10 Tips For Overturning Denied Health Insurance Claims
Knowing how to handle your healthcare insurer is one way to be a smart patient. Knowing how to handle denials is obviously a big part of that, since it’s the one time most of us have a problem with our health insurance. You probably will see denials more often…
Roadblocks to Effective Psychotherapy Treatment
As I’ve mentioned before, I am a big fan of psychotherapy. Although medication has had a greater role in my successful depression treatment, psychotherapy helped me to recognize my inner demons and banish or deal with them, thereby leading to my becoming a much happier person overall, which I…
5 Excuses that Might Prevent You from Getting Help for Depression
So you know you have depression, or you’re pretty sure you do, but you’re putting off doing anything about it. Procrastinating is a fairly common state of affairs for people with depression. I once put off renewing the registration for my car (before I was diagnosed with depression) and…
Antidepressant Medications at a Glance
Generic Name Brand Names Drug Family Use amitriptyline Elavil, Typtanol, Saroten, Tryptizol tricyclic antidepressant bupropion Wellbutrin, Wellbutrin SR, Odranal aminoketone antidepressant citalopram Celexa SSRI antidepressant clomipramine Anafranil heterocyclic antidepressant desipramine Norpramin, Pertofran tricyclic antidepressant doxepin Adapin, Sinequan, Zonalon tricyclic antidepressant fluvoxamine Luvox SSRI antidepressant fluoxetine Prozac SSRI antidepressant mirtazepine…
Let’s All Trash Antidepressants (Not!)
I recently read an excerpt of the book A Brief History of Anxiety by Patricia Pearson, in which she more or less trashes every aspect of psychiatric drugs. She notes that people posting to websites comment on feeling emotionally flat or numb when they’re taking them, and says that they “yearn…
What to Expect When You go to a Psychiatrist
Many people are reluctant to visit a psychiatrist because there’s a stigma associated with visiting a mental health specialist. However, these trained professionals can bring about a host of positive changes in your life if only you’re open to the idea of seeking help. It’s natural to be apprehensive…
You Can’t Fight Depression on Your Own
Two things happened today that made me want to pound my head against a wall, Charlie Brown-style. The first was that I got an email from a woman who said that she is suffering from severe depression, but that friends and family want her to try to “talk herself…
Don’t Cut Depression Treatment from Your Budget
Times are tough, economically, for most Americans. Although my husband and I have faced challenges in the past, financially, things right now are probably the grimmest they’ve ever been for us. We actually could almost qualify for food stamps. I’ve spent the morning going over our budget, slashing our…
Depression – NIMH
Everyone occasionally feels blue or sad, but these feelings are usually fleeting and pass within a couple of days. When a person has a depressive disorder, it interferes with daily life, normal functioning, and causes pain for both the person with the disorder and those who care about him…
Antidepressants Primer
If you or someone you know is beginning treatment for depression, you probably have done some research. Of course, you’re being treated by a doctor who will advise you and do the prescribing, but like any smart patient, you want to be informed. Chances are that one thing stands…