore your brain. Written by Alex Korb, PhD., this book provides you with the requisite practical knowledge and tools that help you improve your lives.

By knowing how your brain works, you can actually know what you can do to enhance your life. Alex takes you into the world of neuroscience where he talks about neuroplasticity. This is the ability of the brain to rewire itself based on what you do. That is, how you purposely shape your thoughts, how you intentionally calm your emotions can actually help the human brain to right itself.

So anyone with anxiety, depression, a depressive mood, etc can use the knowledge about the brain laid out in the book to understand and enjoy life.

Basically, various parts of your brain come together to reduce your anxiety and anxiety. Such knowledge can help turn the downward spiral tendency of your brain into an upward spiral.

11. The Depression Cure

The Depression Cure is a self-help book on depression that contains a six-step program that promises to treat depression. This program is called the Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC). In this book, the author Stephen S. Ilardi guides you through the TLC program step-by-step.

Further, he also shares numerous stories about people who have overcome depression using the TLC program. The program consists of six components. These include physical exercise, sunlight exposure, engaging activity, omega-3 fatty acids, social connection, and enhanced sleep.

As per the author, all these six components have antidepressant properties as per the research available. Further, he also reveals that this program addresses modern depression from its roots. That is, the fact that humans were never made for a sedentary, indoor, secluded, sleep-deprived, current day lifestyle.

12. This is Depression

Dr. Diane McIntosh makes depression easy to understand in her book This is Depression. As the name suggests, the book explains in simple terms what depression is all about and what are its causes. It also lays of how one’s early life experiences influence mental health during later life and how one can seek help.

In addition to this, Dr. Diane also reveals ways in which you can talk about depression with your loved ones. Further, she also guides on the various treatments available for depression, antidepressants, and how they function.

She even discusses the common side-effects of various anti-depressants and what are the options available to treat depression without medication.

Towards the end of the book, she cheats out a critical path to recovery that one can adopt to deal with depression.

This book is a simple guide to depression and can be used both by caregivers and people struggling with this mental illness.

13. Change Your Brain Change Your Life

This book lays out the importance of the brain imaging study of individuals to know if their brains work right. It lays out how the brain works and how one can make it work better.

The author, Dr. Daniel Amen, a neuropsychiatrist, puts down the insights gained from the brain SPECT (single-photon emission computed tomography) studies done on people. These studies reveal the blood flow and activity patterns that tell how the brain functions.

The doctor in his book reveals that it is important to study an individual’s brain using brain imaging technology. This is because without studying the brain, it is difficult to say what the person is going through.

This book helps one to understand more about his brain and gives you ways in which you can improve your brain functioning. Such an understanding of the brain and getting ideas for improvement help on unbecoming more effective.

The aim of the author through this book is to help the reader to want a better brain. This is because living an enhanced life depends on having an improved brain. Further, the various concepts discussed in the book will help you to be more empathetic and change your perspective towards people who are struggling with mental illness.

14. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of the Exercise and the Brain

Spark is one of the self-help books on depression that explains why physical activity is so important for how we think and feel. The author of the book Dr. John J. Ratey, in this book, lays out the science behind exercise that forms the building blocks of learning.

That is, how exercise:

• influences one’s attention, mood, and anxiety
• how it protects against stress and reverses effects of aging and
• how it can prevent effects of hormonal changes in women

Dr. John also explains how increased stress levels can shrink certain areas of the brain. And how physical activity results in boosting the brain’s infrastructure. The way muscles grow with use and diminish with inactivity. Likewise, the neurons in the brain connect through branches that flourish with increased physical activity. This results in improved brain activity.

He further reveals that muscle activity produces proteins that reach the brain via the bloodstream. In return, the proteins reaching the brain help individuals in higher-level thought processes.

This book puts out the connection between the brain, mind, and body. By understanding brain functioning and its communication with your body, you can manage problems and let your mind run along effortlessly.

15. Learned Hopefulness: The Power of Positivity to Overcome Depression

Learned Hopefulness is a book that lays out how hope takes us to our destiny despite there being numerous obstacles. Using the science of positive psychology, the author Dan Tomasulo, a Ph.D., reveals that people want to live meaningful and fulfilling lives.

If one concentrates on cultivating the best within oneself he can move towards the best possible future. Positive images about one’s future give him hope which takes him towards his destiny despite the obstacles.

However, we come in our own way because we lose hope owing to the shackles of our minds. The author puts out clearly that there exist tools to be hopeful and learn habits that will help you to move towards your positive destiny.

