Depression: Why Some Sufferers Don’t Seek The Treatment

Let’s be honest, at times it is baffling and a little irritating too.

If you have a friend, a co-worker or loved one suffering from depression have you found yourself wondering why they choose to avoid professional help when it is so painfully obvious that they are in desperate need?

It is clear that help is needed yet they continue to deny that they need anything at all. So what are you supposed to do? First of all don’t give up. Maybe there is some way that you can help to convince them that seeking help is ok.

It seems that a huge barrier to those suffering from depression is the social stigma of mental illness. For those suffering with depression, that social stigma is often just too much to deal with. Many fear it will cost them a relationship or their job. They cannot even begin to realize that in the US alone in any given year 10% of all American suffer through a depressive episode.

At times, those suffering from depression avoid seeking help out of fear they will become dependent on medication and so they just "tough it out". Mental illness carries the burden that many believe it is wrong to use something that will make them feel better or repair the problem.

Strangely enough no one feels this way about the diabetic patient who must have insulin to survive or the cardiac patient who depends on blood pressure medication to feel better each and every day. See it simply makes no sense yet with depression it is like fighting an uphill battle to get others to see depression treatment as just the same as treatment for any other disease. Medications designed to treat depression are designed so that they work to rebalance the chemicals in the body that are out of sync which can cause the depressive episode.

A whole other issue with depression is the complication for those suffering from depression who are homeless and uninsured. Often times these folks are the forgotten one who are unable to get regular medical care and then simply show up at a local emergency room when things are so desperate they feel as if they can’t go on.

On occasion the depressed homeless will rely on a free clinic, which is great. But unless the free clinic is able to provide the necessary medications this population is typically unable to purchase the meds for themselves.

The biggest tragedy of all is when those who are suffering from depression just feel that it is too much work to get the help they desperately need. It is not that they like being depressed it is just that it is too much work and they wonder if it would really do any good anyway.

Depression is a sad plight and one that must be recognized and dealt with in order to manage and heal from this disease. Don’t ignore the signs and symptoms and don’t allow your co-worker, friend or loved one to suffer in silence. Help them…they need your support.