How Depression Can Be Treated?

Three most common treatments for depression are

1. Medication,
2. Psychotherapy
3. Electroconvulsive Therapy.

Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice for children and adolescents, while electroconvulsive therapy is used for adults and is the last treatment of choice. The out patient receives a care while the inpatient receives a treatment. Physical exercises also have additional benefit.

Most of the patients are treated with the help of medicines known as anti depressants. It is also helped by the counseling along with psychotherapy. One must be hospitalizedwhen the patient harms himself or others. A few patients are also treated with the help of general anesthesia. These disorders are episodic in nature and are not regular in occurrence.

Treatment options are limited in the developing countries as the access to other medical amenities is not there. The mental health services are in bad shape in the developing countries it is not understood. It is mainly known as the disease of developed countries.

What is Psychotherapy?
Psycho therapy can be given, to individuals or groups with the help of mental healthprofessionals, including
• Psychiatrists
• Psychologists
• Clinical social workers
• Psychotherapists
• Psychiatric nurses
• Counselors

In the severe form of depression one may need the help of medicines along with the psycho therapy. In case of adolescents one must go for medicines along with the psychological therapy. It has been shown to be quite effective in the cases of elder people. It decreases the recurrence of disease.

There is an inter personal psycho therapy which deals with the social and inter personal factors that may lead to depression. It decreases the stress and there are number of sessions which are done at the intervals. There is a psycho analysis theory which was given by S Freud which states that the problems in unconscious brain must be stopped. It is done in the cases of major depression. There are many complex techniques which are used to treat depression.

What are Antidepressants?
The effects of known antidepressants can be compared to those of psychotherapy, but more patients leave the medicine and instead to leave psychotherapy. This is mainly due to the side effects associated with the medicines. The dose of the drugs can be adjusted and one can use few combinations. The response rate to different drug varies and it can take few weeks to be effective. The chronic patient must certainly take medicines so that the relapse can be prevented. These medicines are not found to be effective in the children. It can lead to low sodium levels known as hypo natremia. There are certain class of anti depressants which can lead to life taking interactions. These are known as mono amine oxidase inhibitors. They are used very rarely. There is a certain group of depression which is not effective in the case even if anti depressants are given. It is referred as the refractory depression.

Pharmacological augmentation
A doctor may use a medicine with a unique mode of action to increase the effect of an antidepressant in cases of resistance to treatment. The anti depressant therapy gets benefit from the lithium salts when the anti depressant therapy alone is not successful. The risk of suicide among the patients with depression is reduced by the intake of lithium. One can also go for the addition of thyroid hormone.

What is Electro Convulsive Therapy?
In this technique we use a pulse of electricity with the help of electrodes through the brain. They are placed on the temple of mouth and is given a short generalanesthesia. It is given in the severe cases of depression. It is used when all other methods of treatment fail. It is quick in action and is used in cases of emergencies when the patient does not eat or drink. It is quite effective in the short term. The relapses rate is quite high. It can be decreased by the use of psychiatric medicines. This therapy may lead to the loss of memory, headache and disorientation. Overall, one can say that it is a controversial treatment.

Physical Exercise
It is mainly followed in the developed countries. They have a good clinical effect.

There are few over the counter products which can be used. It involves the use of herbal medicines. But it has not been proven yet. One cannot rely on the ingredientswhich are used in case of herbal medicines and that account for the safety of this product. It has the ability to react with the other medicines and to decrease the effectiveness. The use of omega 3 fatty acids in this disorder is still not clear.

There are other treatments like repetitive trans cranial magnetic stimulation known as TMS. It is quite effective in the cases of treatment resistant depression. It also involves the vagus nerve stimulation. It is also effective in the cases of treatment resistant depression. But the benefits are of short term.