Depression Treatment

What is our depression treatment philosophy?

Probably 90% of our clients who admit to Mirasol are suffering from major depression and anxiety. Depression and anxiety seem to go hand in hand with eating disorders and mood disorders. Treating the co-occurring conditions along with the eating disorders can prolong treatment but not prevent a successful outcome.

When treating depression it is necessary to have a team of experts in co-occurring conditions to begin to bring the client back to health. The first part of treatment is not necessarily medicating a client. We prefer to finish our complete assessment process. Then the resident's treatment team, including the psychiatrist, can best decide what will be the best plan for this specific client to follow. This may very well include medication for a short period of time so the client can be more accessible to treatment interventions.

Feelings of hopelessness and complete despair are not uncommon, particularly when medication and outpatient therapy has not worked. At Mirasol, the clients are provided with consistent emotional support as they begins to heal from depression and anxiety.

How Do Treatment Plans Address Depression with Co-occurring Conditions?

A long history of depression and anxiety may make a person susceptible to other behavior patterns such as substance abuse and eating disorders. Mirasol's therapists have extensive experience in treating depression and as well as a team of people who are pros at treating substance abuse.

An effective treatment for depression and anxiety is mindfulness and learning to be more mindful about feelings, especially when the feelings become overwhelming. The whole person needs to be treated: nutritionally, physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually, and spiritually. Each client receives training in interpersonal skills, distress tolerance, and emotional regulation skills through DBT.

Mirasol provides safety within its facility so no clients feel shame at disclosing information about their disease. They soon find that everyone has very much the same kind of issues and their peers understand the struggle involved in learning to make healthy choices.

At Mirasol major depression treatment plans consider all data received about the resident. We gather together our entire depression and addiction (or other co-occurring diseases) treatment teams to customize client care. The complete team approach including input from the client is the hallmark of Mirasol's individualized treatment of eating disorders and co-occurring conditions..