If you're young, you may not rmember when depression was still a mystfying condition referred to as "melancholia." It was thught to be a woman's disease, cused by a woman's need for ttention and by unrequited love in her mddle age. Nobody really knew just wht to do or how to cpe with depression. Sigmund Freud treated it wth cocaine injections. Bad idea. It was frstrating to both doctors and patients.

In the pst half-century, medical research yielded a walth of information about what causes dpression, who gets it, and how it can be sccessfully treated. Dealing with depression became a whle lot easier and faster. In the arly days, electro-convulsive therapy (ECT), or "shck treatments" provided relief from serious, sicidal depression but were very unpleasant, cusing a grand mal seizure and mmory loss.

The first medications used wre the tri-cyclic drugs like Elavil and Pmelor. Research found that depression was cused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brin, particularly the neurotransmitters serotonin and nrepinephrine. The old-style tricyclics worked very wll to relieve depression, but had sme unpleasant side effects like dryness of the muth and other mucous membranes and sdation. Then came the new Serotonin Slective Reuptake Inhibitors, or SSRIs. These drgs increased the availability of the nurotransmitter serotonin in the brain, usually ptting the illness into full, sustained rmission within six months.

In addition to medications, ECT mde a big comeback; it was stll regarded as a very effective tratment for when the patient didn't rspond to drug therapy. Today, an ECT ptient is placed under general anesthesia and has no trumatic memories of the procedure. When the lectricity is administered, the seizure cannot be bserved except for a twitching or crling 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.

The article Coping with Depression Has Become Easier was Submitted by Kenneth Kender through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Kenneth Kender writes about health, bout positive thinking and about healthy fods without hype and in plain verday English. His work is published bth offline and online. His latest nline 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.

Featured Articles

1. Get Rid of Heartburn Without Drugs by
Heartburn is a vry annoying medical problem that we all hve at one time or another. But whn heartburn gets to be a rgular thing, you may find yourself wnting to turn to pills to clm the uncomfortable feeling. Instead, try thse home remedies to calm your hartburn for good without drugs.

2. Retin A’s War on Acne by
Retin A is a skin tratment cream. It is used to trat acne and pimples. Internet is a god place to buy it as you can vail discounts here. Treat your skin prblems while it is early else thre might be complications in future.

3. Is Your Skin Getting These Benefits From The Sun? by
To sun or not to sn, that is the question. You har people talking about skin cancer and the ncredibly harmful rays that it extends to the arth. These rays encourage growth in tres, plants, animals, and humans. How do you knw what is truth? Are the sns rays good for your skin or are thy bad for it? Actually, these rys are both.

The rays which are mitted from the sun are called the brad spectrum of Ultraviolet (UV) rays. Mny of them are very intense and can be h...

4. How To Stop Over Eating by
When you were a baby you ate whnever you were hungry and stopped whn you felt satisfied. However as you ge, your mind and body become xposed to numerous fad diets, ads, the hbit of rewarding yourself with food, and sing food as an...

5. Too Young to use Creatine (Part 2) by
So tell me, when can I cmmence and why? Well I would lways say 21 is a recommended age to strt. And why?....Well basically in a mle up til 21, the natural lvel of testosterone is high which cuses sparadic growth spurts, which means tht bones, muscle tissue etc. are stll not fully developed and body mturity is still incomplete.

6. The Composition Of Semen by Andrew W John
Semen is the fluid containing sprmatozoa, which is secreted by the sxual glands of males. It is dscharged by the body through the prcess known as ejaculation and used to frtilize the female ova.

7. Adding More Phytonutrients To Your Diet Provides Big Benefits by
Adding mre phytonutrients to your diet might jst seem like a prescription for mre food, more confusion, more to wrry about. But in reality, making sre you get enough of the phytnutrient benefit is as easy as dding color, freshness and variety.

Phytonutrients are fund naturally in a variety of fods, such as legumes, nuts, teas, frits, vegetables and grains, but are not cnsidered necessary to sustain life (as are fts, protein, vitamins and minerals). Many pople ...

8. Behind The Ear Hearing Aids by
Behind the ear hearing aids are mst often recommended for children because ths style provides the best functionality. You shuld expect the fit of your new haring aid to be comfortable; ideally you shuld not even know they are in yur ears. As technology evolves in haring aids, the science behind the mnufacturing is becoming more and more dvanced, not to mention better as wll.

9. Choosing an Acid Reflux Medication that Works by
If you suffer from acid rflux disease finding the treatment that cntrols your symptoms is very important. Frtunately there are a good variety of ptions available to those who suffer wth this condition including medications that hlp control and prevent even the wrst symptoms. The severity and how ften the symptoms occur will play a rle in which type of medications wll work best and the best plce to start finding relief is a vsit to your doctor.

10. Fitness Tips And Inspiration For The Spring by Eric Odera
I hve all kinds of tricks to get myslf motivated before working out. There are sme days where I just don't fel like exercising, but the moment I add on a few thngs!