How Occupational Therapy Can Treat Depression

If you are suffering from depression and you have tried almost everything, you may want to consider whether occupational therapy might be a solution to your difficulties. If an occupational therapy treatment helps you overcome your depression, you will accomplish this without the side effects of drugs and with the additional benefits of occupational therapy.

Finding the Right Balance

You may be suffering from depression because you have not found an appropriate balance to your life. You may be spending too much time working and not enough time playing. Also, it is common for those with depression to not exercise enough, which can make coping with depression harder. Also, not getting enough sleep because you have an inappropriate work-life balance can also contribute to feelings of depression. Your occupational therapist can help create a schedule that will allow for more sleep while also getting your work done.

Avoiding Negative Thoughts and Feelings

If you frequently have depressed thoughts, occupational therapy can allow you to use activities to keep you distracted from negative thought patterns. After identifying the times of the day that you are the most likely to have negative thoughts, you can schedule activities that can prevent these thoughts from occurring through well-planned distractions. Many of the negative feelings can be treated with mindfulness and relaxation techniques.

Stopping the Root Causes of Depression

Occupational therapists can also look at the aspects of the patient's life that might be causing the depression in the first place. For example, the occupational therapists can identify that the patient might not adequately be able to care for himself or herself and may need assistance. The occupational therapist can help establish a personal care routine that can help improve your life. Also, through occupational therapy, you can have your routine adjusted so that you can engage in activities that are more meaningful to you. The occupational therapist will go through each role in your life, talk about how these roles will be carried out and talk about what would be defined as success within each of these roles.

Communicating with Your Family

One of the challenges of having a mood disorder is that others in your life might react to the mood disorder and make it worse. They may respond negatively to one-word answers or long periods of solitude, taking this as a sign of rejection. An occupational therapist will educate your family members on how your mood disorder works and to not take the mood disorder personally.

If you think you could benefit from occupational therapy, visit Kleiser Therapy.


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