There was a time when depression was referred to as
melancholia, a disease middle-aged women suffer as a result of feeling a sense
of unrequited love and neediness for attention. This is not surprising, as these
women are more prone to the condition for a variety of reasons. Sigmund Freud
gave his melancholia patients cocaine. This worked until the cocaine wore off
after a few hours. Further treatments dealt with tolerance issues. Shock
treatments were often used to treat the condition, with few positive results and
many painful results. And, psychotherapy proved to be of almost no use to
depressed patients. So until recently, there was little or no hope provided for
those suffering from depression.
How To Deal With Depression:
Medications
Over time medications were tested to deal with what came
to be recognized as depression. The first of these medications were Elavil and
Pamelor, members of the tri-cyclic drug family. As science discovered that there
were chemical imbalances correlated with depression, medications were
constructed to treat these imbalances without all of the side effects of
trycyclic drugs. The chemicals most notably out of balance were norepinephrine
and serotonin. To resolve this, Serotonin Selective Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs)
were introduced with unprecedented success.
How To Deal With Depression: Electroshock
Treatments
Shock therapy came back into popularity over time as it
was realized that SSRIs only worked for mild to moderate depression. However, to
be more humane, general anesthesia was applied to the patient before shocking
the patient. Less seizures happen when shock therapy done under general
anesthesia. However, memory loss and other mental side-effects still occur.
How To Deal With Depression: Long Term
Solutions
Things have changed greatly in how we are dealing with
depression, as a result of corresponding changes in medical science. We now know
a lot about the causes of depression. Your doctor should work with you to help
you get the best possible treatments and medications for your depression. When
appropriate, your doctor should also help you get back off of the medications.
You should not change your medication usage without consulting your doctor.
The good news is that many people who have depression at
one point in life may never have depression again. Unfortunately for older
women, late-life-onset depression is likely to return again if they have had it
two or more times since entering menopause. The good news for these women is
that medical science is continually providing us with better treatments for
dealing with depression.
