Therapies

[mocha delight]

Hi was wondering if anyone’s tried some natural/alternative therapies on top of help of medication and professional help that has helped with depression & anxiety. I’ve done some research and exercise seems to be one option but I know that if I exercise for 3 days in a row for example my mind for some reason which I don’t know why goes to a not so good place. So what does everyone else do? And does it work? Open to dry some things to help with the depression and anxiety since no professionals like psychologists ect ect ect would be accepting new patients right now.

[Guest_4643]

Hi mocha delight, interesting question. I personally haven't tried anything. What I do is go for walks daily, colour in and listen to music. That helps me sometimes, but it's different for everyone. With the walking I like the idea of going outside, getting fresh air and looking at nature. But thats just me.

Other than that I haven't tried anything such as treatment. Do you have a Psychiatrist, GP or anything? Perhaps if you do, they can offer you some suggestions if you like? Or you can always look on websites such as this, Blak Dog Institute and more for ideas. Best of luck, take care.

Tayla

[mocha delight]

Thanks for your reply mb I do have a gp but no psychologist/psychiatrist yet and hopefully maybe someone with more experience in this field can give us both suggestions/ideas ect ect ect we both might want to try to see if it helps. And I’ll definitely check that out to for sure thanks.

[Nurse_Jenn]

Hi mocha delight and Tayla,

It's a good question to ask as there are many alternative strategies to combating depression and anxiety. I always suggest and recommend the ones that have the most evidence behind them which includes exercise, mindfulness and Cognitive Beahviour Therapy and medications (as you have already mentioned). However, there are many other alternative ways to support the treatment of depression. I have included a couple of links from the Black Dog and Beyond Blue which describes quite a few. In my experience, each person is individual from the type of exercise that works (some people feel better doing yoga and others by doing CrossFit) to the dosage and type of medication to what therapist works for you. We are all so unique on our biochemistry, our support structures that what works for one person may not for another.

My recommendation is to always talk with your treating health professional whether this be your psychologist or GP, about trying a new alternative type of treatment.

Here are the links and some of the self help and alternative therapies are listed in both of these sites:

https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/clinical-resources/depression/treatment

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/treatment-options/other-sources-of-support

(go to the Beyond Blue link and at the bottom of the page, you can download the comprehensive booklet "A guide on what works for depression - An evidenced based review"

Both of these resources go over the main treatments for depression but also give descriptions of some of the alternative therapies and self help strategies. I hope this helps you on your quest for more knowledge on your healing journey.

Nurse Jenn

[Guest_4643]

Thanks for that Nurse Jenn, and hi to Mocha Delight.

[Guest_1643]

Hey Mocha! I agree with Nurse Jenn and Tayla, this is a great question.
Natural options or alternative therapies can be great. I find mindfulness, calming/hypnosis/relaxing CDs/music and art therapy very good! There are also art groups/classes with a therapeutic bent, I'm trying to find one that I can afford that is good!! Are there any other alternatives that people like?

[mocha delight]

Thanks for your replies nurse jenn and sleepy21 I can’t do to much exercise & certainly not everyday as I know it does the very opposite effect for me, makes my mind go to a very extremely bad dark place and at that point all I can think about is death & on top of that I got a life long tendons injury which they can’t do anything about other then an operation to put pins in place to help but even that does not do very much unfortunately so not worth getting done.

[Guest_1643]

Hey Mocha 🙂 I'm sorry you can't do much exercise, that must be hard and i understand that could have a difficult effect for you. I feel that way sometimes about yoga and other slow excercising modalities, so I won't suggest those, in case you also find them unhelpful.
I guess it is personal what people are drawn to... other than excercise, what self-help modalities do you connect to the most?

[mocha delight]

Thanks for your reply sleepy21 and no go ahead with suggesting away as it may be the fast pace exercise that might be the problem. Or maybe just to start of with something light and say 10 minutes at first then slowly add to that. And modalities? Sorry I’ve not heard of that term before.

[Guest_1643]

No problem! Just meant different ways... /styles. Like yoga, mindfulness. Different people seem to like and dislike different self-help styles - maybe research some and see what you feel connected to ?
I thought maybe stretching and slow movement could be of interest to you - like absolutely not excercise or for fitness, but just to stretch or move the body, it can be very very gentle