How to treat depression

The pace of life in big cities is relatively fast. Due to excessive pressure from life and work, many white-collar workers in cities have some emotional illness to a greater or lesser extent, and some people even suffer from depression. However, if depression is discovered early and treated in time, it can be easily treated and normal life can be restored. Let's now look at the treatments for depression.

1. Drug treatment

Depressive episodes tend to recur. Therefore, the goals of treatment are twofold: to control acute attacks and to prevent relapses.

1. Drug selection:

Currently, TCAS is still regarded as the first-line drug for the treatment of depression, the second-generation atypical antidepressants are the second-line drugs, and MAOIS can be considered secondarily.

2. The treatment of bipolar depression is basically the same as that of unipolar depression, but bipolar patients may develop hypomania when using antidepressants, so antidepressants and lithium salts are often used in combination.

The effect of antidepressants alone for psychotic depression may not be ideal, and antipsychotics such as fluphenazine and sulpiride are often needed in combination.

3. Treatment course and dosage:

In addition to correct diagnosis and rational selection of drugs, the course of treatment and dosage are crucial to the success of treatment. A common mistake is insufficient awareness of the recurrence of depression and the risk of suicide, which results in low doses and short courses of treatment.

Depression treatment can be divided into three stages (three-phase treatment):

(1) Acute treatment phase with the goal of controlling symptoms: Use sufficient dose until symptoms disappear.

(2) The goal of the continued treatment period is to consolidate the therapeutic effect and avoid recurrence of the disease. It takes about 4 to 9 months from the disappearance of symptoms to complete recovery. If full recovery is not achieved, the disease is likely to recur.

(3) Preventive treatment period aimed at preventing recurrence. The latter two stages are not easy to separate and are often collectively referred to as maintenance treatment. It is generally believed that the following situations require maintenance treatment: ① Those who have had 3 or more depressive episodes; ② Those who have had 2 previous episodes, such as the first episode at the age of less than 20 years; those who have had two severe episodes within 3 years or two frequent episodes within 1 year and those with a positive family history. The duration of maintenance and dosage depend on the number and severity of attacks.

The above is about the treatment of depression. We can see that there are many treatment methods for depression. We can choose a treatment method that suits us, but remember not to delay the treatment time to avoid complicating the condition.