The best antidepressants may not come from big drug companies.
Psychiatrists zeroed in on the most effective ways to alleviate symptoms and rewire the brain for the 1 in 10 Americans living with depression.
Regular exercise, combined with cognitive behavioral therapy (a psychological therapy that helps us understand how our thoughts cause our emotions and behaviors), can treat depression in the same way that other medications can, according to several experts. Says.
The benefits of combining style changes and therapy are so effective that Missouri-based psychiatrist Dr. Richard Wadsworth says, “My patients… “We will lose 75 percent,” he said.
Approximately 30 minutes of aerobic exercise three to five times a week is an important way to reduce symptoms of depression and can be as effective or more effective than antidepressants.
Dr. Wadsworth said, “It doesn't work for conditions like bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, but it does work for most cases of depression and anxiety.”
The health benefits of physical exercise, especially for mental health, are well-documented. Physical exercise has a series of benefits, including losing weight, preventing heart disease and diabetes, lowering blood pressure, and improving sleep.
High-intensity exercise releases feel-good chemicals called endorphins. However, long-term moderate-intensity exercise can have even greater lasting effects.
Researchers in Hong Kong set out to determine whether antidepressants, exercise, or a combination of the two would be most effective in treating depression.
Their results were based on data from 21 randomized controlled trials and 25 comparisons with 2,551 participants. They showed that there were no significant differences in treatment efficacy between the three main interventions, meaning that exercise was just as effective as drugs.
Another study by Australian researchers reported that exercise was about 1.5 times more effective than medication or cognitive behavioral therapy.
In fact, by stimulating the growth of new connections between cells in key areas of the brain, it helps rewire the brain for correct behavior. This change, called neuroplasticity, harnesses the brain's ability to reconfigure processes as an important weapon against depression.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is thought to be as effective as antidepressants, and combining the two is even more effective. The idea is to examine your negative thought patterns and rewire them to better deal with stressors.
In addition to exercise, cognitive behavioral therapy can also help fight depression. What therapists call a top-down approach. It focuses on the thought patterns and perspectives that inform how we see the world and how we act in it.
CBT is a common form of talk therapy. In his typical 50-minute sessions, therapists ask logical questions about patients' thought processes to identify negative patterns and help them reframe those patterns into something more positive and productive overall. By doing this, you will actively challenge distorted negative thinking.
It is important to note that this approach does not work for all mental health conditions and treatment is very individual and individualized. No one should stop taking any medication without first consulting their doctor.
Bipolar disorder usually requires mood stabilizers to alleviate severe mania or depression. These drugs act on a series of neurotransmitter systems in the brain, keeping them in balance, regulating mood and reducing the severity of manic-depressive symptoms.
People with schizophrenia typically also require treatment with antipsychotic drugs, which block the effects of dopamine to suppress hallucinations and delusions.
While you shouldn't avoid medication and replace your doctor's orders with jogging, exercise and CBT are known to help with a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
CBT is extremely versatile and can help people from all walks of life in mental health rewire their thought patterns.
For example, college students who are particularly hard on themselves earn a B on their term paper. That disappointment metastasizes and becomes a common expression of self-hatred: “I'm a failure.”
In CBT, therapists help patients reframe their perspectives to reveal alternative perspectives. These help patients understand that a B grade is still above average, that one paper does not determine a person's entire future, and that it is normal to experience setbacks from time to time. Helpful.
Dr. Wadsworth said: “There's a part of your brain that's always talking to you. It's turning ideas into words. And usually for people with depression, this part of the brain is really, really mean. It's always putting them down.”
“Now, if you let this part of your brain function on autopilot, most people will end up stuck in a swamp with a parrot on your shoulder telling you that you're a loser who doesn't deserve to live or be happy. It's like it's always telling me.”
This mean inner voice can be overly critical and judgmental, reducing a person's ability to make positive changes in their life.
Taking up a new hobby is a great way to focus your mind and improve your neuroplasticity, but a critical voice can easily creep in: “I'll never be good at that, so why even try?” There is a gender. That can quickly snowball into “I’m not good at anything.”
Dr. Wadsworth added: “Can you imagine a parrot trying to make you happy by constantly shouting that in your ear?”
“Train this parrot to get off autopilot. It's actually not that complicated a task, but it requires consistency. Every time this parrot brings you down, you need to correct it.” Yes. And every day you have to train your parrot, train the voice in your head.”
Rewiring the brain and building new synapses through CBT has been shown to have more lasting effects on depression recovery and prevent relapse, but this is not the case with antidepressants taken alone. I couldn't say it.
Such lasting effects have not yet been seen with drugs that reduce symptoms without necessarily addressing the underlying causes of depression.
“What we're really doing is teaching metacognitive skills,” said Dr. Abby Jones, a licensed psychologist in Indiana. So let's think about our way of thinking. And what we're trying to do is encourage a top-down approach to irrational thinking and disrupt patterns of behavior that don't serve or serve the patient.
“What patients often do is employ bottom-up processing, meaning fear-based responses or emotion-based responses activate the limbic system before they reach the prefrontal cortex, and what happens is Or think rationally about what memories are causing the emotions.'
And combining CBT with antidepressants appears to be even more effective in reducing depression over the long term. Social acceptance and reduced stigma around mental health and illness have expanded access to treatment.
Since 2020, approximately 30 percent of American adults have seen a therapist. And according to the CDC, more than 13% of American adults, or about 33 million people, take antidepressants.
Still, exercise and cognitive behavioral therapy don't solve all problems. But, Dr. Wadsworth says, “It's probably going to be more effective than anything else I can do as a psychiatrist.”
