If you suffer from depression, or you suspect you do, and you’re considering seeking depression counseling, you should know that on your treatment journey, you’ll hear and read many things about depression that simply aren’t true. Misconceptions about psychological disorders, like depression, can often derail treatment or even stop sufferers from seeking treatment in the first place. To help you to better understand your illness, here are 5 common depression misconceptions:
- Depression is always hereditary. Some scientists believe that 40 percent of cases of depression are hereditary. That means that even if you have one or more relatives who have been diagnosed with depression, there’s no guarantee that you will be. If you feel you may be at risk for inherited depression, you can reduce the risk of developing depression by staying active, maintaining a healthy diet, maintaining a strong support network and learning positive coping skills.
- You should be ashamed of your depression. Depression, like cancer, is an illness that arises through no action of the person who has it. Because it’s not something you “brought on yourself,” you should not feel ashamed to be afflicted with it. In fact, the embarrassment that is often associated with depression arises from the fact that little is known about it, even though thousands of people are diagnosed with depression every day.
- If your life is good, you shouldn’t be depressed. For some people, depression can be triggered by a traumatic experience, like a death in the family or a lost job; others may feel depressed after a seemingly-inconsequential trigger like failing a test or getting a traffic ticket. Still others may feel depressed without any kind of trigger at all.
- If you have depression, you’ll never be happy. If you’ve been diagnosed with depression, you’ll have good days and bad days. If your treatment includes medication and/or depression counseling, chances are your good days will far outweigh your bad ones.
- Medication and therapy are sure cures for depression. Depression is different for everyone who has it and treating it can be extremely complicated. There is no magic pill or therapy method that can “cure” depression; but medication, counseling or a combination of both can alleviate many of the symptoms of depression to make it manageable.
Learn more about depression and get help by calling Insight Child & Family Counseling at (972) 426-9500. At Insight Child & Family Counseling, we offer depression counseling and other counseling services for children, adults and seniors.