| Depression is perhaps the most common mental | | | | depression, they can have many side effects and |
| health problem in the world. While the disorder was | | | | drug interactions and are often viewed as a |
| overlooked for many years (sufferers were told that | | | | sledgehammer approach to treatment. Slightly more |
| it was "all in their head" and that they should "snap | | | | recent, but still outdated by modern standards, are |
| out of it") is now firmly established as a measurable | | | | the tricyclic antidepressants, which also work on a |
| and treatable mental illness. | | | | number of different neurotransmitters. The side |
| While it is impossible to get a true measurement of | | | | effects of both MAOIs and tricyclics can be difficult |
| the scope of depressive disorders since many | | | | and may include dizziness, mild hallucinations, stomach |
| sufferers either do not seek treatment or are | | | | upset, constipation, and other problems. However, for |
| misdiagnosed, it has been estimated that somewhere | | | | many sufferers, the side effects are far less severe |
| between fifteen and twenty percent of all adults | | | | than the actual condition. |
| suffer from some form of a disorder on the | | | | The newest and most effective form of medical |
| depression mental illness spectrum. Fortunately for | | | | depression help is the class of drugs known as |
| sufferers, there are now a number of successful | | | | selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs |
| depression treatment options, both medical and | | | | selectively prevent the reuptake of the |
| psychological, that can help even the most afflicted | | | | neurotransmitter serotonin, the most important |
| individual emerge from the darkness. | | | | neurotransmitter in the treatment of depressive |
| Perhaps the greatest revolution in the treatment of | | | | disorders (though some medical professionals believe |
| depressive disorders has been the development of | | | | that dopamine plays a similarly important role). Since |
| increasingly sophisticated and targeted depression | | | | SSRIs only target one particular chemical, the side |
| medication treatments. The field was revolutionized | | | | effects that they engender are much less severe |
| when scientists and health care professional realized | | | | than what occur with MAOIs and tricyclic |
| that, in many cases, depressive disorders are caused | | | | antidepressant medications. |
| not just by latent psychological difficulties, but can | | | | While medical treatments of depression have been a |
| also have a biochemical component. | | | | boon to many sufferers, there is a still a place for |
| The culprit was eventually narrowed to a class of | | | | psychological depression treatment therapies. Many |
| chemicals known as neurotransmitters, which are | | | | times, the disorder is caused by underlying |
| substances that assist in the propagation of electrical | | | | psychological factors instead of chemical causes. |
| charge down neural pathways. The first class of | | | | Traditional treatments such psychoanalysis and other |
| drugs to treat depressive disorders was the | | | | forms of "talk therapy" are still used successfully to |
| Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) which | | | | treat depressive conditions. There are also a number |
| prevented the body from breaking down many | | | | of theories that stipulate that depressive disorders |
| different neurotransmitters in the brain. Since MAOIs | | | | are caused by dietary imbalances, and advocate the |
| target a number of neurotransmitters, not just the | | | | use of supplements to bring the disorder under |
| select few that are believed to be responsible for | | | | control. |