Depression is a kind of mental stress and disorder and life becomes paralyzed due to certain events which effects the routine daily activities and pleasures and joy are lost. It is called major depressive disorder. This kind of depression a recognized clinical condition and is becoming a common condition in developed countries where about 20 % of population effects from mental disorder at some stage of life.
Patients are usually assessed as outpatients, and only admitted to an inpatient mental health unit if they are considered to create a risk for themselves. The most common three methods of treatment for depression including psychotherapy, psychiatric medication, and (in severe cases) electroconvulsive therapy
Antidepressant Medication
The kind of depression that will most possible to be treated from medication is “the blues.” It’s a condition that’s prolonged, lasting 2 weeks or more, and interferes with a person’s ability to carry on daily tasks and feeling no pleasure in activities which were sources of joy and pleasure once for him.
Antidepressants are used mostly for serious depressions, but they can also be helpful for some milder and middle level depression. Antidepressants, although they are not “uppers” or stimulants, But help to reduce the symptoms of depression and help the depressed person feel the way he did before the starting of depression.
Antidepressants are also used mostly for disorders characterized mostly by anxiety. These antidepressants can block the symptoms of panic, including rapid heartbeat, terror, dizziness, chest pains, nausea, and breathing problems. They can also be used to treat some phobias or psychological illness and stress. With most of medication it would take from one to three weeks to take effects.
Some symptoms diminish early in treatment using medications while others take long time. For instance, energy level, or sleeping and eating patterns may improve before lifting of depression completely. Medication used during depression need to be taken according to dose prescribed by medical care taker for that person and quantity of dose may vary depending on depression level of the patient. The medicine dose also varies depending on the type of medicine, the person’s body chemistry, person’s age, and, sometimes weight. Dosage is started with low and raised gradually over time until the desired results are achieved, without the appearance of any trouble or side effects.
Some major used Antidepressants for depression treatment
There are a number of different types of antidepressant medications available for treatment of depression. They differ on their basis of side effects and to some extents in their level of effectiveness.
Tricyclic antidepressants (name based on their chemical composition) used to be the most commonly used medications for dealing with major depressions.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) were used mostly for “atypical” depressions in which there are symptoms like oversleeping, phobias, panic attacks, and anxiety and other mental stress types. More recently, some new antidepressants have been developed and tested based on their sharp effects and low side effects. Several of them are called “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs).
Some examples of SSRIs including; fluoxetine (Prozac), fluvoxamine (Luvox), paroxetine (Paxil), and sertraline (Zoloft). The Luvox has been approved for obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Paxil is approved to use for panic disorder.) Although in structure they are different but all the SSRI antidepressant effects are due to their action on a specific neurotransmitter.
Two other antidepressants that affect two neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine have also been approved by the Federal Drug Agency and are used for depression treatment; they are venlafaxine (Effexor) and nefazodone (Serzone). All of these newer antidepressants seem to have fewer side effects than the previous used Tricyclic antidepressants.
Tricyclic antidepressants are used only for the treatment of inpatients where Tricyclic antidepressant amitriptyline is more effective in its actions. Tricyclic antidepressant was the first medication approved for the use in the treatment of obsessive- compulsive disorder (OCD). Now for treatment of OCD, Prozac and Luvox have now been approved for use.
A New antidepressant bupropion (Wellbutrin), is chemically unrelated to the other antidepressants. It has more effect on norepinephrine and dopamine than on serotonin depression effecting. Wellbutrin is proved to be not associated with weight gain or sexual dysfunction. It is used with or at risk for, a seizure disorder or who have been diagnosed with bulimia or anorexia nervosa.
The questions for doctor including the medical history of patient, family history of depression, so that he may prescribe the most effective medication treatment for it.