How to Treat Serious Depression

Major depression is a treatable illness that responds to a variety of therapeutic interventions. All patients with depression should undergo a medical evaluation to rule out secondary causes of their symptoms. Please refer to my article, "How to Recognize Serious Depression" to know about signs and symptoms of major depression.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Right medications
• Good physician follow up

1. Antidepressant Medications:
   
   The major classes of drugs used to treat depression include:
   
   * Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac and Zoloft
   
   * Tricyclic antidepressants such as tofranil
   
   * Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors such as parnate
   
   * Compounds that inhibit the reuptake of both serotonin and norepinephrine such as venlafaxine (Effexor) and duloxetine (Cymbalta)
   
   * Miscllaneous drugs such as bupropion (Welbutrin)
2. Initial therapy:
   
   Initial therapy of mild to moderate major depression should begin with either psychotherapy or drugs.
3. Choice of Medication:
   
   SSRIs are usually used as first choice drugs even though a number of clinical studies have failed to provide a clear guidance on the choice between SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants. SSRIs are however associated with lesser side effects and less danger with overdose.
4. Patients with severe depression should be treated initially with drugs; hospitalization may be indicated if depression is life-threatening
5. Severe, chronic (more than two years), or recurrent depression should be treated with a combination of drugs and psychotherapy.
6. Electro convulsive therapy, which involves passing of electric current through the brain, should be considered as an initial treatment for people with life threatning depression, or if all the medications and therapies have failed.
7. Other less commonly used techniques include: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; cingulotomy (surgically destroying a small portion of the brain known as cingulate gyrus).