What is Depression?
Depression is a mental feeling that affects an individual’s way of thinking in a negative manner. It is a condition that affects everyone at some point in their life without partiality of age, gender, or race.
It is not an untreatable condition. With the right kind of therapy and medications, an individual can be effectively cured.
The most common methods include psychotherapy, medications, or using a combination of the two.
List of treatments for Depression:
Psychotherapy:
Psychotherapy is otherwise known as talk therapy. It consists of various approaches. Most therapists specialize only in one area however it is better if they know all aspects of this particular counseling method.
The following types of psychotherapy had yielded good results in patients who underwent them,
Interpersonal Therapy:
This remedy makes use of the concept that one of the causes of depression can be due to our relationships. So this treatment can help you improve your relationship skills, become a better communicator, and know how to resolve conflict. This therapy lasts for a total of 12 weeks.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy:
This procedure focuses on changing your thought process. Rather than suppressing your negative thoughts, they show an effective way of managing them and controlling them. This is a short-term therapy and can help you manage as well as cope with your skills.
Social Skills Training:
Social skills training can help you interact effectively with others so that you can maintain healthy relationships with your loved ones and peers. It improves one’s communication skills, builds a strong network with people based on respect and honesty.
These therapies are one way to help the patient to socialize so that they come out from their thoughts and be around people and enjoy themselves keeping loneliness and sadness at bay.
Medications:
Apart from these, medications are also an effective way of helping people cope with depression in more severe cases. When used in conjunction with therapy, there were significant improvements in their condition. Coming up next are the most commonly involved pharmaceutical drugs for depression.
SSRIs help treat both severe and less severe depression. In comparison to other antidepressants, these are known to have less severe side effects. This medication is usually prescribed in combination with MAO inhibitors to avoid the build-up of high serotonin levels in the body which can lead to risks of serotonin syndrome.
SNRIs also work similarly to SSRIs but rather than enhancing serotonin levels like the latter, they inhibit the reuptake of norepinephrine neurotransmitters. These are responsible for mood elevation and help maintain the chemical imbalance.
NDRIs help treat depression by blocking both norepinephrine and dopamine transporters.
Wellbutrin is the most preferred antidepressant as it has the least side effects. The common side effects associated with this medication are headache, sleeping difficulties, and dizziness. These side effects normally disappear following half a month.
Tricyclic Antidepressants were the first antidepressant medications. These were as effective as SNRIs and were used in the treatment of chronic depression and dysthymia also known as chronic or persistent depressive disorder.
Also checkout Various Herbs for treating Depression
Note: The information provided on the site is for reference purposes only. Medications should not be used without consulting your physician. Improper usage can have serious adverse effects that can damage your health. Do not combine two drugs simultaneously as they can cause danger of interactions.
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