Depression treatments
Treating depression successfully depends on accurately assessing the severity of the condition. Cases of mild depression can sometimes be treated with exercise, counselling, and self-help books, with your GP implementing ‘watchful waiting,’ in other words, actively monitoring your condition. If mild depression lasts for two years or more it’s called dysthymia, a kind of mild chronic depression and it’s difficult to treat. This variation of the illness usually affects people over the age of fifty-five. Your doctor may recommend a course of antidepressants to help you cope.
Moderate and severe depression is treated in a number of different ways, and it may be best for you to combine more than one method.
Medication - antidepressants
There are different varieties (known as “classes”) of depression medication that can be prescribed - all of them are called antidepressants, and all have different actions and side effects. You and your doctor need to discuss your symptoms and agree a treatment. It’s important to find the one that best suits you, so sometimes it may be necessary for your doctor to change the dose or class of antidepressant. It is important to remember that antidepressants usually take about two to four weeks to have an effect and that you do not stop taking your treatment without discussing this with your doctor.
There are several classes of antidepressant drugs and these are listed below in alphabetical order: -
- Melatonin Agonist / Serotonin 5-HT2C Antagonist
- Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitor (MAOI)
- Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitor (SNRI)
- Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI)
- Tricyclic (TCA)
Talking therapy
Different types of counselling and therapies can be extremely helpful for people with depression, enabling them to speak in confidence about events or triggers that may have first caused the illness. Often, being able to discuss your deepest feelings or traumas with trained therapists can lead to a feeling of release as if a burden has been lifted, and can contribute to a permanent solution. Overcoming depression often requires a combination of approaches and your GP may be able to refer you to a counsellor who specialises in helping people with this condition. The different types of therapy suitable for depressive people include psychotherapy, psychiatry, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), interpersonal therapy (IPT), and counselling.
Hospital treatment
Sometimes episodes of depression can be severe and you can experience psychotic symptoms in addition to the depression. Occasionally people have suicidal thoughts or ideas about harming others. For your own protection it may be necessary for you to be looked after in hospital for a while. Most people with depression don’t need to stay in hospital, but if you do, your doctor will send you for a mental health assessment before being admitted.
Electro-convulsive therapy (ECT)
ECT is only used for people with severe or major depression, and who have not responded to any other form of treatment. It is performed in hospital under general anaesthetic, so you will not know anything about it or feel any pain. It works by passing a small electric current through the brain which leads to convulsions and an easing of the depressive symptoms. However there are side effects, such as memory loss and confusion, amongst others.
Lithium
Lithium is a type of medication shown to be successful in helping to treat depression. Unlike other depression drugs it doesn’t act as a sedative and most people cope very well with taking it. However it does have some serious side effects and you will need to be regularly monitored with blood tests every three months.
