Addiction Treatment, Depression, Depressive Disorder, Rehab, Therapy, Treatment

How Inpatient Depression Treatment Can Help You Heal

May 28, 2025

It’s simply human nature to feel down and sad now and again. But depression can change the way you interact with the world and the people around you — a condition that casts a dark cloud over your thoughts, weighs down how you feel, and saps you of the fulfillment of spending time with the people and activities that once brought immense joy.

Time and again, studies show that behavioral health and mental health treatment are effective in treating depression. “Psychological treatment can help someone out of the emotional depths of depression and keep them from becoming depressed again,” notes a 2024 study.

Yet how do you know if you need treatment for depression, and what kind do you pursue? An outpatient setting works best for those with milder symptoms. But if you can’t deny any longer that depressive feelings have begun to interfere with your ability to succeed in work, school, or relationships, or you’re unable to follow through with day-to-day functioning, a more intensive option, such as inpatient depression treatment, can be a lifeline when you need it most.

What’s depression inpatient treatment all about? Read on to learn more details about residential depression treatment and how it can help you or a loved one suffering from depression recover.

What Is Depression?  

Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions that can affect every aspect of your life, from how you think, feel, and act. It’s characterized by persistent, chronic feelings of sadness, emptiness, and despondency that don’t go away on their own. Depression goes beyond your mood and can impact your sleep and your appetite, and garner a host of negative mental, emotional, and physical symptoms.

“For some individuals, major depression can result in severe impairments that interfere with or limit one’s ability to carry out major life activities,” notes the National Institute of Mental Health.

Unfortunately, depression remains more prevalent than ever before. According to a 2023 Gallup survey, 29% of U.S. adults have been diagnosed with depression at some point in their lives, almost 10% more than just a decade ago. Gender and age are touchpoints for experiencing depression; the American Psychiatric Association (APA) notes that women are more likely than men to develop depression, and younger adults are more likely than older adults. Signs and symptoms of depression, on average, tend to appear in people during their late teens up to their mid-20s.

How does depression develop? Certain risk factors can come into play, notes the APA. Some people may possess differences in certain neurochemicals in the brain that can contribute to the onset of depression.

Genetics may play a role, as depression can run in families across generations. The nuances of your personality can exacerbate depression; according to the APA, people with poor self-esteem, exhibit pessimism, or can’t manage stress run a higher risk of developing depression.

Lastly, your day-to-say surroundings — like being exposed to a dysfunctional family environment, abuse, neglect or impoverished living conditions, says the APA — all create environmental risks for becoming depressed.

Depressive Disorders Explained

Depression is a wide-reaching umbrella term encompassing a number of disorders, each one sharing some similarities but with differences unique to each type. Understanding the details of each one can help you recognize the type of depression that may affect you.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)  

MDD, short for Major Depressive Disorder, is what most people think of when they hear the word “depression.” With MDD, you may feel sad, down, or worthless. Common to MDD is having an “empty” or vacuous mood, where being around friends and family or engaging in hobbies and activities that once made you happy bring no fulfillment. Physically, MDD can stir discomfort as irritability, restlessness, lack of energy, and insomnia may dominate. According to the Cleveland Clinic, you must encounter most of these symptoms chronically for at least two weeks straight to receive a diagnosis.

According to the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA), MDD affects more than 21 million adults in a given year, the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for people aged 15 to 44.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

SAD is an apt acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder, a type of depression that leaves sufferers feeling sad, lethargic, irritable, anxious, oversleeping, and exhibiting other symptoms that mirror those of MDD. More than just feeling the winter blues, it’s a major depressive disorder that follows a seasonal pattern, typically beginning in fall or winter when days get shorter and ending in spring or summer when sunlight increases.

Researchers point to various explanations for why SAD happens in some people. A lack of vitamin D or melatonin due to reduced sunlight, one’s biological clock changing or worrying about the winter may be potential causes. SAD can also happen during the summer months in some instances.

