Managing Anxiety and Depression: When Self-Help Isn’t Enough

Self-help has taken off in the last decade. Whether it’s books, podcasts, apps, online communities, whatever it is, self-help focuses on strategies to reduce anxiety and depression from the comfort of one’s home. While many people have found relief from self-help options and there’s much to be said about taking initiative to manage one’s mental health, there’s a point when self-help isn’t enough. Recognizing that point isn’t as easy as it sounds.

The issue with anxiety and depression is that they aren’t always clear cut. They seep into our psyche beneath the surface as stressors or fatigue. By the time someone recognizes that they have a problem, they’ve tried a couple different self-help options along the way with little success and determining when to move from self-help into professional help shouldn’t come across like they’ve failed. It’s not about failure, it’s about recognizing the situation is beyond the level that books and apps can help with at this point.

When Coping Strategies Stop Helping

Most people have their own coping strategies when it comes to excess stress and overwhelming emotions. We tend to exercise, journal, meditate, chat with friends—whatever works for us and these are generally helpful in day to day challenges and only moderately fluctuating emotions. Yet when these approaches begin to fail—often compounded by anxiety and depression themselves—or when it takes too much effort to maintain these coping skills, that’s when people realize it’s too much.

Anxiety and depression create a negative feedback loop in which coping isn’t necessarily effective to begin with. For example, anxiety may deter an individual from becoming fully engaged in meditation because they’re already stressed. Or depression saps someone of the energy needed to exercise or want to connect with others. When the symptoms someone wants to manage most severely get in the way of managing them, this is often a time where someone else can help.

The Differentiator of Professionals

There’s something a mental health professional can offer that self-help fails to do. A Denver therapist or clinician elsewhere has trained experience in recognizing connections that a person currently experiencing them may not see. For example, a therapist knows the difference between anxious thinking stemming from an anxious thought pattern versus healthy levels of apprehension toward something overwhelming. Therapists know that depression looks different on different people and while they may have their own effective techniques, they rely on what’s actually going on.

Then there’s an objective eye. Friends and family care greatly about their loved ones but they’re too emotionally vested. Self-observation is limited due to our blind spots. A therapist provides the objective eye without emotional entanglement, creating a safe space for honest reflection over what’s truly happening.

What Signs Indicate That Professional Help Would Assist

There are common signs that suggest self-help isn’t helping anymore. When anxiety or depression impacts quality of life relative to work performance, relationships and basic self-care, it’s too much. If an individual finds themselves avoiding situations they’ve handled easily in the past or spending a massive amount of time internally convincing themselves they’re going to get through the day just to get through the day, that’s where professional insight can limit these patterns.

Disruption in sleep patterns, shifts in appetite, pervasive negative thinking or feeling disconnected from things once enjoyed are all red flags. So too is when someone tries self-help options out but doesn’t feel they’re making much of a difference. Some people power through these symptoms because they think they just need to toughen up or find the right book or technique. Mental illness isn’t always something we can hack alone.

What Therapy Actually Does

Therapy does more than give advice or coping techniques. It establishes a structured environment in which one can learn what at the root cause might be contributing to their anxiety or depression in the first place. For example, many people learn that their anxiety/depression pertains to larger patterns or unresolved events in their life they’ve not recognized yet. Others learn that chemical imbalance in the brain could use medical assistance in conjunction with therapy.

Therapists also teach skills that self-help resources can’t always replicate as efficiently. Cognitive behavioral techniques come to mind as something stronger recommended with real-time practice and feedback. Becoming aware of distorted thinking is one thing, but having someone help you catch it real-time is another; that real-time feedback fosters rapid response.

The Practical Approach

Many people hesitate to go through with therapy due to cost and time considerations. It’s always daunting to consider whether therapy will even be worthwhile enough based on other complicated schedules and budgets. But more often than not communities have resources for all sorts of prices—including sliding scales and insurance allowances—and employee assistance programs often offer several free sessions.

Unfortunately telehealth makes appointments quicker than ever and travel time—if applicable—doesn’t provide as much effort as anxiety/depression deteriorating work performance, interpersonal relationships, physical health and quality of life. Those hours will save time down the line when anxiety/depression are managed better.

The Final Takeaway

Recognizing that self-help isn’t enough doesn’t mean those efforts were in vain. Oftentimes awareness and skills learned from self-help endeavours promote helpful sessions in therapy. Individuals who want to become better self-advocates by having explored and learned how to maintain mental health issues often engage more robustly within a therapeutic environment.

Translating efforts into professional help isn’t defeat; it’s merely another tool in the toolbox to address what’s already been acknowledged as too overwhelming for separation and friends/loved ones previously identified support services. Anxiety and depression are complex and at times require complex solutions; reaching out is practical based on what works instead of what should theoretically work.