Depression Treatments Work to Restore Emotional Health

Feelings of low self worth, crying spells, sadness, ongoing despair, and appetite changes may warrant the need for depression treatments from either a personal physician or mental health provider. Everyone becomes depressed at one time or another due to painful events such as a tragic loss, divorce, stressful situations and sometimes because of hormonal changes such as entering menopause. In most cases, the condition is only temporary, but for individuals with severe depression, those feelings will not go away on their own without some type of depression therapy.

In some cases, depression can be hereditary and in others environmental. Fortunately, no matter the cause, depression treatments are highly successful at allowing those with the condition to return to a normal productive life. With a combination of depression help and medication, optimal results may be achieved within just a few weeks. Psychotherapy is one method of treating depression as it helps to lift a persons self esteem and brighten their outlook on life. This works by teaching the individual how to self talk in stressful situations and how to cope and identify their problems before they escalate. Sometimes, delving into a painful past helps tremendously. Psychotherapy works best when combined with other forms of treatment such as prescription anti depressant medication or in severe cases electric shock therapy. This is only attempted after several medications have been tried to no avail or there is a great risk of suicide.

Anti depressant medications used for depression treatment are those which increase the serotonin levels in the brain. This is the hormone located in the pineal gland that is responsible for lifting mood. Some medications for depression help are Pristiq, Celexa, Wellbutrin, Effexor, Lexapro, and Prozac just to name a few. Each individual is unique in body chemistry, so what works for one person may not work for another. With some trial and error, an anti depressant or combination of two types can usually be found that is suitable for the majority of those with depression. A more dramatic yet faster method of treating severe depression that does not respond to medication or psychotherapy, is electro convulsive treatment or vagus nerve stimulation. These are called ECT and VNS respectively. ECT creates a mild seizure in the brain that corrects depression much more quickly than other methods do. Although rumors persist that it is a barbaric act with the patient fully awake, that is not the case at all. In reality, the patient will be sedated or on an anesthetic while undergoing the procedure so will have no awareness or memory of it whatsoever. VNS works by inserting the stimulator near the armpit and then guiding it to the vagus nerve located in the neck. The intermittent resulting shocks stimulate the brain and effectively reduce depression.

There are many ways to treat mild to severe depression and in the majority of these, a person will regain their self esteem and become a well adjusted productive member of society.

Robert covers to vast world of Depression. Running the site DepressionLearning.com, he has had the opportunity to look at the depression disease right in the eyes. With knowledge from depression symptoms to depression treatments, Robert continues his research in the never ending attempts to find the ultimate cure.