Cures for Depression
Unlike certain physical disorders that are normally reparative,cures for depression depend on more than just the elimination of bacteria or viruses via antibiotics or other pharmaceuticals.
Depression, unlike the common cold or temporary muscle sprain, does not totally disappear from the body and remain unlikely to return unless something happens to cause its appearance again, such as in the case of exposure to germs leading to illness. Because genetics and the brain, with its delicate balance of powerful neurotransmitters, are involved in the development of depression, a depression cure is somewhat of a misnomer and needs further elaboration.
When a professional diagnoses a patient with depression, this indicates they have been experiencing these symptoms for more than two weeks, symptoms intense enough to negatively impact their work, relationships and all other aspects of their life:
- Feeling sad, hopeless, guilty and worthless
- Appetite changes ranging from overeating to eating as little as possible
- Sleeping too much or not enough
- Self-imposed social isolation
- Irritability, agitation or anxiety
- Frequent crying spells
- Inability to concentrate or focus on tasks at work or home
- Memory problems
- Lethargy
- Suicide ideation
- Delusions (severe depression, usually when someone has experienced a psychotic break)
Because depression symptoms differ in regards to the way a person copes with his or her despondency, cures for depression will differ as well. Some people react positively to just counseling, others only need antidepressants while many require both medication and counseling to control depression symptoms.
More Facts about Depression
According to the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri:
- Over 16 million people living in the United States suffer from various depression types, with nearly 9 million experiencing clinical or major depressive disorder.
- Researchers estimate that two-thirds of these individuals do not see a professional about their depression.
- Of those who do seek treatment, nearly 80 percent will experience considerably improved lives.
- At least $30 billion is spent on depression and cures for depression as well as loss of work, treatment, hospitalization and research.
- Twice as many females suffer from depressive episodes than men.
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has recently reported that suicide in the 11th leading cause of death in the U.S.
- Major depression is seen in “first-degree biological relatives” up to three times more than among those who are non-relatives in the general population.
- While definitive cures for depression are not available at this time, it is capable of being effectively treated.
What to do About Depression
Seeking help is the first course of action to take when depression is disrupting your work, family and social life. Cures for depression that rely on self-help are not adequate; nor will depression just go away by itself. To eliminate the overwhelmingly debilitating symptoms of depression, an individual will need to participate in counseling, which examines the root cause of the depression, as well as medication that can regulate neurotransmitter levels in the brain.
Regardless of the stigma associated with any kind of mental disorder, persons suffering from depression should not feel like being depressed is their fault because it is not. It is a combination of factors beyond the control of the individuals but with proper depression treatments, people who are affected by mood disorders can successfully learn to control these factors and live a normal, satisfactory life.
Depression Medications
While searching for cures for depression in the 1950s, researchers accidentally discovered the mood-altering effects of monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs. Some of these older “tricyclic” antidepressants are still in use today, such as the amitriptylines such as Elavil, Nardil and Marplan. However, according to an article by Dr. James Ferguson, M.D. published in the February 2001 edition of the Primary Care Companion to the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, these kinds of antidepressants arbitrarily inhibited reuptake of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain, which provoked adverse side effects in patients using them. In addition, doses that were too high caused seizures in some individuals, as well as intraventricular conduction, a heart condition leading to ventricular arrhythmias.
Further research into the development of better cures for depression eventually generated the discovery of “second-generation” antidepressants more commonly prescribed today, fluoxetine-based selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. These medications include Paxil, Effexor, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, Prozac and Lexapro. While SSRIs and MAOIs basically provide the same amount of relief from depression, the newer SSRIs do not induce the intense side effects that the older antidepressants did because they fundamentally target the neurotransmitter serotonin rather than dopamine or norepinephrine.
Minor side effects of taking SSRIs that usually disappear after two weeks of taking the drug include:
- Dry mouth
- Nausea
- Heart palpitations
- Dizziness
- Sleeplessness
Probably the most disruptive side effect caused by newer antidepressants, according to Dr. Ferguson’s research, is the sexual dysfunction reported by nearly two per cent of subjects participating in clinical trials with SSRIs. While medication for depression helps regulate mood and lift depression from nearly all individuals taking antidepressants for six weeks or longer, many report a definite lack of sexual interest in spouses or partners which may cause problems in relationships.
