Depression Specialist

What is depression?

Depression is a type of mental health condition that affects your mood. Feeling sad happens to everyone, but constant or extreme sadness might be debilitating and interfere with your job, school, or relationships with other people. Visit Compassionate Psychiatric Services if you can’t reduce symptoms of depression on your own.

What are the symptoms of depression?

Symptoms you could have with depression include:

• Irritability or mood changes
• Ongoing or extreme sadness
• Loss of interest in favorite activities
• Hopelessness or worthlessness
• Guilt or shame
• Sleep disturbances
• Fatigue
• Weight loss or weight gain
• Anxiety
• Restlessness 
• Trouble concentrating
• Headaches
• Other aches or pains
• Thoughts of suicide

Depression symptoms range in severity from mild to severe. If you’re depressed, you’re also at risk of social isolation, chronic diseases, relationship problems, and drug or alcohol misuse.

What are the risk factors for depression?

Common risk factors for depression include:

• Family history of depression
• Past traumatic events
• Other mental health disorders
• Drug or alcohol use
• Some medications
• Chronic diseases
• Ongoing stress
• Lack of a strong social support network

Adopting healthy habits, including regular exercise and stress reduction, reduces your chance of depression — but you can’t eliminate the risk entirely. 

How is depression diagnosed?

To diagnose depression and develop an effective treatment, your psychiatrist discusses your symptoms and medical history. They complete a physical exam if needed and a comprehensive psychiatric assessment to determine if you have depression or another mental health disorder. 

Compassionate Psychiatric Services also offers pharmacogenomic testing, which is a blood or saliva test that analyzes your body’s likely response to depression treatments. It allows your specialist to tailor a treatment plan that’s best for you.

What are the treatments for depression?

Common depression treatments available at Compassionate Psychiatric Services include:

Lifestyle changes

Eating healthy foods, getting plenty of sleep and regular exercise, reducing stress, and maintaining a healthy weight are ways to reduce depression naturally.

Medications

Taking medications can reduce depression symptoms and help you get your life back on track. 

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

TMS uses magnetic energy to target nerve cells in your brain responsible for mood, thereby reducing symptoms of depression. Your provider may suggest you complete TMS if other depression treatments haven’t worked. 

Spravato®

Spravato is a prescription nasal spray that can treat depression when other treatments do not. Your psychiatrist may suggest you take Spravato with oral medication for optimal symptom relief.

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, or talk therapy, is a form of counseling that helps you make changes in thinking and behavior patterns to reduce feelings of depression.

To get treated for depression and gain control of your life, call Compassionate Psychiatric Services or schedule an appointment online today.

Do you know which significant cities Compassionate Psychiatric Services offer its mental health services to?

Compassionate Psychiatric Services range from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), addiction, trauma, eating disorders to numerous other mental health conditions and are offered to all our patients in the following city locations:: Dallas, The Colony, Richardson, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Prosper, Irving and Arlington.