Bipolar Disorder 

It’s often discussed separately from depression, but bipolar disorder is relevant because it contains a significant depressive component for people who struggle with it. Bipolar is one of many mood disorders involving depressive symptoms and “low” periods alternating with unpredictable periods of mania, manic “high” phases where one may have an abnormally elevated mood and energy levels, along with racing, tangential thoughts, and rapid speech coupled with impulsive, reckless, and even dangerous behavior.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, about 2.8% of the U.S. population is currently diagnosed with bipolar disorder, 83% with a severe form of the condition.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (PDD)  

PDD, previously known as dysthymia or dysthymic disorder, is a mild-to-moderate version of depression that isn’t as strong as Major Depressive Disorder, but it’s characterized by its length. PDD is a type of depression that doesn’t wane or go away, persistently chronic for days, weeks, months, or even years, in some cases. PDD is prevalent in about 1.5% of the population within the last year, notes the Cleveland Clinic, with 2.5% of people experiencing it at least once in their lives.

PDD symptoms aren’t as severe as major depression, but can still affect your well-being. You may feel a constant, static sense of fatigue and lack of energy; low self-esteem alongside feelings of inadequacy, hopelessness, guilt or worthlessness; sleeping or eating too much or too little; and difficulty concentrating in tandem with troubles at school or work.

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What Is Inpatient Depression Treatment?

Unlike an outpatient setting where you return home after sessions with your therapist, inpatient treatment for depression is much more structured, rigorous, and involved, calling for you to stay at a rehab/recovery center for a predetermined period of time.

Residential treatment is an opportunity to devote your full, undivided attention to recovery. Here, you’ll be surrounded by people who want to help you beat depression and live your best life ever — the compassionate clinical staff of doctors, nurses, counselors and support staff, right down to other people in recovery, many of whom you’ll get acquainted with under the same roof and in group therapy.

By design, one of the benefits of depression inpatient treatment is that you’re removed from the stressors and triggers that may be contributing to your depressive disorder. Here, you’re making a conscious decision to distance yourself from negative influences or other factors that could compromise your healing.

Signs Someone Needs Residential Depression Treatment

How do you know when to seek inpatient treatment for depression? The answer isn’t always clear, even if the disorders and symptoms we mentioned earlier resonate loudly and clearly with you.

Take stock of your symptom severity and honestly reflect on some of the following questions:

Is your depression so severe that you can’t follow through with getting out of bed, eating, or taking care of basic hygiene?

Are you unable to function at work, school, or home? Have you withdrawn from family and friends?

Have you been having recurring, obsessive thoughts of self-harm, death, or suicide?

Have you tried to self-medicate away your depression with drugs or alcohol, but now you’ve begun to develop a drinking or substance abuse problem?

Has irritability turned into angry outbursts, sad moments and uncontrollable bouts of crying?

Is your home or domestic environment making your symptoms worse?

Have your speech, thinking, body movements, and reaction times become slowed and lethargic, so that actions like driving have become dangerous?

Do you have inexplicable physical ailments like headaches, muscle tension, or back pain?

These can be difficult to answer. But give yourself an honest look at how your depression may be affecting you. If you answered yes to most of the above, it’s not fair to yourself to let depression overwhelm and overpower your life, and there’s bravery in admitting that a more intensive approach to inpatient depression treatment can serve you well in surmounting your symptoms.

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What Happens During Inpatient Treatment for Depression?

After you arrive at have been admitted to residential depression treatment centers, the first step is to complete an assessment that lays the groundwork for what your inpatient depression treatment schedule will look like. You can expect a combination of some key elements:

Individualized Treatment Plan

Arguably, the most valuable part of beginning inpatient depression treatment is that your care doesn’t follow a template. A standardized, one-size-fits-all plan doesn’t address the details and nuances that can emerge in one person’s depressive symptoms compared to another’s.

Instead, the team — from the intake staff to your therapist — takes the time to get to know you, where you’ll be asked to answer some questions about your symptoms, any family history of depression, and what your treatment goals are. What do you hope to change and achieve? It’s a collaborative process where you’ll work together, in tandem, to set therapeutic priorities and build practical steps that fit your unique situation.

