26: Why there’s hope for chronic depression and why labels such as “treatment-resistance” don’t help at all!
- Gemma Gladstone
- March 31, 2021
In today’s episode, Gemma does a solo show and goes on a bit of a rant. She shares her experience and impressions of working with clients who have had the unfortunate experience if being ‘diagnosed’ with “treatment-resistant depression”. Gemma believes this is a dangerous and disempowering label which does nothing to help people get to the bottom of what’s driving their depression.
Gemma has been doing therapy with people in a clinical practice setting since 2001. In 2005, she finished an eleven-year association with a tertiary referral clinic for mood disorders, where she worked in various positions in a clinical research capacity. those During those eleven years, Gemma came in contact with hundreds of people referred for depression. Many of those patients had some type of mood disorder, like major depressive or bipolar disorder, and they were often referred to as treatment-resistant.
In this episode, she shares her thoughts centering around people coming to therapy when they have been spending years and years struggling with a mood disorder-like chronic depression or recurrent bouts of a major depressive episode. She talks mainly about the psychological nature and the psycho-social aspects of depression.
Show highlights:
- Gemma always encourages people with depression to explore whatever will work for them.
- Gemma explains why she has a problem with giving people the label of Treatment-Resistant Depression.
- There are several psychological or schema-driven risk factors that people have not previously thought about that could be driving their chronic or recurrent low mood.
- Gemma looks at the issue of biological versus non-biological, which raises the issue of so-called melancholic depression versus non-melancholic depression.
- People with all kinds of depressions, even those considered to be biological, like bipolar, will benefit from psychological, social, and connection interventions such as schema therapy.
- Gemma explains why you should not accept a diagnostic decision imposed on you as the absolute truth.
- Gemma explains why some people go to therapy with the idea that nothing will help them with their depression.
- Gemma explains how she empowers people and assists them in moving away from unhelpful and limiting labels.
- Gemma mentions five categories of so-called treatment-resistant depression that she has noticed over the years in her work as a therapist and while working in psychiatric environments.
- Gemma looks at the category of unprocessed loss as contributing factor to depression.
- Gemma discusses complex trauma as it relates to depression.
- Gemma elaborates about the background trauma factor plus the big blocking factors to getting well.
- Gemma shares about the intricacies of depressogenic schemas.
- Gemma delves into the category of depressogenic relationships.
- Interventions like meditation, movement, and exercise will always help in overcoming depression.
Links and resources:
Email Gemma and Justine at justineandgemma@goodmood.com.au
Check out our website for more information on our Red Flag Project.
Check out what’s new on our Learning Hub.
Recommended books:
Reinventing Your Life by Jeffrey Young
Complex PTSD by Pete Walker