Battling Teen Depression with a Holistic Approach
The world can be a scary place to live right now. There is a lot of uncertainty and that can be especially hard on teenagers who may be struggling with their mental health due to peer pressure, school or home issues, or a traumatic event. Depression and teens are a combination that has flummoxed our society. With the world around them seemingly chaotic because of a variety of factors, the feelings of depression that a teen experiences might become amplified. It may also cause depression where those feelings didn’t exist before. This brings up numerous questions for us, as a society. One, commonly asked, is how to help someone with depression? Despite the medical world’s jump to prescribe medication, there may be other, more effective, ways of dealing with this issue.
How to Help Someone with Depression?
A concern with parents, regarding depression and teens, is what is the best way to address the issue. While talk therapy and medication may have their place in certain cases, many experts believe a holistic approach to mental health might be the best way to tackle it. After all, finding out what causes depression in teens will probably lead you down numerous paths; it only makes sense that the answer to those issues would require looking at the whole person.
A holistic approach to mental health is more than just relieving symptoms. Its goal is to get at the root of the behaviors. Holistic mental health healing looks to address the teenager’s body, mind, and spirit. This approach to healing can start at your naturopathic doctor’s office. Your naturopathic doctor will be interested in treating why you are depressed rather than just the symptoms. They can discuss a teen’s health and diet practices to see if a vitamin or fatty acid deficiency is behind their depression. There might be some herbs, like St. John’s Wort, that could potentially help.
Continuing Down the Holistic Path
Holistic mental health healing works by taking everything about your teen into account. This exhaustive approach is effective at unearthing the underlying causes so they can be properly addressed. Factors such as gender, self-connection, culture and ethnicity, and personal history are examined when teens undergo this form of treatment for their depression.
Your holistic healer or functional medicine provider may recommend experiential healing options.The brains and nervous systems of teens are still developing. Experiential therapies are a great way for an adolescent to work through any mental anguish. Some of these experiential methods that are recommended by holistic healers include martial arts, gardening, equine therapy, yoga, and art. When a teen enters this method of holistic therapy, they will be interacting with others and their environment in a safe, secure way where discoveries about the reasons behind their depression can come to light.
Start the Journey
There is research out there that shows that a holistic approach to teen mental health can be more effective than prescription medication. It also prevents a teen from developing a dependency on medication or being given one that will make what they are feeling worse. Talk to your naturopath today about all the holistic avenues available to better mental health for your teen.
