4. Meditation
Meditation techniques appear effective for clinical depression, yet their full application within established systems of psychotherapy and antidepressant medication remains unknown. Preliminary evidence suggests meditative therapies may provide benefit during acute and subacute phases of depressive disorder; however their effect sizes differ widely between studies due to methodological issues; further large-scale randomized controlled trials using active comparator treatments with measures of expectations are warranted to confirm this claim.
Electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT, is a treatment using electric currents to address severe mental illness, such as severe depression or bipolar disorder. It may be used when other therapies do not work or when patients pose threats to themselves or others and cannot wait for their medications to take effect; typically performed in hospitals under supervision by both a psychiatrist and an anesthesiologist.
Alternative treatments may help with mild depression, though they don’t usually provide as much relief. They don’t address the underlying factors like stress or anxiety which cause depression – although combining alternative and ECT treatments together may improve results. Consult your physician about whether ECT is right for you; or alternative treatments could work instead first.
