“When your depression becomes so bad that you stop taking care of yourself, you begin to harm or contemplate harming yourself, or you think you might be capable of harming others, it might be time to seek out a residential treatment center for your depression.
What is a Residential Treatment Center?
When it comes to depression, residential treatment centers are often not even considered. Depression is typically treated in an outpatient model, in which the individual seeks the advice of a therapist or psychiatrist once or twice per week, while simultaneously receiving anti-depressant medication. If the depression becomes increasingly severe, leading to a suicide attempt or a threat to commit suicide, some individuals are hospitalized or choose to hospitalize themselves.
A psychiatric hospital, however, has several disadvantages from a residential treatment center designed to treat depression. For starters, psychiatric hospitals deal with a wide variety of patients, some of whom are highly disturbed and even violent. As such, for the patient with severe clinical depression, the sometimes charged atmosphere of a psychiatric hospital can be traumatic.
Residential treatment centers for depression have the advantage of a more home-like environment, with other individuals who have similar mood disorders. Instead of the often impersonal environment of a psychiatric hospital, which can increase an individual’s sense of alienation and ostracization because of his or her depression, a residential treatment center for depression provides an intensive inpatient program like a hospital, but in a much more comfortable, caring, and personable environment.
Traditional vs. Holistic Inpatient Programs
There are two types of traditional inpatient residential treatment programs that are common right now for individuals suffering from mood disorders. The first type of residential treatment center is clearly geared to upper-class individuals, creating a nearly spa-like environment in which comfort and privacy are emphasized over therapy.
The second type of residential treatment center for depression and other mood disorders that is commonly found is a residential treatment center that’s not all that much different than a psychiatric hospital. These treatment centers may be smaller than a hospital, and may cater to patients with addiction and mood problems, but the treatment philosophy is not that different from a regular psychiatric hospital. With an emphasis on medication and traditional talk-therapy, these centers are simply a more comfortable type of hospital.
A holistic residential treatment center for depression such as Depression Treatment Facility, however, is very different. Focusing on the “whole person”, the approach of Depression Treatment Facility is a mind-body-spirit approach that encourages individuals to heal themselves physically, psychologically, and spiritually, because these three aspects of any human being are inextricably interwoven. Treating just the brain with medication, for example, without addressing underlying emotional issues or issues of physical health, has some short-term benefit but doesn’t heal the underlying causes of the depression. Likewise, talk therapy alone, without supplementation of physical fitness, meditation, yoga, and other types of therapy, is insufficient to create lasting change. At Depression Treatment Facility, our holistic model ensures that your inpatient residential treatment for depression will finally give you the change you’ve been looking for.”
