Self-Care Ideas for When You Are Struggling with Depression

                  We all struggle at times. For some of us that struggle is more frequent. It seeps into all aspects of our life. When you have depression, the struggles become harder to pull yourself out of. Regular self-care can help ease some of the darkness. It is not going to cure it, but it can help.

                  What is self-care? Simply put, self-care is doing things to take care of yourself. It can be things that address your mental health. Self-care can also address your physical health. It involves doing things that make you feel better. These activities can range from simple activities to enacting more elaborate plans.

                  For me self-care includes taking walks and writing. When I walk, I usually listen to music, which is another self-care activity. Writing allows me to release the thoughts that build up in my mind. I also like to be creative. Painting is a form of self-care for me. I enjoy watching the colors transform into something.

                  What are some other self-care ideas? 

                  

·      Meditating

·      Spending time in nature – think walking on the beach or in a forest

·      Deep breathing

·      Cooking

·      Reading for pleasure

·      Yoga or Pilates

·      Talking to a loved one on the phone

·      Having lunch with a friend

·      Dancing

·      Making a gratitude list

·      Getting a massage

·      Practicing affirmations

·      Taking a class to learn something new

·      Watching a movie

·      Sitting under the stars

·      Lighting some candles 

·      Playing an instrument

·      Doing something special for a friend or family member

·      Doing something you loved as a child

 

Self-care can be anything that makes you feel good about yourself. It takes practice.

You may do something and not get the lift you were expecting. That is okay. Don’t give up. Sometimes it takes time for self-care to affect you. The idea is to make it a part of your routine. You want to build up a repertoire of activities that you can lean on when you need a lift. 

                  When depression gets heavy, I sometimes have difficulty turning to my self-care activities. Sometimes I need a reminder. It is hard. Depression can be paralyzing. That is why it is important to prepare a list of self-care activities when you are feeling a little better. Maybe write them down. Put the list in your phone. Set a reminder to look at the list.  That might make you more likely to try something. You can also share your list with a friend. I have a friend that reminds me to listen to music. Sometimes we listen to live music together. It helps both of us. 

Whatever you choose to do as self-care, remember to give it a chance to help you. Also, give yourself grace. It is okay to feel down and to struggle with depression. You are not alone. Remind yourself about that. As lonely as depression feels, you are not alone. There are so many of us who go through what you are going through. Joining a support group is another self-care strategy. If you think this might help you, I recommend checking with your local NAMI chapter for a group. 

Self-care is not easy. Nothing about living with depression is easy. Take it one step at a time. Try one of the above self-care activities or search for other activities online. Don’t be afraid to take a mental health day from work or school to engage in self-care. I used to be afraid to take mental health days, I thought my mental health wasn’t a legitimate reason to take time off. I learned the hard way that I should have taken days off. I should have put myself and my mental health ahead of my job. Please take the time to engage in self-care. Allow yourself to heal. Remember mental health days are a part of self-care. 

Whatever self-care activities you choose, remember that they are for you. Engage in the activity in whatever way feels best to you. Give yourself the grace to search for the activities that help you most. 

There Is Hope

“There is hope, even when your brain tells you there isn’t.” – John Green

 

                  The above quote is powerful. When you live with mental illness, or any illness for that matter, hope can be difficult to hang onto. I have struggled with hope in my battle with depression and anxiety and in my fight against cancer. What is hope? The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines hope as “a desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment.” 

                  Hope has been tricky for me. Decades of living with depression make it difficult to believe that there is freedom from depression’s darkness. At the same time, I have had healing experiences that allow me to believe that I can get better. At times I lose sight of the healing periods. My mind gets caught up in the hopelessness depression creates. It tells me that the depression will win. My view is clouded by darkness. When I am feeling hopeless, I know I need to hang onto the hope of my mental health team. Their hope for me  sustains me when I cannot believe in hope myself.  

                  I know I am struggling beyond my ability to cope on my own when my thoughts turn to thoughts of ending my life. Suicidal thoughts are a sign that I have lost hope. Despite a lifetime of those thoughts, I am still here. I think that is because hope can exist even in the darkest of moments. I don’t really understand how it happens. It just does. I have been lucky that I have been able to reach out in my darkest moments. I’ve been told that takes strength and means that there is hope somewhere inside of me. When I have suicidal thoughts, my brain is trying to tell me there is no hope. However, as Green says in the quote above, there is still hope. Our brains get talking and try to mask that hope, but it is there. 

