Ruth Tarrant

~ Providing Mental Health

& Trauma Care Since 1994 

Depression is generally described as consistent low moods, teariness, anger, irritability, poor sleep quality, disengagement from previously pleasurable activities and social settings and so on.

Antidepressant medication may take the edge of the suffering in these instances but they can't help the root cause if your depression isn't what it seems, isn't depression. Depression is a most over diagnosed and poorly understood mental ehalth condition plaguing our communities. Many, many people are on antidepressants for symptoms that seem to indicate depression however once therapy has commenced it becomes clear that this is not depression. Counter-intuitively, just becasue you have a bunch of symptoms that fit a DSM diagnostic description doesn't necessarily mean that diagnosis fits you. Mental health diagnosis is an extremely nuanced task.

A DASS-21 or a DASS-42 will not tell you if you're depressed. The DASS in both it's forms merely distinguishes between Depression, Anxiety or Stress. The DAss answers the question, 'which is most prevavlent over the last two weeks?' and that's all it does. That's not a diagnostic criteria and the DASS is not a diagnostic tool in any country across the entire world. And nor should it be. But so many people not trained in psychiatry uise it as though it is. Is that why we have so many people on antridepressants and not responding to treatment? It's likely to be a factor.

Take antidepressants if your medical doctor has advised you to. Use lifestyle antidepressants to augment the medication and help reduce the need for them. As the lifestyle antidepressants start to work your doctor's assessment of your mental state will let them know. Your doctor will know by that assessment that your mental state is improving and start talking to you about options, reducing the doseage, changing to a gentler medication and/or commencing the recovery process from the medical perspective.

Consider the following possibilitites to see if they're relevant to you, or even if they're a cause of your depressed state of mind. If one or more of these fit then follow the links for more info, activities, ideas for forwarding your life into a life you actually enjoy.