Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the United States. In fact, it affects one out of every American adult. The disorder can affect people of all ages, but the most common time that depression is diagnosed is in childhood. Depression is the most common cause of disability from severe depression, which often lead to suicide, and other mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, bi-polar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and anxiety disorder. The disorder has a greater risk among women than men. Read more here to discover more on the ways to improve mental health.
Depression treatments involve the attempts of the person with depression to alter his/her thought patterns and emotions in order to regain a sense of worth, positive emotions, and relief from depression symptoms. Depression treatment options include drugs (sertraline, suzodone, bupropion), psychotherapy, talk therapy, counseling, exercise, or life coaching. Some antidepressants are also sometimes used in conjunction with atypical antidepressants. A very recent addition to the range of depression treatments is electroconvulsive therapy, or ECT. ECT is a procedure in which electric shocks are delivered to the head and chest of a depressed person in order to induce a seizure. Though a trial has shown promising results for relieving depression symptoms, a large-scale trial is now underway and has been plagued by many ethical and legal issues surrounding the procedure.
Psychotherapy is the most commonly prescribed for depression treatment, especially in cases where medication is not effective or works well enough to alleviate depression symptoms. Cognitive behavior therapy is a widely accepted type of psychotherapy that has been proven to be effective in treating major depression. The sessions deal with reorientation of the patient to normal thinking patterns, increasing his/her confidence and decreasing negative thoughts, while boosting his/her self esteem.
When depression treatment does not seem to work for a given individual, often a combination of therapies and medications may be used. In one case, medication alone did not help a man who was suffering from severe depression and had only mild panic attacks. His therapists urged him to see a psychiatrist, who prescribed a class of antidepressants. After one month on this medication, his depression symptoms dissipated and he was able to resume his regular daily activities. Another case involves a woman who was experiencing persistent and recurrent vaginal pain. When she visited her general practitioner, he recommended her to try out an antidepressant. Within three weeks, she felt improvement and had no further episodes of vaginal pain.
Group therapy is another popular depression treatment, where people with similar problems to gather together and discuss their feelings, problems, hopes and dreams. The goal of therapy is to foster understanding, camaraderie, support and motivation. It can also help those who feel like they are alone in their struggles, as the people in a group feel more connected than they would have if they had individually participated in a therapy session. Others who have tried group therapy have described it as a highly effective way of dealing with depression. See page to discover more on these treatments.
The effectiveness of these treatments depends on how serious the depression symptoms are, on how much support each person has and on how well the person is able to adjust to his or her new lifestyle. For some, simply making changes to their lifestyle can make a noticeable difference. For others, changes such as changing the types of foods they eat can help to balance out the chemicals in their bodies that cause depression symptoms. Others will need to make more drastic changes, such as undergoing hypnotherapy or using other types of meditation and relaxation techniques to control their depression symptoms. No matter what type of depression treatment a person decides on for himself or herself, the important thing is that he or she receives treatment. Check out this post that has expounded on the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_health.