                  For me finding that hope requires reaching out. I realize that reaching out can seem impossible for some people. At times it seems impossible for me. That is why it is important to plan for those times when the thoughts aren’t screaming at us. Whether it is just knowing who to call or having a concrete safety plan, it is important that we have a plan for when hope seems to disappear. It can still be difficult to reach out to those who will help us through the darkness. However, if we have a plan, we are more likely to try to use it.

                  What about those times when we feel hopeless but are not suicidal or thinking about self-harm. Those are still difficult times. Sometimes I get caught believing that I will never know anything other than the darkness of depression. For me that is a sign that it is time to return to one of the alternative treatments that help me. Whether it is TMS or esketamine, I know I need to get treatment. Knowing what treatments or medications work for you is important. Being able to openly discuss what you are feeling and experiencing with a psychiatrist or psychologist is crucial.  He/she/they will be able to listen to what you are sharing and provide the necessary treatment. Trust comes into play here. I believe it is vital to be able to trust your mental health provider not only knows what you need, but that they are willing to ensure you receive that treatment.  

                  Depression attacks hope, but hope is resilient. We possess it even when we are unaware of it. Hope is present when we get out of bed, when we spend time with a friend, or when we go to work. Hope is present when we reach out for help. It is present when we try one of our coping strategies or engage in self-care. Hope is a light shining in the darkness of depression. Sometimes hope is faint, but it is still there waiting for us to hang onto it. Hope whispers back when our brains tell us there is no hope. Sometimes it will be our voice. Other times it will be the voice of a mental health care provider or a loved one. Listen for the whisper of hope and hang onto it. 

Expecting People with Depression to Act as If They Didn’t Have Depression

                 Depression is often misunderstood. Many people don’t understand it is an illness. They don’t understand how real depression is. There is a misconception that people can turn off depression. This has never made sense to me. I can’t turn my depression off like a faucet. Depression is an illness. 

                  For most of my life I have functioned with depression. I earned two degrees while depressed. I spent 26+ years as a special education teacher while living with depression. I hid my illness fairly well. People expected me to just keep doing what I was doing. Even people who knew about my depression expected me to be there every day. Most days I was there functioning as best as I could. I played the role of teacher while in my head darkness swirled. Many people do what I did. We work despite our depression.

Depression is one of those illnesses that you can’t let others know is affecting you. Stigma made it hard to admit that depression was impacting my ability to work. Several years ago, when I took a leave of absence to address my mental health, no one knew that I was depressed. No one asked.  In late 2022 my mental health forced me into another leave of absence. Again, I did not let on it was depression because I feared my boss would ridicule me and that my colleagues wouldn’t understand. Teachers are expected to teach. We are expected to be there every day. Even taking one day off is difficult because we need to plan everything for the substitute. I was going to be out for an extended period and did not have the ability to plan everything to keep my classroom running without me. I felt guilty that I couldn’t do my part and that no one knew why. 

When you are depressed people expect you to smile and get through it. I’ve been told, “You have so much to be happy about. How can you be depressed?” The people saying these things don’t understand that depression is an illness. This fact has hit me harder now that I am also living with a physical illness, cancer. No one has told me to “Smile and push through the cancer.” Mental and physical illnesses are perceived differently. When cancer forced me to take a leave of absence, no one expected me to do anything for work.  I didn’t have to hide my illness. Even now as I live with both illnesses, the cancer is the one most people ask about.

No one outside of my mental health team asks how I’m coping with my depression as I fight cancer. A couple people in my inner circle have checked in on my depression, but in general people act as if my depression went away when I was diagnosed with cancer. The depression has definitely not gone away. If anything, it has become more difficult. I understand. Cancer is something people know about. It is something people can often see. Depression is something that people can’t see. That makes it harder to recognize.

When someone finds out I have depression, I’ll get responses like, “try yoga” or “you need to smile more.”  I’ve heard things like “my friend stopped being depressed when she drank herbal tea.” Another one that makes me laugh is “Have a glass of wine. It will relax you.” I understand that these people have good intentions, but would they tell me to try yoga to cure my cancer? Would a glass of wine make me cancer disappear? No. Why then is it okay to make these suggestions about depression?

