Do you know who Kevin Breel is?

Before Tuesday, October 8, 2013, there were at least 1.5 million people who had heard of Kevin Breel. They saw his video “Confessions of a depressed comic” on TED: Ideas worth spreading. Then on Tuesday Kevin was interviewed on NBC’s TODAY Show…many more millions of Americans will have heard Kevin’s story about his battle with depression. TODAY’s Willie Geist interviewed Kevin.

If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it here.

Here is Kevin on the TED Talks video channel

If you are having trouble viewing this video, you can see it here.

Depression treatment at Cottonwood Tucson

Treating depression here at Cottonwood Tucson takes multifaceted approach that looks at the whole person. Our board certified psychiatrists are skilled at treating clinical depression using non-habit forming medications to gently re-regulate the depressed person’s brain functioning. Individual and group therapy is helpful in identifying behavioral and attitudinal components of clinical depression and can help patients lighten and stabilize their mood and develop more adaptive ways of managing thoughts and feelings that may act as triggers to depressive episodes. Our mood disorder treatment for depression also incorporates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that allows our therapists help patients to identify and challenge unhealthy or irrational beliefs that can cause emotional pain. Grief groups, trauma therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) can help lessen the emotional resonance of painful memories and help patients to explore and process the root causes of their depression.

Over time, depression can actually shrink key areas of the brain. At Cottonwood Tucson, our clinicians understand how the right kind of exercise can trigger the release of chemicals that stimulate the growth new brain tissue. We also know that physical activity is also key in optimizing the brain’s ability to think clearly and produce a happy, steady mood.

Good nutrition is an important, though often overlooked, component of recovery from clinical depression. The behavioral health dieticians work with patients in developing nutritional plans aimed at ensuring that each person will have sufficient amounts of the right vitamins and amino acids to promote a stable, happy and confident mood – which is a primary goal of our treatment center.