Qualities of the Best Depression Doctor

You know that your depression doctor should have plenty of experience, and have all the necessary qualifications needed to treat depression. But you also need to consider the characteristics of this person.

If the doctor you are working with does not have a personality that suits you and is conducive to your healing experience, they can have all the qualifications in the world and still not be able to help you.

At Samarpan Health, we understand that the best depression doctor you can find has a refined character that will allow them to treat your depression with the utmost effectiveness. If you would like to speak with one of these doctors, contact us today.

Essential Characteristics Of The Best Depression Doctors

Here are a few of the qualities that we consider the most important from our depression doctors. At Samarpan, we only employ staff with these qualities.

Compassion

This is at the top of our list for a reason. You simply cannot work effectively in mental health without having a strong degree of compassion. The desire to help other people overcome their mental health problems should be one of the driving forces of any depression doctor.

There is a strong correlation between the best depression doctors and the most compassionate.

Emotional Intelligence

While it is of course important for your doctor to have a high degree of intelligence, the best depression doctor you can see will also have a high degree of emotional intelligence. Doctors like this have a deep intuition for perceiving where problems may lie in a patient’s psyche. This allows the doctor to help their patient more effectively and more expediently. The end result of this is that you may require less sessions from a high emotional intelligence doctor.

Professionalism

This is another quality that is absolutely fundamental for a mental health practitioner. These kinds of roles do not suit anyone who cannot work to a high degree of professionalism. Doctors should always maintain a high standard of ethical conduct and integrity. This means, among other things, keeping your confidential information private and not sharing it without your express permission.

Problem-Solving Skills

Solving mental health problems can be a little like solving a puzzle. Doctors must listen carefully to a patient, taking into account their life history, traumas and how they feel about themselves and the people around them, and gauge from this what the issue is and how it can be solved.

As the human mind is so complicated, this is not always straight-forward, which means your mental health practitioner must have high-level critical thinking skills.

Patience

While it is possible to make progress in only a few sessions, the root to healing can take time. If you have been suffering from severe mental health problems, it may take a few months to make good progress. Of course it is important for you to be patient during this time. It is also crucial for your depression doctor to show a high degree of patience.

We can think of patience as being related to compassion. Doctors with a great deal of compassion naturally become more patient, and allow you to open up in your own time, without hurrying you.

Non-Judgmental Attitude

The best depression doctor will not judge you. This is so important, as shame is often a contributing factor to depression. Having a doctor who will listen to you without judging you will allow you to open up and get some of the weight off your chest.

The best depression doctor may even share some of their history that they feel ashamed about, to help deepen the bond between the two of you.

Knowledge

Mental health practitioners learn much of their knowledge about mental health when they gain their qualifications. But for the best in their field, learning doesn’t stop there. Top-tier depression doctors continue to top up their understanding of mental health and mental health treatment by reading academic articles, conferring with colleagues and attending conferences.

By doing this, they are able to build on what they learnt at university, and can keep their understanding of mental health problems in line with current developments.

Collaborative Approach

Doctors should be willing to work with you to develop a treatment plan, should you want this. They should listen to your thoughts on medication, and take this into account if they are considering prescribing it. This approach to working with clients can help the client to feel understood, and increases the sense of agency that the client experiences.

Self-Care

The best depression doctors that you can find will take care of themselves. They will eat healthily, exercise and take time to relax when they are not treating patients. And crucially, they will look after their own mental health.

Ideally, you should find a mental health doctor who has worked on themselves, so they understand what the treatment process feels like from the other perspective. A therapist who has been through therapy themselves is also less likely to have their judgment clouded, meaning that they can be more effective at treating patients.

Skilled Listener

Your depression doctor should pay the utmost attention to everything you say. And they should also be able to strike a good balance between listening and asking questions that will help you to break free of your depression. This is a skill that can sometimes take a while for mental health practitioners to develop, which is another reason why you should go with a doctor who has at least a few years experience treating patients.

Find Your Best Depression Doctor At Samarpan Health

Now you know all the qualities you should be looking for, it is time to search for the best depression doctor for you. Take on board this list, and also consider if there are any other traits you are looking for from your doctor. The traits that you want from a doctor may be those that you admire in the people around you.

Once you have compiled your list, please feel free to contact Samarpan Health. We would love to hear you out and connect you to one of the depression doctors on our team, all of whom we believe exemplify those qualities written within this blog.