People often think that I can turn the depression off and function as if nothing is wrong, as if my mind is not filled with dark thoughts. Until depression is viewed as an illness by more people, those of us who have this illness are going to be faced with expectations like this that we cannot meet. We are going to be expected to act as if we are not depressed. I know I need to work more on being honest and saying, “I can’t do that today because my depression is impacting me” or “I have depression and I need to take some time to heal.” For too long I hid my depression at work. That didn’t help me. It also doesn’t allow others to learn that depression is an illness. Reducing the expectation to act as if we don’t have depression is not going to occur until those of us with depression and the people who care about individuals with depression speak up. 
                  As a society we need to recognize depression and other mental illnesses for what they are, illnesses. They are not choices. I don’t choose to struggle with depression. I do, however, choose to live and that means recognizing my depression is real. I am not always going to be able to function as if I am well. I need to take time to heal. I need to treat my illness as an illness. People with depression don’t need sympathy from others, but we do need understanding. 

 

 

What Is Healing?

                  The other day I was asked what I mean when I talk about healing. It is a good question and it got me thinking. I have a picture in my head about what I mean, but I don’t think I have ever really shared it. Maybe that is because I don’t see healing as something concrete. For me healing comes in different forms. The ultimate healing is the absence of the darkness created by depression. I’m not completely convinced that it is possible to erase all the darkness. I’ve never experienced a total healing that includes the permanent removal of the darkness of depression, but I have felt the light of healing in varying degrees.

                  Medication has never brought me healing. At best it has put a Band-Aid on my depression. Unfortunately, that Band-Aid always fell off easily.

                  Therapy brings a semblance of healing. Talking about the effects of depression and learning coping strategies helps. Therapy has been a consistent tool throughout my depression.

                  Non-traditional treatments have been beneficial. Both TMS and esketamine have certainly brought aspects of healing into my life. These treatments have allowed me to experience times where the depression was absent for a while. 

                  Still, this doesn’t define healing. I could say healing is being able to function in my day-to-day life, but sometimes I can function when the depression is heavy. So, what is healing?

                  Healing is when there is more light than darkness. The heaviness dissipates, and color comes into the world. Healing comes in shades.  I don’t feel the weight of depression when I am experiencing healing. That weight is feeling that everything is barreling down upon me. When I am trapped in the darkness, I can’t see the positives in life because the depression is smothering me like a blanket. Healing is when that blanket is lifted. 

                  Healing comes in shades as if it is on a continuum. Some days healing is the small victories. It is getting out of bed and showering. Other days it is interacting with the world and being able to work.  Healing can range from having less suicidal thoughts to the complete absence of those thoughts. Just as depression impacts each of us differently, healing arrives differently for each of us.

                  Healing is feeling better. Sometimes it is difficult to explain the feeling. It is being able to live life without being dragged down by the weight of depression. We each need to define healing in relation to our own experience. For me, TMS and esketamine have shown me the light of healing. I have had distinct experiences where I have been able to notice the depression being lifted as a result of these treatments. With time the depression has returned. When that happens, I go back to the treatment and wait for it to ease the depression again. Healing requires effort. Unfortunately, that effort is not easy to summon when we are struggling with depression. For me having a mental health team allows me to make that effort. I need to rely on them to guide me through treatment and to provide a place to discuss what I am feeling. 

                  I cannot tell you what healing will look like for you. Healing varies for me. Outside factors can often impact how you feel. Relationships, work issues, other illnesses can all impact healing. My healing looks different now that I am living with cancer in addition to depression. Sometimes the depression and its buddy, anxiety, affect me differently than before cancer, which results in a different appearance to healing. I have learned to change my expectations. I think healing is affected by our expectations. I understand that I can be doing well and still have suicidal thoughts pop into my head. I can be doing well and still have days when I don’t want to get out of bed. That is part of the continuum I mentioned. Depression may impact us differently from day to day. It is somewhat like a roller coaster. There are ups and downs and even straightaways. 

                  Ultimately, I think healing is feeling the darkness lift. It is feeling better than the norm depression creates. Healing requires acceptance of our illness. We cannot experience the light of healing if we don’t acknowledge the illness. I did not experience times of healing until I allowed my inner voice to say, “I have depression. My darkness is from an illness. It is not something I caused.” 

                  We must remember that healing is a continuum. There will be bad days. There will be better days, and there will be good days. We fight through the bad days. We enjoy the good days. We lean on our mental health providers to guide us, and we make decisions with them. We use the tools and treatments that work for us. Healing will look different on different days. Healing is unique to each one of us, but healing is possible.

