Untreated depression can lead to suicidal thoughts and even suicidal actions. Anyone contemplating a suicidal plan needs hospital attention immediately as this is indicative of Clinical or Major Depression. Any threat of suicide must be taken seriously by loved ones.
Medications work wonders for depressed individuals in the short-term. However, the medications are like life-preservers. Feeling abandoned and alone in the middle of a barren ocean, they keep your head above water and keep you from drowning. Nevertheless, you still must do the work of swimming to land. You must still seek rescue and make attempts to get your life in order, repair torn relationships, assess future goals and embark on a road to recovery.
This type of journey often begins painfully, as new evaluations must be made of old traumas. Your past may need to be revisited and re-interpreted so it no longer impairs your future.
At times, bouts of depression serve the purpose of illuminating a path that no longer is viable. Episodes of hopelessness and helplessness can show you that change is necessary and help to extract yourself from old worn out comfort zones or addictive belief systems.
Too often the psycho-pharmacological professions seek to alleviate life problems through medication, thereby masking the belief systems and dysfunctional thought processes that are the chief cause of depressed mood. Neurochemicals are NOT thoughts, but can assert influence over thought patterns and some medications assist in balancing these mood chemicals.
Yet, medications will not aid in repairing broken relationships or finding work when unemployed. Medications will not aid in alleviating distorted beliefs that demand the constant consumption of drugs or alcohol, nor will they alleviate the trauma of past abuse and the beliefs about yourself that result in actions/behaviors detrimental to your happiness. These are the dark shadows that lurk in the recesses of the mind and only make an appearance through destructive behaviors. Medications can only mask what needs to be clearly seen and dissolved through recognition and reevaluation and replacement.
The best treatment for major depression is the combination of psychotherapy and short-term medication. Over reliance on drugs only causes additional problems and does nothing to alleviate the core dis-ease from which the depression has evolved.
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