Living with Major Depression: HealthyPlace Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• What Is It Like Living with Major Depression?
• "What To Do When You Have Treatment-Resistant Depression" On HealthyPlace TV
• How Do I? ... (what to do if you require Mental Health treatment)
• Improving Your Teen's Independent Thinking Skills
• Parenting an ADHD Child (or other special-needs child)
• Interesting articles on parenting a child with a mental illness

What Is It Like Living with Major Depression?

It's estimated that 15 million (5-8%) American adults suffer with major depression. It's the most serious form of depression and can require very aggressive treatment.   For instance, Julia writes us to say "major depression kills a person's spirit."

In sharing his major depression experience with HealthyPlace.com, Barry laments: " Imagine if you are carrying a 200 lb backpack and then having your saddest life experience dominating your every thought."

This week, we have several stories of living and coping with major depression. Some are success stories, others are fighting the battle or decided to stop fighting and just live with major depression.

More info on Major Depression:

1. Signs, Symptoms, Causes of Major Depression
2. Treatment of Major Depression
3. Gold Standard of Treating Depression: Award-winning mental health author, Julie Fast, maintains that what it really takes to effectively treat depression and manage your depression symptoms is a comprehensive plan.
4. Depression Treatment Videos
5. Videos on Depression

But what happens when you have major depression that won't go away? You've tried every depression medication under the sun, in every dosage, combination of psychiatric medications, therapy, and yet, the heavy feeling of major depression remains.

"What To Do When You Have Treatment-Resistant Depression" On HealthyPlace TV

Our guest survived a severe form of treatment-resistant depression. Find out how. Share your opinion and get insight into effective ways to manage your depression from our Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft.

This Tuesday night, April 21. The show starts at 5:30p PT, 7:30 CT, 8:30 ET and airs live on our website.

• TV Show Blog with this week's show info
• Dr. Croft's blog post on "What is Treatment-Resistant Depression?" (It's an interesting read because Dr. Croft reports that some doctors really don't know how to effectively treat major depression leaving their patients feeling that they are treatment-resistant. And some patients don't follow through with their depression treatments.)

Sometimes, treating severe depression takes extraordinary measures. Here are a few:

• Increasing the Effectiveness of Antidepressants
• ECT for Severe and Treatment-Resistant Depression
• Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for Treatment of Depression
• Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Treating Depression (VNS Therapy)

Click here for a list of previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Shows on topics such as stopping self-injury, whether to medicate your ADHD child, and the devastation caused by untreated bipolar disorder, click the "on-demand" button on the player.

In the second half of the show, you get to ask Dr. Harry Croft, your personal mental health questions.

How Do I? ...

A lot of people want mental health treatment, but aren't sure of what steps to take.

• How to Find A Therapist or Psychiatrist
• How to Find Mental Health Services in Your Area
• Questions For Your Doctor
• How Do You Know If A Treatment Really Works?
• Adapting to Living with a Psychological Disorder

Improving Your Teen's Independent Thinking Skills

Do your children seem too dependent on you to help them make decisions? Dr. Steven Richfield, the Parent Coach, has some suggestions to make them more independent thinkers.

Parenting an ADHD Child (or other special-needs child)

On the subject of parenting children, do you have a child with ADHD or another psychiatric disorder? In these instances, parenting can be really exhausting. It's important to remember to take care of yourself too.

More interesting articles on parenting a child with a mental illness:

• Can Parents Tell if Their Child is Mentally Ill?
• Discovering You Have A Special Needs Child: You Are Not Alone
• Accepting Your Child or Loved One Has A Mental Illness
• Taking a Break From Caregiving
• Mentally Ill Kids Face Widespread Stigma

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