 

Mental Health Stigma

                  As Mental Health Awareness Month nears a close, I would like to address mental health stigma. This month has seen more positive attention placed on mental health. One month is not enough. Mental health needs positive attention focused on it throughout the year. I think increasing positive attention requires decreasing stigma. As someone who has lived with mental illness most of my life, I have experienced stigma. It hurts. It negatively impacts healing.  I have felt the sting. Stigma has caused me to deny my mental illness at times, especially in the work setting where I feared my depression would be met with mockery and a lack of understanding.

                  The Mayo Clinic states, “Stigma is when someone views you in a negative way because you have a distinguishing characteristic or personality trait that’s thought to be or actually is, a disadvantage (a negative stereotype).” Mental health stigma is when a person is looked at negatively because of his/her/their mental health.  Stigma leads to discrimination, which can be painful.

                  There are several results of stigma. These include a person not seeking treatment, a lack of understanding of what mental illness (and mental health) is, and bullying among other things. These are painful.  Not seeking treatment can lead to a worsening of symptoms. Mental illnesses are just that, illnesses. They require treatment. There is no going it alone.  Whether it is therapy, medication, or non-traditional treatments such as esketamine and TMS, treatment is necessary.  Our mental health will not heal itself. Unfortunately, too often stigma interferes with getting help.

                  We see stigma when mental illnesses are used as adjectives. I’m sure you have heard things like, “She’s so OCD. She keeps everything so clean,” or “He’s so schizophrenic.”  Mental illnesses are not adjectives. Being neat is not OCD. Being sad is not depression. Having different moods is not bipolar disorder. These mental illnesses are much more complicated than their use as adjectives would have people believe.  

                  I have major depressive disorder. This does not mean I am just sad. I experience happiness at times. What I live with is a mood disorder that makes it difficult for me feel good about myself and the world around me. I can experience sadness separate from my depression.  Sadness and depression are separate things. I can be sad that my favorite basketball team lost a game. That loss does not depress me. Depression consumes me and affects how I carry out my daily life. Sadness is an emotion that a person experiences in relation to an event. Sometimes depression is stigmatized as someone dressed all in black and crying. I don’t wear black any more than I wear other colors. My mood colors how I view myself. It results in a draining feeling coming over me.

Many times, I have heard, “How can you be depressed when you have so much to be happy about?” Again, here is stigma. Depression and happiness are not opposite emotions. Happiness is an emotion. Depression is an illness. Depression affects every aspect of my life. It colors my view of myself and the world around me. Happiness is something I feel when I something good happens like watching my niece get a hit in one of her games or when my nephew makes a joke. These things don’t erase my depression. They just allow me to feel the emotion of happiness.

So, how do we cope withstigma? First, as I stated earlier, we need treatment. We need to seek out help or allow ourselves to be helped. This requires seeing mental health professionals. When we recognize that mental illnesses require health care, we are better able to receive the care we need. We are also talking back to that stigma that denies mental illness is an illness. 

We need to remember we that we are not our mental illness. I am not depressed. I have depression. There is a difference. Again, depression is not an adjective. People are not bipolar. They are not schizophrenic. People have bipolar disorder. People have schizophrenia. We need to resist the tendency to use mental health disorders as adjectives. There is enough of that around us. If we ensure that we are not using them as adjectives other people will notice. 

As difficult as it is, we need to try not to isolate. When we keep to ourselves and push others away, we are not allowing them to see that we live with an illness that can be treated. I understand how hard it is not to isolate.  There are times when I isolate. I have been afraid to let others see my depression and anxiety. I have lied about my illness, blamed it on a physical ailment. Stigma caused me to be afraid. I didn’t want my boss to know I struggled with my mental health. I feared it would affect my employment. But the truth is people can work with mental illness. Sure, there are times when we need time off, when we need care. That doesn’t mean we can’t be productive employees. If we can reduce the stigma surrounding mental health, more people can be successfully employed. 

Reducing stigma requires awareness. Recently, I participated in NAMI Walks. People came together to raise awareness about mental illness. There was a sense of community and desire to help people. I have found that being involved with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) has given me opportunities to connect with others who understand what I live with. It has given me the opportunity to share my story and hear the stories of others. The awareness NAMI generates is healing. NAMI works to tear down the stigma through awareness. Awareness means saying, “This is mental illness. People live with it. People succeed with it.” 

By its nature mental illness is difficult to live with, but we need to remember that we are more than our illness. Stigma be damned. My hope is that through this blog and other writing, I can reduce stigma. I want people to be able to live without the negativity of mental illness. I want to live without that negativity. I want young people to discover that even if they are struggling with depression, anxiety, or another mental illness, they can live full lives. There is help out there. Sometimes we have to look harder for it, but help is out there. If we make mental health awareness a yearlong effort, we can reduce stigma and make a difference in many lives. 

