If you're young, you may not remember when depression was still a mystifying condition referred to as "melancholia." It was thought to be a woman's disease, caused by a woman's need for attention and by unrequited love in her middle age. Nobody really knew just what to do or how to cope with depression. Sigmund Freud treated it with cocaine injections. Bad idea. It was frustrating to both doctors and patients.
In the past half-century, medical research yielded a wealth of information about what causes depression, who gets it, and how it can be successfully treated. Dealing with depression became a whole lot easier and faster. In the early days, electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), or "shock treatments" provided relief from serious, suicidal depression but were very unpleasant, causing a grand mal seizure and memory loss.
The first medications used were the tri-cyclic drugs like Elavil and Pamelor. Research found that depression was caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain, particularly the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. The old-style tricyclics worked very well to relieve depression, but had some unpleasant side effects like dryness of the mouth and other mucous membranes and sedation. Then came the new Serotonin Selective Reuptake Inhibitors, or SSRIs. These drugs increased the availability of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, usually putting the illness into full, sustained remission within six months.
In addition to medications, ECT made a big comeback; it was still regarded as a very effective treatment for when the patient didn't respond to drug therapy. Today, an ECT patient is placed under general anesthesia and has no traumatic memories of the procedure. When the electricity is administered, the seizure cannot be observed except for a twitching or curling of the toes.
Coping with Long-Term Depression
Although it's no longer considered as a "woman's disease" it is true that more women than men suffer from depression due to hormone changes. It is essential for those dealing with depression that if a person has had one episode, he or she should stay on an SSRI for a full year, until the depression goes into full, sustained remission. Then the patient will be gradually weaned off the medication; if symptoms begin to return, the medication is reinstated.
Many people have one episode of depression and never have another one after medication is discontinued. However, for middle-aged menopausal women who have two episodes that resolve with medication, they have at least an 80% chance of having another episode. A large part of coping with depression is accepting that it could be a life-long problem requiring continuous medication. This is no different from taking daily hypertension medication or a multi-vitamin.
Along with medications, coping with depression is made much easier with psychotherapy. In therapy, patients have the opportunity to discuss life events that may contribute to their depression or impede their recovery. Physicians recommend that medication be combined with therapy for the best results possible.
Kenneth Kender writes about health, about positive thinking and about healthy foods without hype and in plain everday English. His work is published both offline and online. His latest online project is a website called http://www.SignsOfDepression.info where he helps you to learn what depression is all about and what you can do to avoid or cure it.