Nothing is set in stone with an individualized treatment plan. As therapy unfolds, your plan can be adjusted as needed to reflect your progress.

Psychotherapy for Depression

Talk therapy is undoubtedly the cornerstone of residential depression treatment. During your stay, you’ll take part every day in sessions one-on-one with a therapist or sometimes as part of a group with other people in recovery working towards similar goals as you. Therapy is a conversation — it can help you make sense of what you’re feeling, unpack the underlying nature of why you’re depressed, and recognize patterns of thinking and behavior that may be hindering you from moving forward. Most importantly, it’s solution-based, so you’ll learn coping skills and new ways of approaching challenges.

Holistic Therapy for Depression

Since inpatient depression treatment is so intensive, your schedule needs to be filled with programming that not only looks to delve into the symptomatic nature of depression but also gives you an opportunity to express how you feel in an inspiring, thought-provoking way.

Here’s how holistic therapy can help:

Mindfulness and meditation allow you to remain clearly focused on the present moment without dwelling or ruminating on the past or future.

Yoga and tai chi are like moving meditations, strengthening your mind-body-spirit connection that can be weakened by depression.

Expressive arts therapies like painting, drawing, journaling, writing poetry or song lyrics or creating music are cathartic outlets to express painful or difficult emotions that might be difficult to put into words.

Physical fitness classes not only get you in great shape, reconnecting you with your body but can boost endorphins and mental energy to counteract the feelings that accompany depression.

Professional Mental Health Treatment for Depression  

The best residential depression treatment is integrated, which means it incorporates the therapies mentioned above with other pathways to healing, like medication or aftercare services.

Psychotherapy for Depression

Inpatient depression treatment centers offer therapy to help you not only understand and manage your depression but also cultivate new attitudes and ways of thinking that frame your perspective in a positive light. You’ll find two that are particularly helpful:

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)  

One of the most popular and effective types of psychotherapy is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT makes the connection between your thoughts (cognition) and behavior (your actions), with the philosophy that negative thinking promotes negative behavior and vice versa. CBT’s aim is to help you reframe a depressive mental narrative and replace it with an optimistic, healthy mindset that sets you on a positive path forward.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)  

Depression inpatient treatment might also include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, which aims to help you accept painful thoughts and feelings attached to depression without judging them or yourself. The second part of ACT is deciding on a path forward away from depression that aligns with your values and taking action to make those changes. It’s an approach that can be especially helpful if depressive feelings have made you disconnected from goals that once mattered to you.

Holistic Treatment for Depression 

Because holistic treatment addresses you as a whole person, it goes beyond addressing the everyday symptoms that depressive disorders can impact your day-to-day life. Holistic therapies are complementary and designed to go hand-in-hand with talk therapy, in nurturing, low-pressure environments like a meditation room or yoga studio where you can make that integral connection between your mind, body, and spirit.

Medication for Depression 

Depressive disorder symptoms that are severe or times when it’s difficult to respond to therapy may call for an antidepressant prescription. Antidepressants work to balance neurochemicals in the brain that may negatively affect your mood and emotions. Some commonly administered antidepressants during inpatient depression treatment can include:

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)

Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs)

Atypical Antidepressants

Tricyclic Antidepressants

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)

Depressive Disorder Treatment Near Me

Searching for when to seek inpatient treatment for depression and depression treatment near me involves finding that ideal mix of a clinical philosophy and compassionate, patient-centric care when you’re looking to build a treatment plan for depression but don’t want to go it alone.

Look for inpatient depression treatment centers with credentials and accreditations that speak to a promise of delivering high-quality care, like the Joint Commission Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations, White Bison’s Wellbriety, or LegitScript. Does the facility have a seamless continuum of care in its treatment programs, from inpatient to outpatient, aftercare, and more?

Lastly, how does it manage your insurance coverage and payment plans for any out-of-pocket obligations for rehab or mental health treatment?

If you have questions about any of the above, for inpatient depression treatment or more, we’re here to help. Speak live with our team, on hand 24/7, 365 days a year, or email us to find out more. Change your life and heal from depression with one phone call.

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