 

Fertilization and Purple Lights (Esketamine Treatment)

                  Stephanie Debnath, PMHNP, discussed esketamine in Monday’s post.  Today, I will share my perspective as a patient.

I have lived with treatment resistant depression most of my life.  Not long ago I was in a very dark place. It felt as if I was buried underground. I couldn’t work. I could barely function. Suicidal thoughts haunted me. I needed some type of “fertilizer” to grow out of the darkness. 

                  With the help of my mental health team, I made the decision to try esketamine.  I was nervous. I had a false image in my mind. As someone who has always enjoyed listening to music from the late 1960s like Jefferson Airplane and The Doors, I envisioned esketamine causing something similar to the acid trips those musicians described.  I would find out that my vision was incorrect. Yes, I would experience what could be called “trips”, but it was really a healing dissociation.

                  As Stephanie described in her post, esketamine is self-administered through a nasal spray in an office setting under the observation of a psychiatric practitioner.  The first thing I felt was a floating sensation. It was very peaceful. In my first session, I drifted and felt a heaviness being lifted off me. I knew was safe but was not really aware of the room around me or the nurse observing me. 

                  Starting with my second session I began to see purple lights while I was under the effects of the esketamine.  These purple lights had an inviting warmth to them. It was as if I was floating through these lights.  There were different shades of purple, each inviting me to float further into them.  I soon came to associate these purple lights with healing. At times other colors would join the purple. There were greens, blues, and pinks. Each of these colors drew me further into the purple lights. Not everyone sees colors. The colors were my experience. Everyone has their own experience.

                  Before each treatment I would meet with Stephanie.  We discussed an intention for the session. We decided what needed to be “fertilized”.  I would focus on the intention as I was waiting for the esketamine to take effect.  My mind would follow these thoughts as I dissociated and floated into the purple lights.  In this state I could process thoughts as if I was an observer. There were times when revelations struck me. These were always accompanied by the purple lights. My mind was able to work without the depression tearing me down. 

                  As I came out of the esketamine, I would retain the thoughts and revelations. I kept a journal by my side.  When I regained awareness of the room and my presence in it, I would write in my journal. Whatever came to me while under the esketamine became clearer and more concrete in my journal.  

                  I was being “fertilized”. My roots grew stronger and emerged from the darkness of depression’s soil like tender shoots of a plant reaching for the sunlight.  I was growing. It took time. You don’t just spread the fertilizer and have a garden overnight. Still, my mental health improved. The suicidal thoughts diminished. Esketamine was allowing me to process the thoughts depression fills my mind with. It allowed me to go within my mind and make observations. I saw my thoughts as what they were, just thoughts, not reality.

                  I am grateful that I have treatment options. For years I have struggled with treatment resistant depression. I needed something different than the traditional medication approaches. My mental health team provided me with options that led to healing. I will likely need esketamine treatment again at some point, but I understand that is normal. Gardeners periodically fertilize their gardens. I need to do the same for my mind.

                  I’d like to share a poem I wrote after one of my esketamine treatments. 

 

Esketamine Treatment

 

Iridescent purples,

Translucent greens.

The colors fill my mind.

Replace the darkness even if only briefly.

I float through the colorful display.

Watch in awe as shades of green and purple drift through my awareness.

Bright pinks and vibrant blues appear,

Summon me. 

Lights behind the colors remind me that healing is possible.

I ride the waves of color as my mind is illuminated.

The dark thoughts that so often consume my mind are paused.

I feel a sense of peace. 

It is a sense I am unaccustomed to.

I am safe in this space filled with bright colors.

My fears suspended,

My pain soothed.

Only the colors exist.

I float as if on clouds.

Aware only of the colors.

I name them, reach out to them.

I feel the colors comfort me. 

In these moments I have been set free,

A part of a different reality.

Time passes and I am returned to my usual existence,

But pieces of the colors remain with me,

Healing me.

Battling with the darkness for my awareness.

 

 

 

For more information on esketamine or TMS treatment:

 

SoCal TMS: https://socaltms.com/

SoCal TMS on Social Media: 

                  Instagram: @socaltms

                  Facebook: Southern California TMS Center

 

 

Gardening the Mind (Esketamine Treatment)

  

Today’s post was written by Stephanie Debnath, PMHNP.  She is a psychiatric nurse practitioner who works with esketamine (Spravato) and TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) at SoCal TMS.  Full disclosure: Stephanie has treated me with both TMS and esketamine. There is a link at the end of this post to the SoCal TMS website and their social media for more information on esketamine.  To read Stephanie’s post on this blog about TMS scroll back to October 20, 2023, Renewed and Recharged. Check back on Thursday for my perspective on esketamine treatment.

