Things You'll Need:
- Right medications
- Good physician follow up
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Step 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) -
Step 2
Initial therapy:
Initial therapy of mild to moderate major depression should begin with either psychotherapy or drugs. -
Step 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. -
Step 4
Patients with severe depression should be treated initially with drugs; hospitalization may be indicated if depression is life-threatening
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Step 5
Severe, chronic (more than two years), or recurrent depression should be treated with a combination of drugs and psychotherapy.
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Step 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.
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Step 7
Other less commonly used techniques include: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation; cingulotomy (surgically destroying a small portion of the brain known as cingulate gyrus).
Comments
bongo001 said
on 1/11/2009 Does anyone have advice for
CBeatrix said
on 10/9/2008 I believe, depression is way too serious illness to try to give advice to anyone over an article to treat it. Most medications for it ar addictive, habit-forming, have numerous side effects. A person with depression should seek for a help of a therapist who will work with him/her through it. There are many natural ways also that will aid in improving the condition. I know someone who has been depressed for years, and they just keep prescribing medications for her. If it really worked, why do they keep prescribing her more and more? I think no one should rely simply on medication, and medication shouldn't be the first course of action.
wytetyger059 said
on 9/1/2008 I've been lucky. I was severely depressed, but not bipolar. My doctor tried tricyclics and several didn't work, so he finally gave me Zoloft. It helped immensely. About 2 years ago I was able to get off the drugs for a year and a half, but then my roommate died and I was down again. Fortunately, I don't have to take the same dosage I took before. Talk therapy helped me, and writing poetry. Some mental health professionals can't be trusted, and some just don't have a handle on what's going on in a particular case. They're people too. And remember, they put on their signs "practicing" md, or whatever. We're the ones they're practicing on. Good article.
heidiho said
on 8/22/2008 Depression is a real and very scary place to be in. I was very depressed for over a year, would not eat, cried all the time and lost interest in my life, didn't care for my possessions and lost most of my freinds. It was a bad time.
i went to see a shrink and got help. They put me on Lithium amd Rhisperdahl. The Rhisperdahl works very well and makes you much happier and coherent. the lithium balances out your moods so that you don't have the extreme highs and lows anymore.
I say to you, if you are dperessed, go and see a doctor. get help. Its too hard to pull out of it on your own and you don't need to waste any more of your time being depressed when you could be making a record, or acting in a play or out on your BMX bike. (Or whatever you do).
Also, after awhile your friends don't know why you are so down all the time and may actually dump you. This won't help either.
SO go
meg1977 said
on 6/13/2008 Drugs aren't the answer. And drugs partnered with traditional therapy or counseling often aren't enough. I have been on several medications for depression and bipolar disorder and I had to get off of them because the side effects were so rough! Constant nausea and dizziness limited my ability to work and eat.
And after a year of psychotherapy, I only got worse. Initially I wasn't even suicidal, just mildly depressed. After treatment, I became suicidal and very irresponsible, and increasingly hopeless.
My college roommate, who went through much worse things than I, ended up taking her life after many antidepressants and therapists failed her.
I know many more stories of people who trusted mental health professionals and who voluntarily went through treatment, only to get into deeper problems, or to end up worse off than before.