Therapy??

Amber Shaffer

Ms. McKoy

English 2

02 September 2013

Therapy for the Depressed

"Does my child need therapy?" "Are they just saying these things for attention?" "Oh, they can get over it on their own. Everyone gets depressed at some point." These are just some of the thoughts that go through a parents head when their child claims that they are depressed. Well what about the child? Shouldn't you ask for their opinion? I wondered the same thing when I was diagnosed with depression. My depression wasn't even "normal" though. I was diagnosed with clinical depression. So, shouldn't I be in therapy? My parents talked about it, but I've never been. I believe that, for most people, it could make a tremendous difference being able to talk to someone outside of your comfort zone. It may even save their life.

There are many forms of both depression and therapy. For depression you have clinical, suicidal, manic, and chronic. While with therapy you can go to a psychiatrist, go shopping, exercise, resort to eating, basically anything that makes you happy. According to the article "Dealing with Depression", symptoms of depression include sadness, irritability, fatigue, pessimism, disturbed sleep patterns, changed eating habits, and social withdrawal (Kist). This means that bystanders close to the patient can usually tell if they are depressed or not if they look close enough. Also stated in the article by Dr. Douglas G. Jacobs, a Harvard psychiatrist who set up mental health centers for free screenings across the country, "Seventy percent were ill and needed some kind of treatment. I estimate we have saved about 7,000 lives" (Kist). Of the 200,000 people that were screened, that seventy percent most likely did not think they would ever get help (Kist). The article states that "Treatment with medication, psychotherapy (counseling), or a combination of both is successful in 80 percent of all cases of depression" (Kist). Since depression is a result of the imbalance in the brain of certain chemicals called neurotransmitters, the medication can help those chemicals become more balanced and start the road to recovery.

As I said before, I have depression but I have never been to therapy. Thankfully, I have a strong circle of people I can trust that I can talk to. I often go to my older brother or my best friend to talk things through with. Out of those two, only my brother also has depression. It is nice to have someone who doesn't feel the same way as I do's opinion. Many of the people that know about my depression ask how long I've had it or how it started but I don't think I can give an exact answer to either of those. I knew I was sad for a while and I knew I had a lot of unresolved issues but, usually, I just kept them bottled up. Until a few months ago, I was completely apprehensive about the idea of "therapy". I assumed that I could just keep things bottled up and I would be fine going through daily tasks. I even cringed when my doctor recommended a couple of different therapists. Now that I look back, I know I was being foolish. Therapy is not something to be ashamed of and if your parents think you should go, you should. They are the ones that know what is best for you.

I would like to continue researching on the opinions of others as to if they think a parent should take their child to therapy. Therapy can have a positive effect on the patient. I also want to get a doctors opinion on my theory. For some people, it may be easy to get there child on board with the idea. For others, their child could be strong headed and refuse to go with every ounce of their being. Whether it is their choice or not, I believe everyone should get the help they need and deserve.