Holistic Therapy--Yes But I Won't Be Using That Word

Well, I feel as if I have been drug kicking and screaming into the holistic revolution.

After years of resisting it, I just have to give in.

But outside of the title of this article, I still won't be using the word.  Why?  Because it is a buzzword.  It means so many different things that it means nothing.  It is a way of saying, "I'm with you; I'm with the modern IN crowd."  But the word means so many things it starts to mean nothing.

But what I do want to do is be comprehensive in the way I approach depression.  Cognitive therapy is not the only way.  Behavior therapy is not the only way.  Medication is not the only way.  Even electroconvulsive therapy may have its place.  Exercise is definitely a factor in recovery, and I believe that for some people nutrition may be important.

I did not reach this conclusion because of a desire to be part of a feel good movement.  I reached it out of pure practicality and what works.  Or what doesn't work would be a better description.  What doesn't work as well as we wished it worked.  And that would include pretty much every treatment that we know of now.

When I started learning cognitive therapy, in 1980, it was relatively new.  It was not inconceivable that cognitive therapy, or cognitive therapy combined with behavioral therapy, or cognitive therapy combined with medication, etc. just might cure most people.  Sadly, that has not been the case.  The ultimate solution to the riddle of depression lies a ways off--perhaps fifty years, perhaps a century.  Talking therapy has proved to be just as limited as medication.  Cognitive therapy has more research evidence behind it than psychoanalytic therapy.  But that doesn't mean it is much more effective.

However, there are a variety of interventions and coping techniques which can help depression:
exercise
nutrition
spiritual techniques
mindfulness techniques, e.g. meditation
positive psychology techniques (such as altruism and volunteering)

These are just a few.

Why did I resist the idea of a comprehensive "holistic" approach?  It seemed just too much of a catchphrase, better at making authors money and being part of a feel good movement than really helping people.  The research for holistic approaches was often flimsy when one actually looked into it.  That is beginning to change.  Research into alternative techniques (alternative to medication and talking therapy) is growing in amount and in quality.

Also, I was simply overly focused on pure psychotherapy research and too much of a true believer.  Perhaps I can be forgiven for being a "true believer" in a technique which had really quality research showing that it worked.  What the research also showed, however, was that it worked only up to a point.  It worked for certain people and not others.  Or it worked partially for some people.  For awhile it seemed that there must be a moderator variable in there somewhere.  If we gave it for 40 sessions instead of 20, maybe that would make it much better  If we combined it with other treatments, or if we used it only for certain patients, or if patients would only do their homework, etc. then maybe it would work for almost everyone.  And each of these was a legitimate issue, but it never solved the whole puzzle. 

It's not that I have quit believing in cognitive psychotherapy.  It is still the main treatment I would recommend for someone who has mild to moderate depression.  If I had a family member with depression, I would want them to have cognitive behavioral therapy, and maybe medication.

It's just that it is now clear that no matter how you slice and dice psychotherapy, it will have limited results.  The same is true of antidepressants.

I have been reacquainting myself with the new biological research into the underlying brain issues associated with depression.  It is clear that for some types of depression, and maybe all severe depressions, there is a biological substratum.  We now believe that chronic stress releases so much cortisol over such a long period of time that it damages certain parts of the brain.  There is evidence for this as a possible cause of depression.

The brain can regenerate cells in some areas.  One of those areas is the critical hippocampus.  It is involved in memory and also in controlling our anxiety/fight or flight mechanism (HPA axis).  Regeneration of hippocampal cells is stimulated by brain derived neurotrophic hormone (BDNH), which in turn is released after exercise.  Outcome studies are pointing to excellent treatment effects for depression with exercise.

Thus, theoretical and basic science findings such as this are encouraging me to think more broadly.

Secondly, outcome studies of exercise and other techniques such as medication are showing good effects.  Cognitive therapy has a lot of good research behind it, but now we are starting to see some really good research outcomes for exercise and positive psychotherapy.

Thirdly, as I have improved my own healthy behaviors, I feel less hypocritical asking my patients to work on theirs.  I am more comfortable now advocating that other people do things which I used to avoid working on for myself.

Just how helpful are some of these alternative therapies?  Exercise has been shown to be quite helpful, perhaps yielding as large an antidepressant effect as current medications on the market.  Nutrition has not been as well studied as exercise.  However, one Australian study published in the prestigious journal Lancet, found that there was a correlation between fish consumption and a lowered risk of depression.  (Correlation studies such as this have to be followed by experimental studies to be fully interpretable, however).  Omega 3 fatty acids are thought to be very important in proper brain function.  Other foods, such as protein, are important because they provide a good supply of all the necessary amino acids.

Well, that's enough for now.  I hope to write more about this later.