 

Gardening the Mind 

 

 

As many of us try to balance out our busy lives, stress, worries, and interests, we gravitate towards a vice. For some it’s reading, others it’s exercise, and for a lot of people it is something less healthy—regardless, we all have a thing. I garden. I like to plant something in the ground and care for it. Pruning the damaged leaves makes me feel like I’m caring for wounds, watering it reminds me of how good I feel after a big drink of water on a hot day, and watching buds form tells me it’s growing. I make many mistakes in the garden. Neglect, sun scald, drought, poor choice of area in the garden. Some are not wins, but others are decent. I like to get my hands in the dirt and see the worms, because seeing worms equals healthy soil, usually. I always have my eye on the prize of a fruit or vegetable to come. That’s my goal. It will mean that my plant is thriving. Often, I work hard. Take the courses. Follow the steps. Sometimes, I pour blood, sweat, and tears into growing something. It can still fall short. I do a lot in the garden, but I do forget to fertilize.

 

Treating patients with Treatment Resistant Depression, means treating patients who have put a lot of effort into their mental health. It means people have tried many, many medications. Some for years, some just once, but there is usually a long list. They have done countless therapy sessions, sometimes with many therapists, sometimes just one. They have had alternative or interventional treatments, sometimes multiple, sometimes just one. What these patients have in common is that they have worked hard and made mistakes; Not tending to their wounds, not nourishing their bodies, and stunting their growth. They work hard, they take the courses, they follow all the steps—year, after year, after year. They often pour blood, sweat, and a lot of tears into trying to regain power in this area, trying to take hold of their mental health. So, what if for some people those things are almost enough? They are helpful but keep them falling short of their goal. The plant grows, but there is no crop. Their Treatment Resistance makes it harder for them to flourish with just the basic. For some…perhaps they need to fertilize.

 

Esketamine is a newer treatment, FDA approved in 2019 for Treatment Resistant Depression and 2020 for Major Depressive Disorder. It is essentially a derivative of the molecule Ketamine, something used largely across the medical field for amnesic (short-term memory loss), analgesic (pain-relieving), and hypnotic (sleep-producing) purposes. It is a nasal spray/medication that is self-administered by the patient, in office, with the psychiatric provider on site. The sessions last about 2.5 hours for proper monitoring, and vitals are taken along the way by a nurse or technician. During the peak of the medication in the first hour, there is some light dissociation which allows the patient to go “within”. It gives patients the opportunity to switch to observation mode and evaluate things that are challenging to do in everyday life. The drug wears off about an hour in and the second hour is spent recovering. These sessions have been described by patients as “inward therapy”, but it is different for everyone. 

 

The way I see esketamine therapy is like this: it is the fertilizer to our roots when it comes to the brain (and neurons). It boosts the elements and chemicals that cause excitation, strength, bonding, and growth, and it sends signals to the base of the “plant” (brain) that encourages it to produce the nutrients it needs. Patients often say, “I’ve tried so many things, so many meds, so many therapies. I feel like my brain needs a jumpstart.” Well, they are probably correct. A lot of people are putting in the effort, the blood, the sweat, and tears but they fall short. Like when I forget to fertilize, I am only getting a minimal growth, with almost no fruit. 

 

While not all treatments and therapies are right for people, I can say that esketamine is an option that will help many. It still pains me to hear patients say, “I wish this would have been around 20 years ago.” I do, too. I wish the advancements of today were present decades ago, and everything was further along. I wish if we wanted to take up gardening, we just knew everything there is to know, and did it all correctly each season. We can still wish, but we must try along the way, too. This emerging treatment has helped many, many patients in different ways than traditional medications for depression. It has stimulated the brain differently than electromagnetic waves, and it has restored hope for those who feel they go season after season with no crop. As a clinician in psychiatry, my intention is never to push one treatment over the other, but to inform and encourage a new way of pruning, tending, and nurturing a garden. After all, the right amount of fertilizer can bring a bountiful harvest.  

 

 

SoCal TMS: https://socaltms.com

SoCal TMS on Social Media: 

            Instagram: @socaltms

            Facebook: Southern California TMS Center