When Does Depression Treatment Fail?

Everyone mainly gets down from time to time, but feelings of sadness that last two or more weeks may be a sign of clinical depression.  It is a real and serious health condition that affects more than 20 million adults each year.

These are signs of depression:

• ·         Persistent sad, anxious, or empty mood
• ·         Feelings of hopelessness or pessimism
• ·         Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
• ·         Mainly loss of pleasure or interest in once-enjoyable activities, including sex
• ·         Little or no appetite and weight loss, or overeating and weight gain
• ·         Restlessness and/or irritability
• ·         Difficulty concentrating, remembering things, or making decisions
• ·         Loss of energy, fatigue, or being “slowed down”
• ·         Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping.

Can depression be treated?

Depression is basically treatable with treatments such as therapy, medicine, and lifestyle changes.  But it may not always be easily treated. For many people, bipolar depression may continue despite treatment. They may have treatment-resistant depression symptoms or TRD.  This happens when medicine partly relieves their symptoms or does not help at all.

How is TRD treated?

If depression treatment hasn’t yet worked for you, do not give up!  So, always try to stay hopeful that you will get well and even recover. Consider these options and talk to your doctor about which treatments may be right for you.

·         Medicine.  Medicine can ease depression symptoms.  So, the first medicine you take may not be the right one for you.  If you still have symptoms after initial antidepressant treatment, you should not give up.  It may take some time for the medicine to start working, or it might help to change the amount you take.  Or you may also need to try several different medicines, take more than one medicine, or add other forms of treatment, such as psychotherapy.  Always keep in mind that finding the right medicine(s), or combination of treatments for TRD, can take some time.

·      Psychotherapy. A trained mental health professional helps you talk about your moods and behaviors. Therapy can mainly offer you new ways to manage stress and avoid negative events that can set off depressive symptoms.

·         Support Groups. Mainly talking with other people who also have depression may help you feel less alone and more informed about your illness and treatments. So, there are many local support groups for people with depression. 

·         Neurostimulation. Neurostimulation is mainly becoming an option for people who have tried a variety of antidepressants, but they didn’t work, only partly worked, or stopped working. 

Remember

·         If depression treatment doesn’t work right away, don’t give up.

·         You may also need to change the amount of medicine you take, take more than one medicine or switch medicines, or try more than one treatment.

·         So, if you're taking medicine, don't stop taking it on your own. Talk to your doctor first.

Mainly work closely with your doctor to find the best treatment for you.