Can depression be cured or only managed ?

[Saint Frankenstein]

I don't know.

It depends on what it is causing it. It's not generally just something that pops up out of nowhere. There's something in your life causing it (although things like brain damage can cause mood disorders, too). So you have to figure out where it comes from. When I accepted that my severe depression and anxiety I've had since I was a child is caused by trauma, I was able to start the process of truly overcoming it. Antidepressants didn't help me. Made things worse in some ways.

 

[Heyo]

I don't know.

And neither do medical scientists. The jury's still out on this. The prevailing hypothesis is that depression is a physical condition that can be treated with anti-depressants. I.e. not cureable with known means.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Depression is a part of life , so thinking it can be cured or eliminated is foolish as it has the potential to make things worse , but the good news is that it can be normalized where it doesn't have a destructive impact once you become familiar with one's depression as it cycles with its natural rhythm once you realize depression for what it is.

 

[Massimo2002]

Depression is a part of life , so thinking it can be cured or eliminated is foolish as it has the potential to make things worse , but the good news is that it can be normalized where it doesn't have a destructive impact once you become familiar with one's depression as it cycles with its natural rhythm once you realize depression for what it is.

You are mixing up sadness which everyone expiernces with an actual mental and emotional illness called depression that only some people experience.

 

[Twilight Hue]

You are mixing up sadness which everyone expiernces with an actual mental and emotional illness called depression that only some people experience.

No. Everyone has the potential for depression. What I think you're trying to say is one's ability at resilience in face of the triggers that normally cause depression.

 

[Massimo2002]

No. Everyone has the potential for depression. What I think you're trying to say is one's ability at resilience in face of the triggers that normally cause depression.

Wrong not everyone has the potential to be depressed.

 

[RestlessSoul]

And neither do medical scientists. The jury's still out on this. The prevailing hypothesis is that depression is a physical condition that can be treated with anti-depressants. I.e. not cureable with known means.

And yet there is no biological test that can diagnose depression, or almost any other mental illness.

There is and always has been a school of thought among mental health professionals, that a significant factor in mental illness is always childhood trauma of some kind.

 

[Debater Slayer]

It depends on the cause of the depression, the person, and the person's circumstances and lifestyle.

Sometimes depression is rooted in external causes, like a stressful or abusive environment, and resolves when one has moved to a healthier environment. Sometimes it's hereditary and lifelong. Sometimes it's triggered by external causes but becomes lifelong. Some people are also more susceptible to depression than others, whether due to certain life experiences (e.g., trauma) or genes. One's diet, exercise or lack thereof, exposure to sunlight, and various other lifestyle factors can also affect the equation.

There's so much that science doesn't yet understand about the human brain and causes of mental illness that it can be impossible to tell what category one's depression falls in or whether it will permanently go away. I think it's best to just keep working as much as possible on getting professional help and managing or addressing the depression and, if applicable, its sources.

 

[Viker]

I don't know.

Short answer. It's possible that it can be cured. There are cases where it's been permanently wiped out. The best thing to keep in mind is management and treatment. Depression can go into extended periods of remission. I go for therapy, management and even lifestyle changes.

 

[Debater Slayer]

There is and always has been a school of thought among mental health professionals, that a significant factor in mental illness is always childhood trauma of some kind.

I'm not convinced by that school of thought, personally, because I have never had childhood trauma, for example, but my issue is partially genetic and partially environmental (outside anything to do with family or childhood). I know others who are similar, and most of the mental health professionals I have asked told me that someone with a healthy childhood could still have mental health issues for various reasons.

That said, I'm also aware that childhood trauma significantly affects many people's mental health and is a factor not just in their mental illnesses but also their outlook on life, struggles, interpersonal relationships, etc.

 

[Viker]

Probably depends on the degree of depression.

And the type of. Throw in stressors, anxiety, trauma, genetics and lifestyle and it can be exacerbated.

Depression seems to run through my mother's side of the family. Although people on my father's side aren't immune.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I don't find the question all that useful. In my experience, it's not as simple as that, as depression has numerous causes and factors that can impact the severity of the condition.

That said, one can certainly recover from depression and lead a healthy and fulfilling life, as there are treatment options out there ranging from therapy to medication to making changes to one's thought processes by adjusting behaviors, actions, and overall perspective.

 

[Mock Turtle]

From my own experience, and purely for me, I know that depression can be eliminated and without either medication or therapy, but this might not apply to others, and possibly what I experienced during such times might be regarded as being therapy.

 

[ChristineM]

I have been so depressed, along with othere issues i considered suicide as an exit.

Now that depression has completely gone, with the help if counseling, friends and family (no meds). To the extent i am currently in considerable pain but i know it won't last.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

can-depression-be-cured-or-only-managed

First, focus on the meaning of cure. Effective treatment can be broken down into cure, mitigation, and palliation.

A cure of an illness or condition in medicine means its complete and permanent removal. There are few areas where this is possible. Infectious diseases and surgery are two. It is at times possible to give a patient an antibiotic or an operation and restore them to their premorbid state of health. With cures, treatment is finite. The antibiotics are stopped, for example, and there is no relapse.

Nature, especially our immune systems and repair mechanisms, provides some natural cures. Somebody mentioned the cold virus and colds. These are generally self-cured, that is, after the cold, our health is indistinguishable from its premorbid state, but not because of any medical intervention.

Next is mitigating treatment, which slows or maybe even halts the progression of the disease but doesn't eliminate or eradicate it nor necessarily reverse damage that has already occurred. Treatment of conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, and high cholesterol fall into this category, and not necessarily with medications. Weight loss, diet, and exercise therapy may mitigate any or all of these and restore numbers to normal without other treatment, but the underlying disorder remains, and if there has already been some heart or kidney damage, it won't necessarily reverse itself even with good control of the numbers. If the patient relapses (returns to an unhealthy weight and/or lifestyle), the condition may return to its uncontrolled pretreatment status. It has not been cured.

Then there is palliation, which is therapy that reduces symptoms but doesn't affect the natural progression of the disease. Palliative treatment neither cures nor mitigates disease - just symptoms.

With that in mind, no, depression cannot be cured except naturally by the occasional spontaneous and permanent remission, but not by medical intervention. Depression - which comes in an assortment of subtypes such as reactive vs endogenous, major vs minor, unipolar vs bipolar, etc. - can often be mitigated with pharmacological and possibly psychotherapeutic interventions, at often disappears as mysteriously as it came whether for now or forever. If it is forever, we can say that the body cured itself. If depression is recurrent and episodic, then the underlying problem remains and is at best mitigated when it recurs.

Hope that helps. I've found it to be a useful conceptual framework.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Wrong not everyone has the potential to be depressed.

I admire the optimism.