It doesn’t ask you to forget your suffering but guides you to maintain a balance by increasing your awareness and rethinking what your future could be.

Basically, it teaches you to use your imagination to know your strengths and possibilities in life.

16. Depression, Anxiety, and Other Things We Don’t Want to Talk About

This is a book by Ryan Casey Waller, a pastor and a licensed psychotherapist who himself has been suffering from anxiety and depression. In this book, he shares his own experience of enduring mental illness and how many people fail to admit their mental illness. This is because they feel that such an admission would mean that their faith in God is weak.

He also shares how people suffering from mental illnesses like anxiety and depression often lie to themselves and others. For instance, they would typically say that they’ll deal with the mental issue they are fighting with. As per the author, suffering from a mental illness does not mean that one’s faith in God is falling. Instead, God makes good our suffering and guides us towards a cure.

Still, the author claims that the people suffering from mental illness can feel alone and dispirited as he has experienced the same. Thus, putting together his clinical knowledge and theology concepts, Waller provides an empathetic guide that gives hope.

Waller motivates people with mental illness to have discussions about their mental illness without any shame or guilt. He asks readers to know that self-knowledge is critical to have a deep connection with God. Additionally, he urges people to get the necessary knowledge and tools needed to support people with mental illness, giving them love and self-care.

17. The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking

The Antidote is one of those books on anxiety and depression that compels you to think over the years-old advice on happiness in a completely new way. Many self-help preachers have been urging people to think positively and be optimistic about life and its various aspects to be happy.

However, Oliver Burkerman, the author of this book, claims that one’s relentless effort to prevent negative thinking is what makes one feel anxious and unhappy.

In this book, he urges readers to rethink their attitude towards uncertainty, death, and failures in life. As per him, one can get happiness by accepting the things he runs away from in his life.

This book is a counter-intuitive guide that acknowledges the power of negative thinking.

18. Depression-Free, Naturally

Depression Free Naturally is one of the self-help books for depression that contain principles to help you overcome unresolved emotional problems. This is despite you taking therapy, medication, healing sessions to overcome your mental issues.

Founder of the Health Recovery Center, Joan Mathews Larson shares the biochemical methods and tools. These have been tried and tested on several people showing symptoms of anxiety, depression, sullen mood, etc.

Having lost her teenage son to drug abuse, she says that no amount of talk therapy can repair the imbalanced biochemistry. She reveals that there is an enormous body of research that confirms that alcohol, prescribed drugs, stress, poor nutrition, and poor absorption destroy many natural substances.

These substances are needed by the human brain to control one’s emotions. Unfortunately, this leads to our brains changing physically but such changes are expressed emotionally.

Therefore, no amount of talk therapy or advice can change the brain’s biochemistry. In this book, Joan shares her program that will help you to improve your quality of life.

19. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful is one of the best books for depression written by Sarah Wilson, the best-selling author, and entrepreneur. In this book, she concentrates on anxiety which she has suffered her entire life. She puts her years of research into perspective as she talks about the triggers, treatments, and fads associated with anxiety.

Throughout the book, she shares her insights gained from interviewing Dalai lama, various mental health experts, and people suffering from mental issues.

She even puts forth the fact that anxiety is challenging and a risky mental illness. She redefines anxiety as a spiritual hunt over a troublesome disorder.

She says it’s a state of longingness that takes one nearer to what is important and what truly matters.

This book is funny, poetic, and at the same time practical in terms of helping people with anxiety to feel better about their state. The author also talks about the number of opportunities this common mental issue gives one to live a fulfilling life.

20. Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me

This is a memoir of the award-winning journalist Anna Mehler Paperny. In this, she bravely puts out her experience of depression and her journey to look for aspects known and unknown about this mental issue.

Depression is a mental disorder that affects one-fifth of the population and this is one of those books to help with depression. It provides some priceless solutions to those who are seeking the same.

It offers a mixed back of moments – funny, serious, exciting, and heartbreaking that leave the readers with everlasting impressions. Anna was just 20 when she attempted suicide. That’s when she put her reporter skills to use to know more about this mental issue.

She took various mental treatments available to find answers to a host of questions about depression. She puts out clearly how depression results in the devastation of people. Additionally, she lists down various schools of therapy, medicine, and pharmacology. Further, she’s put the interview conversations she’s had with a host of significant medical professionals across the US and Canada.

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