Depression - Common Drug Treatments
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In some cases of depression, a patient is able to be successfully treated by seeing a therapist. In these relatively mild cases, the patient is suffering through some conflict or problem and just needs somebody with whom to discuss these problems. After weeks, months, or sometimes, even years of doing this, the patient is able to get past his depression and get on with his life. Again, these are in the more mild cases. However, in some cases where the patient is severely depressed and no amount of therapy seems to be doing any good, the only alternative left is drug therapy. In these cases, what drugs are used? Which ones are most common? Are some stronger than others? We'll explore these questions and others in this article.
Drugs that are used to treat depression are generally called antidepressants. This, however, is a very general description and each antidepressant works differently and is used for different reasons depending on the type and severity of the depression. It is important to understand that before any drug is given for depression all other options must be explored first. Antidepressants are very strong and have definite side effects, some of which are not very pleasant.
The most common drugs today for treating depression are called SSRI drugs. SSRI stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. To understand why these drugs are given, it is important to first understand what is taking place in a person's brain who happens to be suffering from depression, at least in cases where it is determined that the depression is being caused by a chemical imbalance.
In layman's terms, a person who is depressed is suffering because the neurotransmitters in their brain are not acting properly. These transmitters are supposed to transmit certain levels of noradrenaline and serotonin. When these levels are too low, what happens is that the person exhibits symptoms that we call depression. In order to combat these low levels, these SSRI drugs are given to increase the levels of noradrenaline and serotonin in the brain. Again, this is in layman's terms and the actual process is a lot more complicated. A trained medical professional must try to determine accurately how low these levels are and by doing this, how much drug needs to be administered. This is not an easy thing to do.
The common SSRI drugs that are given today are Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Serzone and Remeron. These are the brand names for the following generic drugs, fluoxetine, sertraline, paroxetine, fluvoxamine, citalopram, escitalopram, venlafaxine, nefazodone, mirtazapine. The difference between each of these drugs is beyond the scope of this article. Each one, however, works in a slightly different way and is prescribed based on the severity of the depression. This is not an exact science and sometimes one medication doesn't work or stops working and another one has to be prescribed.
As with any drug, there potential side effects with SSRI drugs. The most common side effects are nausea, insomnia, anxiety, nervousness, no appetite, impotence, headaches and a number of others. How severe the side effect varies from patient to patient. Of course, the worst side effect of any of these drugs is simply that it doesn't work.
Depression is treatable. Sometimes it takes a while to find just the right drug or dosage to keep a person's depression under control. Once this is done, however, the person can lead a productive and normal life.
Related: Depression - Common Drug Treatments
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