Support Groups for Depression
Depression is the result of complex interactions of psychological, social, and biological factors. If you have experienced adverse life events such as bereavement, unemployment, or psychological trauma, you have a greater likelihood of developing depression. Once you have depression, it can lead to greater stress and dysfunction, worsening the depression in a vicious cycle. Depression and physical health are interrelated, and it can impact your entire life. Along with traditional depression treatment methods, you can seek out support groups for depression to ease your symptoms and enrich your life.
How Depression Makes You Feel Alone
Regardless of how many people you have in your life or that simply surround you, depression can give a feeling of isolation. While everyone feels lonely occasionally, for some, the loneliness is a terrible and constant burden. It can strike you if you live alone or if you live in a household with many people. That feeling of aloneness is purely subjective.
Depression and loneliness often come hand in hand, and they involve similar feelings. Symptoms you might notice include:
- Low energy
- Self-doubt
- Mental fogginess
- Irritability and restlessness
- Changes in sleep patterns or appetite
- Aches and pains
The clearest distinction between the two is that loneliness is a feeling while depression is a condition of your mental health. The former is transient. Meet your needs for belonging and connection and it is likely to dwindle, if not disappear. The latter goes deeper than the need to feel connected. Without treatment, the symptoms of depression can hang on for years, growing more serious as time goes by.
If you are clinically depressed, social interaction may act as a temporary distraction, but it will not always help. Time spent with your best friend or partner can still leave you feeling empty, listless, incapable of engaging. Depression can make you feel unworthy of your companions and their time. It can place you in a bubble of self-doubt or self-loathing. Depression can keep you from feeling connected.
Why Isolating Makes Depression and Anxiety Worse
A 2018 national survey showed loneliness levels reaching an all-time high. Of the 20,000 U.S. adults responding, nearly half reported feeling lonely sometimes or all of the time. Such numbers are troubling because loneliness wreaks havoc on your mental, physical, and cognitive health.
Evidence points to a link between perceived social isolation and adverse health consequences, including depression. Other health issues involved are poor quality of sleep, acceleration of cognitive decline, impaired executive function, impaired immunity, and poor function of the cardiovascular system. Social isolation further increases the risk of premature death.
Isolation means a lack of encouragement from friends and family. This lack can cause the lonely to slide into habits that are unhealthy. Loneliness has also been linked to increased levels of stress, augmenting anxiety and depression. This is particularly problematic in older adults. Isolation and loneliness can cause long-term signaling of the stress reaction to fight or flee.
What are Support Groups for Depression?
Living with depression can be overwhelming, so seeking support is important. Support groups for depression are not psychotherapy groups, but they provide you a place that is accepting and safe. You can vent your fears and frustrations in an environment that, in turn, provides you encouragement and comfort.
In depression support groups, other members frequently share suggestions for coping that others may find useful. In addition to sound advice from those experienced with the struggles of depression, you find assurance in the affirmation that others know what struggles you are enduring. A level of camaraderie exists that is vital for healing.
Why Human Connection is Crucial for Depression Recovery
Research shows that a dearth of human connection can be more deleterious to your health than smoking, obesity, and high blood pressure. Among other treatments for depression, making meaningful contact with other people is vital to treat the symptoms and overall condition of depression.
Social connections have been found to lower depression and anxiety, regulate your emotions, improve your immune system, and lead to higher levels of empathy and self-esteem. When you neglect the need for connection, you place your health at risk in every aspect, from physical to emotional to cognitive. Human connection brings your life complex values. A sense of belonging, of identity, and the presence of a support system help combat depression.
How TMS Works in Conjunction with Support Groups
Support groups are an excellent means of helping you cope with your depression. You make vital connections, receive positive and caring feedback from others who know what you endure, and experience the comfort of knowing you are not alone in your struggles. However, support groups alone will not help you manage your depression. Medications are one other means. Another is TMS or transcranial magnetic stimulation.
TMS is a procedure that is noninvasive. It uses magnetic fields for the stimulation of your nerve cells in the brain, improving depression’s symptoms. This is often used when other treatments for depression have proved less effective than desired.
During a session, the technician places an electromagnetic coil against your scalp in the vicinity of your forehead. A painless magnetic pulse then stimulates nerve cells in that portion of the brain involved in controlling the mood. This is thought to activate those regions of the brain which depression causes to have decreased activity.
Together, human connection and the magnetic treatment of TMS for depression tackle different aspects of depression. This approach is greatly beneficial when basic treatments fail to deliver sufficient results.
Depression impacts nearly one person in six at some point in their lifetimes. Loneliness and isolation exacerbate this problem, forming a downward spiral that can turn deadly. Depression treatment options often start with medications, then continue with a therapy of some manner. Depression support groups and TMS for depression are excellent capstones to the other means of treatment. Contact us today at Pulse TMS to seek the help you need to control life-altering symptoms of your depression.
