Self-Help

Most issues can be addressed, at least to some extent, through self-help. This may or may not be sufficient by itself. These strategies and resources often supplement other treatment, be it counseling and/or medications. However, a series of studies have shown that for many, reading Burn's Feeling Good alone was effective in dealing with depression. This will not be true for everyone, especially for more severe and/or more complicated problems. If you are having difficulties, self-help is a great place to learn how to begin to turn things around. There are various self-help groups, Recovery, Inc., 12-Step groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, etc. Some advantages of these groups are they are generally free, some have a number of meeting times/locations to choose from, other attendees often have/are dealing with similar issues as you, which both shows that you are NOT the only one with such issues, as well as allows you to draw on their experiences of what has worked to help them. Do not automatically dismiss this option because you "Are not a group person." Many feel that way and find tremendous benefit when they decide to attend a few meetings, anyway. Most of the larger organizations have websites, with information if there are meetings in your area. There are also on-line groups that many find helpful, especially if here are no live groups in their area, are not ready to try a live group, etc. Enter the issue and self-help groups in your web browser, ex. "Depression self-help groups." Remember, there often are many paths. One size does NOT fit all. Discover what works for you.