You know yourself, and you know what’s normal for you…and you know if you’re not feeling “normal” right now. Acknowledging that was very hard for me, because I wanted to think I was fine. It was so freeing to say to my counselor in an early session, “I am not okay.”
Part of the difficulty with depression is just not having the energy to DO anything to fix it. That makes seeking help doubly tough. But I encourage you to take active steps toward health.
Five things to consider are: Diagnosis, Support, Insurance, Counseling, and Medical Assistance.
DIAGNOSIS
I think the first thing to realize about depression is that it can be spiritual or emotional, but it can also be biological. You may be well aware why you’re depressed, or you may be mystified. You don’t have to try to pinpoint a circumstantial cause, because it’s possible that your brain chemicals just got unbalanced.
You’ve probably started this process with a self-diagnosis. Or perhaps someone who cares about you has asked if you’re depressed. Here a good list of depression symptoms. If you’ve persistently felt any of those things over a length of time, you might be depressed.
That’s enough to get you started on seeking help. Eventually you’ll want an actual professional diagnosis. There are many types of mental illness that have depression-like symptoms…are you dealing with anxiety, depression, bipolar I, bipolar II, or a combination? Each disorder is treated differently.
SUPPORT
Once you suspect you’re dealing with depression, or even as you’re trying to figure it out, tell someone! Tell a close and trusted friend that you’ve realized you have symptoms of depression. Tell them you need assistance getting help. I appreciated the friends who kept following up with me until I scheduled appointments with counselors and doctors. Trust at least one friend with the truth about how you’re doing. Be completely honest about your symptoms. Especially if you’re having self-destructive thoughts.
I think people are afraid to pry, so we don’t ask each other the tough questions, but that’s vital. Only ONE friend asked if I had thought about suicide. (I had.)
COUNSELING
I think that counseling is a good first step, because you need to talk with someone who can help you dissect the aspects of what you’re feeling, try to deal with the causes of the depression, learn how to cope better and get more support, and treat the depression naturally. A professional counselor can help you determine whether medication would be a good treatment after you’ve tried other options.
For moderate to severe depression, the best treatment is a combination of counseling and medication. For mild depression, the best treatment is talk therapy.
Check around with various counseling agencies in your area. Here’s a search engine for finding a counselor.
Many churches provide free counseling. A church may or may not be a good place to start, depending on their counselors’ experience with treating depression, their licensing, and their position on antidepressants. I strongly recommend seeing an actual licensed Christian counselor as opposed to just a lay or clergy person who provides pastoral counseling or Biblical counseling.
INSURANCE
A big question is your insurance coverage. If you have health insurance, call your insurance company or look on their website (a lot of them have live chat online, which can be a relief when you don’t feel like talking on the phone) to see what Behavioral Health options they cover. Many insurance plans do cover counseling. Your insurance company may cover a certain number of sessions, or may have a list of counselors they’ll cover. If your employer is big enough, they may have counselors on staff as part of a benefits package.
Find out from your insurance company if you need a referral before seeing a counselor or psychiatrist. Also check with the counseling agency or doctor’s office–they may be able to call and get insurance pre-authorization for you.
Call or email a prospective counseling agency and find out what insurance plans they accept.
If you don’t have insurance, tell the agency that. Some counselors will offer reduced session fees for clients without insurance, or have grant money available, or may offer a certain number of free sessions.
MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
One option for a first step is to go to a doctor. If you have a general practice doctor, you could start there.
For women, your OBGYN or midwife can help you. Especially if you are due for your annual checkup anyway, that visit would be covered by insurance, and you can bring up your depression in that conversation. OBs and midwives are sometimes trained to recognize postpartum depression, so especially if you have had a baby in the last two years, this might be a good place to start.
They could begin the diagnosis process and refer you to a psychiatrist or psychiatric nurse who could actually talk medical treatment options and prescribe medication. (It may sound scary to go see a psychiatrist–the word makes some people think of straightjackets and mental hospitals–but it’s simply a medical doctor who specialized in mental health and can prescribe medication.)
This post has been updated from the archives. It was originally published in March 2011.
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