Is Depression Treatable?
How long have you been undergoing depression treatment? Is it weeks, months or is it years? How many doctors or psychiatrists have you been seeing over this period? What other forms of depression treatment methods or alternative cures have you tried?
Does the answer lie in prescription medication or are natural cures more effective? What about the unpleasant side effects and withdrawal symptoms? Is there a way out? Some say that if you are to ever get well you must learn to take charge of your thoughts and feelings.
Do you feel like you are on a path to recovery or are you just about to loose hope?
How much longer are you going to wait before your life gets back to normal? Will it ever get better?
These are some of the many questions that plague the minds of most depression sufferers. However, before we answer these questions let us get clear on what depression is and what it isn’t.
What is depression?
Depression can be described as a debilitating condition marked by intense feelings of sadness, low energy and dejection that lasts for a period of at least two weeks. Most patients find that they have lost interest in activities that they used to enjoy or find that they have no energy and motivation to engage in activities of their everyday life.
It is important to note that if the condition is not treated in time, it may cause the affected person to have complications in their personal relationships, at home, in school and also at work. Most affected individuals develop unhealthy sleeping and eating habits which cause their overall health to deteriorate. We can therefore conclude that depression affects a person’s functioning and well-being to the extent that it can be compared to other serious medical conditions like hypertension and diabetes.
Symptoms of Depression
Depression can start with seemingly trivial but annoying symptoms like loss of concentration and difficulty in performing routines of every day life. These with time develop into strong feelings of sadness, worthlessness, guilt and pessimism. Patients then start loosing sleep, become irritable and evidently lack energy. Others may complain of recurring episodes of bodily aches and pains, have low appetite or overeat and they may cry a lot.
Gradually they lose interest in their work, hobbies and activities that they once enjoyed even sex. Other symptoms include low energy levels and fatigue, poor memory, inability to make quick decisions, or oversleeping rapid weight gain or loss. At the lowest point patients begin having thoughts and attempts of suicide.
What causes depression?
There are several causes of depression some of which are not completely understood. Depression causes are believed to stem from psychological, environmental, genetic, and biological factors.
Stress and trauma are believed to be among the greatest contributors to several health problems. Doctors believe that stress is actually one of the main contributors to most physical and psychological ailments. Extremely unpleasant life experiences like genocide, death of loved ones, physical and emotional abuse, enduring devastating illnesses and accidents often leave people emotionally scarred and depressed.
Certain genetic flaws like inherited neurological deformities are believed to make the affected persons more likely to suffer from depression. This could be the reason why it is very common to find members of the same family suffering from depression. Studies also show that more women than men are likely to suffer from depression.
The environment affects our day to day experience of life. Living in surroundings that have adverse climatic conditions, disaster prone areas or living in unhealthy environs can affect us emotionally, a factor that can lead to depression. Seasonal Affective disorder (SAD or “winter blues”) is a common type of depression that affects some people during certain seasons especially winter.
Consumption of certain chemicals like prescription medicine, narcotics, industrial or agricultural chemicals can at times be harmful to the nervous system. Various substances are known to cause body chemical imbalance, physiological and neurological damage which can lead to debilitating mental health conditions like Parkinson’s disease, migraine, panic attacks as well as other forms of depressive illnesses.
Biological factors include having smaller than normal hippocampus, an imbalance of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine and excessive presence of the stress hormone cortisol. Research shows that people with smaller than average hippocampus (thus fewer serotonin receptors) experience more depressive episodes than those who do not. An imbalance of the neurotransmitters serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine can affect a person’s mood, sleep, energy levels, temperament which often leads to depression.
Depression also affects people with other physical illnesses. More than 25% of persons suffering from various medical conditions have evident depression symptoms. Patients with chronic ailments such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart conditions, arthritis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and stroke are more likely to have depression than those with other illnesses.
Other issues that make people more predisposed to depression include a troublesome upbringing, emulating bad habits, peer pressure, unhealthy diets, organ dysfunction, body chemical (e.g. hormonal) imbalance, lack of exercise, negative self image and pessimistic attitude.
Is depression treatable?
Clinically tested and approved treatments for depression include the use of medication (antidepressants) and psychotherapy. These two are believed to be the most effective in treating depression even though they don’t always work for all people.
More often than not patients using anti-depressants attain complete remission of the symptoms after several weeks or even months. This causes many to give up even before the full effects of the medication begin to take effect. In some unresponsive cases, patients are required to change their medication if no apparent improvement in symptoms is observed.
Depression medication is usually prescribed after diagnosis has confirmed that the patient is suffering from depression. There are many types of antidepressant drugs which are classified into the following groups depending on their mode of action. These are:
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs)
- Tricyclics Antidepressants (TCAs)
- Tetracyclic Antidepressants (TeCAs)
- Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
It should be noted that not all patients respond the same way to depression treatment. This means that either the positive or negative effects of antidepressants will always vary from one individual to another. Some of the major drawbacks of antidepressants are their unpleasant side effects and cost in terms of time and money.
Common side effects include nausea, lack of sleep or over sleeping, overeating or loss of appetite, muscle twitching and trembling, foggy brain, loss of libido, gastrointestinal complications, headaches, suicidal ideation among others. Antidepressants also tend to cause adverse interactions with other drugs. It is therefore wise to seek professional assistance before taking any depression medication.
Psychotherapy is another popular treatment alternative. It is a form of depression treatment that is concerned mostly with changing the patient’s psychological, emotional and behavioral characteristics that contribute to depression. Examples of psychotherapy treatments include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Interpersonal Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy and Group Therapy.
There are many other alternative cures for depression which include: herbal extracts and supplements, yoga, meditation, lifestyle changes which includes regular exercise and proper diet.
How effective are these depression cures?
Depression is a serious medical condition that should not be ignored. Unless treated depression can have drastic effects on a person’s physical and psychological wellbeing, their relationships and work. Untreated depression symptoms gradually become debilitating and can at times become chronic.
Psychiatric treatment is usually the first choice of treatment for minor to mild cases of depression and for patients aged below 18 years. This mode of treatment is believed to be more effective due to the intensive training and research that has been carried out over the years. Psychotherapy is likely to be among the oldest method of treating psychological disorders. It works better when the affected patient is willing to change their thoughts and behaviors that could be causing depression.
Severe and more chronic forms of depression require complementary forms of treatment apart from occasional therapy. Prescription medications (antidepressants) are believed to work for more serious types of depression.
Most individuals with depression who go through the complete treatment process recover fully from their symptoms with very few incidences of depression recurrence. However not all cases of depression respond positively to medication.
Doctors believe that most forms of depression can be cured through the different types of therapies and treatments available. Interestingly more than 60% of people with depression never seek treatment. Furthermore, these people do get better with time without undergoing any form of therapy or treatment.