Depression Treatment
What is depression? Major depressive disorder or clinical depression, anxiety depression, and manic depression is a disorder of the mind which can be manifest itself in a encompassing low mood as well as low self-esteem. The person experiences a loss of pleasure or interest in the things he or she normally would find pleasurable. Actually, "depression" is a term that is used to generalize the disorder, but the proper description would be major depressive disorder.
In order to diagnose a mental status exam is given to the person. Unlike other disorders, there are no laboratory exams that can be given to a person suffering from major depression. However, physicians may request that the patient undergo some tests for physical conditions. This is to double check the conditions that may cause symptoms that are similar to depression.
Depression treatment may come in different forms. Some patients receive depression treatment through the use of anti-depressant medication coupled with some psychotherapy. In most cases, the patient may require hospitalization so as to ensure the effectiveness of the depression treatment. In addition, this is also done to help the cases where self-neglect or harm done to others is inevitable.
A small percent of depressed patients receive depression treatment through electroconvulsive therapy. This therapy is done while the patient is under a general anesthetic. Of course, this mode of depression treatment varies from one condition to another. Despite depression treatment, people who are suffering from depression can suffer for longer periods and even possibly forever.
Below is a summary of the different types of depression treatment which a depressed patient can be treated with:
- Psychotherapy - it aims to reduce the patient's sense of discomfort and increase their sense of well-being
- Medications - these are medicines which can provide depression treatment by itself or a combination of other medicines. Some of these medications include Prozac, Laxapro, Luvox, Zoloft, and Celexa
- Electroconvulsive therapy - treatment when the patient suffers from seizures
- Alternative depression treatment methods - these are depression treatment ways that are not exactly included in the scope of medical science. These include the following: acupuncture, exercise, deep brain stimulation, low fructose diet, Cranial electrotherapy stimulation, and flower remedies.
