When folks struggle with ongoing depression, anxiety or bi-polar symptoms, serious action is required. Mood disorders are no joke and can suck the joy out of a well-built life. While psychotropic medication is hardly the first order of business, depression meds and anxiety meds are key tools in our arsenal, and one that too many reject.

Experiences of depression and anxiety are a normative feature of regular living. Sometimes consuming hours, sometimes days, even weeks, most of us will experience times when we are burdened with an overarching mood that makes it hard for us to function well. We find ourselves pre-occupied and unable to “snap out of” an unpleasant disposition. This is usually in direct response to something going on in our lives, externally or internally, identifiable, or a temporary mystery, but an actual something that can eventually be identified. While unpleasant, it is hardly a life crisis and can usually be surmounted by some basic self-care rituals and a community of friends and family. The problem is when this mood goes on for months, and of course, for years.

Once depression or anxiety is a prominent feature of several months, much less years, we are no longer talking about a mood that is a natural response to a life situation or crises. It may have started that way or not, it may be some we have always identified with as part of our personality, it may be something that crept up on us and can hardly remember when it started, but once significant symptoms have gone on for months, it is a mood disorder.

One of the burdens of mood disorders is that every person who has ever felt anxious or depressed and remember how they got out of it think we should be able to get out of our situation the same way. But of course a mood and a mood disorder ultimately have little in common.

The first order of business for both is all those great things people recommend, like exercise, healthy eating, fresh air, seeing friends, meditation, etc. They go a long way, at least with moods. With mood disorders however, they barely make a dent. And that is assuming we can even find enough decent energy to pull them off.

The second order of business, for both moods or mood disorders is a doctor’s visit. Sometimes medical issues like thyroid conditions, allergies, lime disease, anemia, etc. can impact our energy in notable ways. Good news, bad news they might even prescribe you with medication for your anxiety or depression. This isn’t great because it really isn’t the next step yet. The only time medication is called for before a stint of psychotherapy is if you are too anxious or depressed to do the work of therapy, or actively suicidal. Otherwise psychotherapy is the third step.

Psychotherapy is a brilliant tool. You don’t need to be anxious, depressed or in a bad place of any kind to make therapy a key component of a well lived life. If the issue is a mood, therapy is sure to unpack the causes and identify some paths out. If the issue is a mood disorder, a therapist will help you identify it and help with the long road of untangling the disorder from your self-identity. Plus, once they help you identify the disorder, it is time to talk about psychotropic medication.

Top 5 Reasons People Don’t Want to Take Medications but Should Anyway:1) We want to do it “on our own.”

The problem is, this is a fallacy. There is no such thing as on our own. People who function well in this world have good genetics and chemistry, solid enough childhoods, avoided any major life traumas, and had sufficient opportunities to access fulfilled life options. All that came from people and resources that helped. I don’t even see “on my own”; I wear glasses. And no one judges me for needing help to see.

2) We think we should do first try more “lifestyle” techniques.

It is true that healthy, happy people eat well, gets lots of movement, know ways to relax and play. The problem is that is really hard to pull off if you are anxious or depressed. Plus if the issue is a mood disorder, “lifestyle” techniques won’t make a dent. The good news, is that if you take medication and thereby manage some of your depression or anxiety, then you will have the where-with-all to start exercising, doing yoga, and blending chia seed and wheat grass smoothies all the live long day.

3) We don’t want to put unnatural things into our body.

This is totally legitimate, at least for people who are serious about that thing and are eating all organic, don’t take any other medications, don’t drink alcohol or take other drugs for pleasure. But if we are eating Doritos and chasing them down with beer, then you might be using this as an excuse. Even if you are super healthy, medications may be the exception you want to make. Depression and anxiety can be debilitating. A life free of these crippling disorders, a freedom you can likely not even imagine, might well counter-balance the down side of medications.

4) We don’t want our mood to improve unnaturally.

Not to be too snarky, but this is usually pot-heads. The thing is, if medications work, nothing about it will feel unnatural. You will feel like yourself. In the same way that if your body doesn’t make sufficient insulin and you take some medically, you will feel well, instead of your previously hard-to-define unwell state.

5) Taking medication means acknowledging a shaming disorder.

Mental/Emotional/Psychological distress gets a bad rap. It is so unfair. It has the same types of etiology as physical issues; some are genetic, some environmental, some can worsen or improve based on behaviors, but little can be reduced to “fault.” Even the elements of our physical or mental illnesses that we play a role in, why do we have so little compassion about how hard it is to live a good life. Sure, it would be great if we could all take fabulous care of all the aspects of our lives that impact our well-being. In fact it would be great if we had no issues at all. We wouldn’t be human, but it would be great. The other option would be to have some compassion for ourselves and others as we try to traverse the terrain of this complicated realm we call life.

Re-reading this it sounds like I am pro-meds. That isn’t quite it. I am pro-contentment. I think life is hard enough that I believe in eliminating unnecessary barriers. I believe this may be our one and only life and I think we should be allowed to make the best of it for ourselves. So live fully; even if you need the help of medications to do it!

Smith is an analytically oriented psychotherapist with 25 years in practice. She is additionally the Founder/Director of Full Living: A Psychotherapy Practice, which specializes in matching clients with seasoned clinicians in the Greater Philadelphia Area.

If you are interested in therapy and live in Philadelphia or the Greater Philadelphia Area, please let Full Living: A Psychotherapy Practice match you with a skilled, experienced psychotherapist based on your needs and issues as well as your and own therapists’ personalities and styles. All of our therapists are available for telehealth conferencing by phone or video in response to our current need for social distancing.

For posts on similar topics, follow the links below:

Anxiety Medication and Lost Decades

Feeling Depressed isn’t Depression and Other Reasons Your Advise is Stupid

Anxiety Now Qualifying for Medical Marijuana Matters

Author Karen L. Smith MSS LCSW Karen is the founder and director of Full Living: A Psychotherapy Practice, which provides thoughtful matches for clients seeking therapists in the Philadelphia Area. She provides analytically oriented psychotherapy, and offers education for other therapists seeking to deepen and enriching their work with object relation concepts.