Treatment for Depression: The Different Options

Are you looking for an effective treatment for depression? Well, let me tell you that it is quite possible nowadays. Depression refers to a state of mind depicted by a negative feeling of failure wherein the effecting person passes through the sad phase of gloom and mood swings. Many of us tend to believe that depression is something that tends to prevail and leave on its own, while several are of the opinion that there is no effective treatment for depression. So, many never seek a medical help.

However, the truth is that depression is a just a negative state of mind, which needs to be dealt with a proper medical or natural treatment as soon as possible. The sooner the depression treatment is taken, the better are the chances for the person to come back to normal. Therefore, in this article, we shall focus on some useful treatments of depression.

All of us, at some point of time, tend to feel down or sad. However, such low feelings are actually temporary, as they go away on their own within a couple of hours or days. Nevertheless, when these feelings of despair become so profound that they do not budge at all but interfere with your daily life causing agony to you and those around you, it might be depression. So, the common symptoms include continued feelings of sadness and hopelessness, low self-esteem, hostility due to failure to do something, irritation, and even suicide attempts. The occurrence of the last symptom marks the presence of major depression, which can be fortunately conquered via a better treatment.

Treatment for Depression: The Three Broad Categories

Irrespective of the type of depression, there are various treatments for depression. However, broadly speaking, one can classify these treatments into three main categories namely:

• Medications
• Psychotherapies
• Natural remedies (herbs, acupuncture, and exercises)

Medications for Treatment for Depression

Approaching a medical practitioner and taking the medications prescribed by him/her is the most common depression treatment. She/He prescribes antidepressants that aim at rectifying the brain’s neurochemical imbalance, which is considered to be a major cause of depression. They are usually taken for 5 to 6 months, but can be extended depending on the type of depression. However, these medications have their own side effects. Listed below are the main types of antidepressants.

• Tricyclics (TCA): These are the most preferred drugs for the treatment of depression that is severe. Prescribed since 60 years, they aim at increasing the levels of serotonin and norepinephrine neurochemicals in the brain. However, the effectiveness of these drugs is evident only after 2-4 weeks.

Common Tricyclics: Nortriptyline, Amitriptyline, and Imipramine

• Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs): Introduced just before two decades, these drugs are prescribed for major depression. SSRIs work by boosting the imbalance of serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain whose shortage can also lead to depression. The best feature of these medicines is that they inflict fewer side effects than other antidepressants and that they are less sedative.

Common SSRIs: Fluoxetine, Citalopram, and Paroxetine

• Monamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs): They are the least preferred medicines and tend to be effective only for a few patients.

Common MAOIs: Tranlcypromine and Isocarboxazid

• Norepinephrine and Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors (NDRIs): These drugs work by balancing the levels of the dopamine and norepinephrine neurotransmitters.

Common NDRIs: Bupropion

Most of these drugs have their own side effects that range from nausea to shakiness. However, if they are not taken in the right dosage or if you stop taking them all of a sudden, you might reverse the effectiveness of these drugs. This means that your depression will step in soon, and this time, the condition can tend to be worse than before. So, one must take the treatment of depression under constant supervision of the medical practitioner.

Psychotherapy for Treatment for Depression

Because depression relates to an imbalanced state of mind featuring phobia, panic, and emotional instability; psychotherapies can work really well. Commonly known as ‘therapy’, it encompasses a plethora of treatment techniques.

While undergoing psychotherapy, the depressed person talks to a trained psychotherapist who aids in identifying the factors causing depression and finding practical solutions for tackling them. So, a therapy as a treatment for depression focuses on the psychosocial as well as psychological aspects of depression. Therefore, psychotherapy aids a patient of depression to:

• Comprehend the ideas, wrong understanding, and emotions leading to depression and painful behavior.
• Comprehend and identify the problematic/causal events such as death in family and divorce
• Learn and implement coping techniques

Depending upon the causes, the psychotherapy is then given in any of the four modes: in private, in group, with the better half, and with the family members of the affected person. In most cases, the psychotherapy is implemented along with the medications to ensure better results internally and externally.

Natural Remedies as the Treatment for Depression

Table 1.1 lists the natural remedies that are effective and might inflict only a few mild effects.

Note: Kindly do not choose a treatment for depression on your own. Do consult your doctor before so that you are on the right path.