Treatments for Depression
Depression is a disease that affects millions of people in the United States. However, many people do not want to admit that they have this problem because of the stigma associated with mental illness. Two thirds of those with depression will not get any treatment at all for their illness. Mental illness used to bring shame to people and cause others to look at and treat you differently. This is no longer true as we understand more and more about mental illness thanks to modern medicine.
There are many factors that contribute to depression so you can’t just say it is from one cause. Family history, chemical imbalances in the brain, drug or alcohol abuse and stress can all contribute to depression. Just as there are many different factors that cause depression there are many different ways to treat depression. Doctors can determine what treatment will work best for each individual with depression.
There are many treatments that are said to cure depression. A variety of types of treatments exist that all treat depression differently and often successfully. Determining what treatments are best for an individual require doctors to consider how effective each treatment has been proven to be, for prescription or herbal drugs are the ingredients proven to help treat depression in most people, and does the treatment method meet the FDA and other standards set by the medical community to protect patients. Some treatments that are popular as cures for depression are discussed below.
The two main treatments of depression are usually prescription drugs and psychotherapy. Many of the prescriptions used to treat depression work are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) like Prozac, Zoloft, Celexa and Lexapro. Prozac is one of the most prescribed prescriptions and has been used in the United States since the late 1990s. All of the SSRI drugs have been proven to work in individuals with depression but the downside is they can cost a lot of money and can cause unhealthy side effects.
Other treatments use herbs and natural products to get the same results as the prescription drugs. St. John’s Wort is the most commonly used herbal treatment for depression and it is comparable to Prozac. The St. John’s Wort should have 3% to 5% of a chemical called hyperforin in order to be effective.
If you or a loved one are depressed it is important to see a doctor to get started on treatment as soon as possible.