How to treat depression in women

Depression is a mental illness, which naturally needs to be treated by a psychologist. However, nowadays, in order to fight depression, professional medication needs to be combined with treatment. Generally, antidepressants are mainly used, which can soothe the patient's nerves, adjust the patient's mood and allow the patient to have enough sleep, thereby achieving the effect of relieving depression. However, everyone needs to pay attention to depression. It is not something that can be cured in a day and a half, and recurrence and prevention work needs to be done.

Western medicine treatment of 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.

2. Cognitive Therapy

The method for treating depression developed in the 1960s is based on the basic principle that depressed patients have negative cognitions about themselves, the world around them, and the future. Due to cognitive biases, they view both positive and negative events with a negative attitude. The purpose of treatment is to make patients aware of their own incorrect reasoning patterns so that they can actively and consciously correct them. The course of treatment is 12 to 15 weeks. There is no significant difference in efficacy compared with drugs. If used in combination, the efficacy may be better.

Computer-assisted cognitive therapy has been adopted in recent years.