Depression Treatment Options: A Brief Overview

Depression can be clinical depression or seasonally affected depression. Moreover, the typical therapy for depression can be approached in a two way phase. We will come across many agencies claiming to cure depression quite immediately but you need to assess which are genuine. The patient is treated through medications and counseling sessions with a psychotherapist.

In this topic of "depression treatment options-what to consider and what to ignore," we need to know that people will be exposed to medications as well as their side-effects. If depression is quite negligible and has been detected as just a personality disorder rather than clinical depression, we need to just consider psychotherapy as the most effective option. This is because the functioning of the person's brain is normal but the person is not able to cope with certain situations and responsibilities. This is the leading factor causing depression symptoms in the person's body.

There are cases where patients have been prescribed a combination therapy of medications and psychotherapy. No case is handled with medications alone. Research studies have proved that depression can be controlled provided the person is taught effective interpersonal and confidence building techniques.

So, now in this topic "depression treatment options- what to consider and what to ignore" we discuss the pathway of medications used in this treatment. The most typical medications used for treating depression are segregated into three categories: tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors, and selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

But, we need to cautiously select the most appropriate medication for depression. It has been found that the effective treatment through antidepressants may work for some while some people may not show remarkable signs of improvement. In this case, proper selection of antidepressant will depend on the case and will vary from one individual to the next. The FDA in US issued a statutory warning on all the antidepressants suggesting that antidepressants may cause an increasing suicidal tendency in children.

We now explore the use of lithium and thyroid supplements. It has been associated with improving the use of antidepressants. Antipsychotic medications will be prescribed to people suffering from depression related with psychotic disorders such as delusions and hallucinations. One of the last measures of treating immensely depressed individuals is through electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). In this method, a seizure will be triggered into the patient by means of electrical current.

Preliminary research is being conducted on the use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). This works in a way quite similar to ECT: but the advantage of using this is associated with the fact that it triggers fewer side effects in the person as compared with ECT.

The effective treatment for people suffering from depression in months of winter is through the use of light therapy. This will help them in regaining their normal sleep cycle, having a marked impact on bringing about a relief in depression.

Alternative forms of treating depression include herbal medications and yoga. Yoga has shown quite promising results in containing the symptoms of depression. The efficacy of treating depression with herbal medication has not been fully substantiated with research. You could consider St. John's Wort as research studies in Germany have proved the efficacy of this herbal medication.