Effective Medications to Treat Depression

The first step to getting the right depression therapy is a physical examination by a doctor. Certain medications, as well as some medical conditions such as viral infections, can cause the same symptoms of depression, and doctors must rule out this possibility through examinations, interviews, and laboratory tests. If a physical cause for depression is ruled out, the psychological evaluation should be done by a doctor, or a referral to a psychiatrist or psychologist.

Medications to Treat Depression

A good diagnostic evaluation will include a complete history of depression symptoms, i.e., when they started, how long they have lasted, how severe they are, whether the patient had them before and, if so, whether depression symptoms treated and what the depression treatment is given. The doctor should ask about alcohol and drug use, and if the patient has thoughts about death or suicide.

Furthermore, history should include questions about whether other family members have had the disease of depression and if cared for, what their treatment of depression may have received and effective.

Lastly, the diagnostic evaluation should include a mental status examination to determine whether speech or thought patterns or memory has been affected, as happened in the case of depression or manic-depressive illness.

Depression treatment options will depend on the results of the evaluation. There are a variety of psychotherapies that depression and medications can be used to treat disorders of depression. Some people with milder forms may do well with psychotherapy alone. People with moderate to severe depression most often benefit from antidepressants.

Effective Medications to Treat Depression

Most do best with a combination treatment of depression: drugs to get relief of depression symptoms are relatively fast and psychotherapy to learn more effective ways to deal with the problems of life, including depression. Depending on the patient’s diagnosis and severity of depression symptoms, the therapist may prescribe treatment and/or one of several forms of psychotherapy that has been proven to be effective for depression.

More: BEST NATURAL SUPLEMENTS FOR DEPRESSION

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is useful, especially for individuals who are severe or life-threatening depression or antidepressant drugs can’t drink. ECT often is effective in cases where medication depression do not provide adequate relief symptoms of depression. In recent years, ECT has been much better. A muscle relaxant is given prior to treatment of depression, which is done under anesthesia. The electrodes are placed in the right locations at the top of the head to deliver electrical impulses. stimulation which causes seizures is short (about 30 seconds) in the brain. The recipient was not aware people ECT suffered an electrical stimulus. For the benefit of full therapy, in several sessions most ECT, usually given at a rate of three per week, as needed.

Depression medication

There are several types of medications used to treat depression disorders. This includes the recently-especially selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor drugs (SSRIS)-the tricyclics, monoamine oxidase and inhibitor (MAOI). The SSRIS — and other new drugs that affect neurotransmitters such as dopamine or norepinephrine-generally have fewer side effects than the tricyclics.

Sometimes the doctor will try a variety of antidepressants before finding the most effective medication or combination of medications. Sometimes the dose should be increased to be effective. Although some improvement can be seen in the first few weeks, antidepressant medication must be taken regularly for 3 to 4 weeks (in some cases, as many as 8 weeks) before the full therapeutic effect occurs.

Patients are often tempted to stop the medication too quickly. They may feel better and think they no longer need the medication depression. Or they may think drugs depression did not help at all. It is important to retain the drug depression until he has a chance to work, although the side effects can appear before antidepressant activity does.

After the individual feel better, it is important to continue the treatment for at least 4 to 9 months to prevent the recurrence of depression. Some drugs depression should be stopped gradually to give the body time to adjust. Never stop taking an antidepressant without consulting a doctor for instructions on how to safely stop the drug. For individuals with bipolar disorder or chronic depression, treatment may have to be maintained forever.

Antidepressant medications are not habit-forming. However, as with all kinds of prescription drugs for more than a few days, antidepressants should be monitored to see if the proper doses are given. The doctor will check dosage and effectiveness on a regular basis.

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