Effexor users may benefit from integrative reminiscence therapy

People taking medications such as Effexor for their depression often try complementary therapies as well. One of the newest developments, which has shown positive results in many studies, is integrative reminiscence.

What is it?
Integrative reminiscence is a type of therapy that asks people to reflect on and reevaluate their interpretations of and emotions about defining moments from their past. A similar therapy, instrumental reminiscence, asks people to use memories to show how they coped in the past and can continue to make it through difficult situations. Reminiscence therapy is all about bringing forth past memories, and it's been used with various depressed populations, including those with Alzheimer's disease.

To reminisce means to remember. and people can reminiscence aloud with others or quietly on their own. People engage in this act of remembering and replaying poignant moments in their lives for many reasons: to maintain intimacy, reduce boredom, prepare for death, problem-solve, revive bitterness or anger, form identities, make conversations and teach or inform themselves or others. Many studies have shown that reminiscence is important for healthy aging. Other research has examined how guided reminiscence therapy can benefit depressed seniors.

Reminiscence and seniors
A study published in the summer 2000 edition of Aging and Mental Health found that older adults with depression from integrative and instrumental reminiscence therapies. Of 26 seniors, 58 percent of them had significant clinical improvement in their depressive symptoms after being treated with this therapy. At a three-month follow up, 100 percent of those given therapy had clinical improvement in their symptoms. A similar study, published 10 years later in the September 2010 issue of the same journal, found that these types of therapies were who were living in a nursing home.

Finally, a study by researchers from Twente University in the Netherlands combined reminiscence therapy with narrative therapy to treat depressed adults ages 55 and older. Those who underwent the combined psychotherapy had fewer depressive symptoms and better control over their depression after an eight-week follow up. The effects remained positive through a three-month follow up as well.

If you have depression, you can talk to your doctor about trying reminiscence therapy. If you have a prescription for Effexor or another depression medication, you can save money by ordering it online from an Canadian online pharmacy.