How Depression Drugs Work
Cures for depression have always revolved around serotonin, or 5-HT, which circulates throughout the body but with just a small percentage of it found in the brain. Because 5-HT is unable to penetrate the blood-brain barrier, it must be created in the brain using precursor substances such as tryptophan, a chemical found in turkey meat. Serotonin is responsible for regulating mood, arousal, internal temperature, pain sensitivity, sleep and appetite. Normally it is an inhibitory neurotransmitter, meaning it reduces or suppresses the intensity of something it regulates–appetite, pain, arousal. When an inadequate amount of 5-HT exists within the brain, depression may result, as well as insomnia or hypersensitivity to pain.
SSRIs work to elevate levels of serotonin by preventing it from flowing back into the presynaptic cell. This effectively increases the amount of 5-HT in the brain and alleviates depression symptoms. Researchers have yet to discover what makes this “reuptake” happen regarding presynaptic cells but suspect it is due to a combination of environmental and genetic causes.
Once thought to be definitive cures for depression, tricyclics and MAOIs operate in essentially the same manner but affect dopamine and norepinephrine levels as well, which is the reason people experience more side affects with these older antidepressants.
Depression Treatments
A variety of effective but tentative cures for depression are available for those seeking help with depression. These include:
- Psychotherapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Medication
- Holistic methods such as nutritional, exercise and relaxation therapy
- Acupuncture
- Electroshock therapy
- Counseling paradigms including positive, existential, rational-emotive, primal and transactional analysis
What works for one person may not work for another, depending on the individual’s personality, temperament and past experiences. Cures for depression may involve experimentation on the part of the patient in order to find the right type of therapy that suits his or her special needs.
Cognitive therapy is based on the idea that negative thoughts generate negative feelings and depression. Counselors specializing in CBT attempt to train patients to recognize and stop false beliefs about themselves, about others and about events happening in their lives before these thoughts create destructive emotions from overwhelming them. These “cognitive distortions” in which depressed individuals readily affirm without question consist of:
- Mentally filtering out all the “bad” things in one’s life and neglecting to focus on the positive things
- Jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst when no evidence exists for such an assumption
- Minimization and magnification by exaggerating negative events while downplaying favorable ones
- Using emotional reasoning instead of objective reasoning, basically letting emotions get the best of you
- Personalization or feeling like everything is your fault even though it is probably out of your control
- Should, could, would statements with obsession over past mistakes when it does no good to do so
When researching cures for depression, researchers believe neurotransmitter imbalance may be partly responsible for the way a depressed individual perceives events and the world in general. After several weeks of taking an SSRI, thought processes usually become less emotional and stabilize enough so that the patient can successfully participate and benefit from CBT therapy.
Acupuncture for Depression
Cures for depression include acupuncture, an old technique thought to have been practiced as far back as 3rd century China by medical practitioners who believed that by gently creating pressure on specific points of the body, certain chemicals that enhance the emotional and physical well being of individuals would be released. Today, acupuncture is still used to eliminate chronic pain as well as alleviate numerous other afflictions. Many clinical trials have been conducted to investigate the efficacy of acupuncture on depression, with results being mixed as to whether it is actually effective.
Researchers working for the Departments of Psychology at Stanford University and the University of Arizona explored rates of depression relapse in women who opted for acupuncture to treat their depression. The results, published in the December, 2001 issue of Complementary Therapies in Medicine, found that “compared to other empirically validated treatments (medication and psychotherapy), acupuncture… produced results that were comparable in terms of relapse or recurrence”. In other words, the acupuncture group and the counseling/medication group of women each experienced the same rates of depression relapse six months after the first treatment session.
In the pursuit of cures for depression, another study examined the effects of electro acupuncture (EA), a type of acupuncture that uses needles imbued with mild electric stimulation. The results were reported in the December, 1998 edition of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, and stated that “the therapeutic efficacy of electro acupuncture was equal to that of amitriptyline used for depression…and the side effects of EA were much less than amitriptyline’s side effects”.
Even though definite depression cures are not yet available, advances in the areas of neuroscience, psychiatry and the mind-body connection are constantly being made which will one day provide conclusive cures for depression for those suffering from debilitating mood disorders.
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Also visit the other great pages on this site, Depression Types, Depression Symptoms, Causes of Depression and Depression Statistics.
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http://factsaboutdepressionnow.com/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC181155/
http://www.acupuncture.org.uk/research-fact-sheets/1277-acupuncture-and-depression.html