Depression is a complex and debilitating mental health condition that can impact every aspect of a person’s life. At Acera Health, located in Costa Mesa, Orange County, we offer comprehensive and personalized treatment programs for individuals struggling with depression.
Our expert team of therapists, psychiatrists, and support staff are dedicated to helping you regain control of your life and achieve lasting recovery. Schedule a consultation to discuss your unique needs and begin your journey to a brighter future.
Depression can be caused by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. Studies show us that people either generate too much or too little of the chemicals in their bodies. These are all potential causes of depression:
Even though we can describe it in a few statements, depression is very complex. Numerous interactions occur, and most of them happen inside the body. That’s why treating depression requires experts. Acera Health can help identify the sources of depression and create a custom approach to tackle it efficiently.
It can also be important to understand that mental health might not be the root cause of all depression. In some cases, substance abuse disorder may be a major cause for depression symptoms. In these cases, getting a dual diagnosis treatment would be necessary to tackle this mental health issue. Acera Health is prepared for cases where substance abuse disorder and mental health issues overlap.
For new mothers, a common type of depression can be postpartum depression. This is a mental health issue that occurs after childbirth and persists longer than the “baby blues.” For new mothers struggling with postpartum depression, depression treatment can help ease these type of persistent mental health problem.
Depression isn’t simply sadness or grief. While a significant loss can lead to a sad mood, a person only enters a state of depression for a limited period of time. Actual depression patients experience a major depressive disorder that can lead to many physical and emotional problems. Here are the common symptoms:
These depressive symptoms must persist for weeks and result in a lifestyle change to gain a depression diagnosis. The estimate is that around 6-7% of all adults experience depression every year. There is a 16% chance for a person to experience it once in their lifetime. If you’re concerned about your feelings during specific times of the year, consider taking a seasonal depression quiz to understand your symptoms better. The most common age group affected are teens to young adults.
No matter your condition or the symptoms, there is a way to treat it. With professional help from Acera Health, you can experience the care you need to lift yourself from your condition. Mental health is essential, and our passion is to provide holistic care to our patients. Choose us, and you’re sure to experience proven treatments that will greatly benefit your well-being.
Mental health disorders have a range of effective treatments available, and the vast majority of patients witness improvements and alleviation from symptoms with time. For optimal outcomes, seeking a diagnosis or treatment with a professional is essential. If you’re concerned about someone close to you and need guidance, our comprehensive guide on how to help your girlfriend with depression can offer valuable insights.
Intriguingly, while psychological and situational factors often play a role in depression, it’s worth noting that medical conditions can also be underlying causes. For instance, a deficiency in certain vitamins or thyroid-related complications has been identified as causal factors in some depression cases. Several other contributors commonly associated with depression include:
All of these will be a part of the consideration during diagnosis. The most common and effective treatments are as follows:
This method is the one many refer to when getting psychiatric treatment. Another term for it is talk therapy. Often, the best approach is to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. This form of treatment focuses on removing false beliefs that are affecting the mind and body.
CBT helps realign a person’s focus and gives them more perspective of their current situation. In our cases, we identify the negative thinking that’s causing the depression. Then, we go through treatment to change thought patterns and behavior.
Treatment depends on the severity of depression. Most patients take around 10-15 sessions before experiencing noticeable results. In extreme cases, we may also combine other methods.
If the assessment reveals a chemical imbalance, medication can restore balance. For example, antidepressants help improve the brain’s chemistry and support a better mood. The common misconception people have is that these medications are addictive. In actuality, they have no noticeable effect except for those experiencing depression. No one can develop an addiction to these types of medicine.
Medication often takes effect after the first two weeks. However, constant use for several months will be necessary to test a patient’s condition. Some may need a change in their dosage or a different medication if the treatment does not work. Regular appointments are a must.
In extreme cases, long-term maintenance of six or more months will be necessary. Treatment continues until the doctor evaluates that the symptoms have improved.
These techniques can help patients develop coping strategies and build resilience against depression. At Acera Health, we offer a range of mindfulness and meditation programs designed to support our patients in their recovery journey. Our yoga and guided meditation practices compliment our more traditional treatment plans.
Our yoga classes are tailored to accommodate various skill levels and provide a supportive space for patients to connect with their bodies, relieve stress, and enhance their mood. Led by experienced facilitators, these sessions introduce patients to various meditation techniques, such as focused attention, loving-kindness, and body scanning, which can be practiced independently to support ongoing mental well-being.
Also known as transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, TMS therapy is a relatively new mental health treatment specifically used to target treatment resistant depression. When depression symptoms are proving particularly stubborn, we are prepared to employ TMS therapy at our treatment centers.
TMS therapy involves using magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain. This is all done in a hope to alleviate depressive symptoms and is entirely non-invasive for the patient.
Successful trauma therapy involves a combination of tactics with an individualized approach to each patient. At Acera Health, we seek to only implement evidence-based therapy options with a proven track record.
Acera Health is an Orange County-based mental health treatment enter that provides both residential and outpatient treatment. You can receive 24/7 supervision and care in one of our houses with everything provided in the program. On the other hand, you can schedule meetings 3-5 times a week with our therapist. We’ll recommend the best course of treatment for you after the initial diagnosis.
We’ll match our mental health services with your specific conditions. We know that group therapy might work for someone, while others have more success in individual depression therapy. With over 100 years of combined experience, we are ready to meet your needs. Contact us today, and we can begin creating a tailored plan for your situation. We are here to help you on the road to recovery.
The duration of treatment programs at Acera Health varies depending on the individual’s needs and progress. Our team will continually assess and adjust the treatment plan to ensure optimal outcomes.
Yes, Acera Health accepts most major insurance plans. We encourage you to contact us to verify your coverage and discuss payment options.
Our admissions process is designed to be as smooth and stress-free as possible. Our team will guide you through each step, from the initial consultation and assessment to the development of a personalized treatment plan.
Yes, Acera Health believes that family support is crucial in the recovery process. We offer family therapy and education sessions to help loved ones better understand and support the individual’s journey to recovery.
At Acera Health, we recognize the importance of ongoing support after completing a treatment program. We offer various aftercare services, including support groups, outpatient therapy, and referrals to community resources.
Melody Stone is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has over 17 years of experience in the field of behavioral health. She works as the Chief Clincal Officer (CCO) to Acera Health, where she is a strong leader focused on sustainable success.
To learn more about if Acera Health is right for you, and what to expect, contact us Today!
"*" indicates required fields
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email mickey.webb@acerahealth.com
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers), both for Windows and for MAC users.
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs, there may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to mickey.webb@acerahealth.com