Depression can be debilitating to your mental health. It can cause sadness, impact your relationships, and has a negative effect on your life. Fortunately, there are several methods to treat depression. If you think you might have depression, here are some things you need to know:

What Type of Depression Do You Have?

There is more than one type of depression. Depression will be diagnosed by a counselor, therapist, or another mental health professional. Each type of depression has a method of treatment, and each treatment is tailored to an individual's needs.

Depression can include seasonal affective disorder, persistent depressive disorder, major depressive disorder, and post-partum depression.

How Do Mental Health Professionals Treat Depression?

It can take some fine-tuning to treat depression. Each person is different and can benefit from a different combination of treatments. You and your counselor or mental health professional will discuss your symptoms and talk about how you are feeling. At that time, your counselor will determine the best course of treatment for you. Most commonly, treatment for depression starts with talk therapy. You may also receive a prescription for medication. It can take some tweaking to get your medication just right. There are several types of medications available to treat depression, and they can impact people differently. What works best for one person may not for another.

How Does Talk Therapy Help Treat Depression?

Talk therapy is common in treating depression. Your depression symptoms will determine how many therapy sessions you need to get yourself healthy. Your first few sessions will talk about how you are feeling, the symptoms you have, why you think you feel this way, how long you have had symptoms, and how your feelings are impacting your everyday life. The counselor's job is to listen to what you say and provide you with some feedback. Over time, you will work to develop coping strategies. Your therapy may include some homework to fully gauge your depression levels. You will need several sessions with your counselor to help treat your depression.

If you have any symptoms of depression and you do not know what to do about it, start seeking help from a counselor or therapist who specializes in mental health. Ask friends or family members for referrals if you do not know who you should see. The most important thing is to get yourself the help you need to overcome your depression. It can take a long time and a lot of work to get better, but it is possible with help.