...Depression Treatment In: Other Topics Depression Treatment Depression Treatment: The Natural Way There is a lot of controversy about appropriate treatments for depression. Today antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the world. Despite their popularity, research has suggested that antidepressant medications may not be as successful as people had imagined in counteracting depression (Johnson & Kirsch, 2008, p. 1). Extensive research and studies show that natural remedies are better than antidepressants for treating depression because there are fewer side effects, more health benefits and according to most studies, antidepressants are no more effective than placebos. Although there are many natural remedies for treating the symptoms of depression, this paper will focus on St. John’s Wort, omega-3 fatty acids, SAM-e and exercise. These four natural remedies are the most widely used and studied alternatives to treating depression. Side Effects According to Dr. Hyla Cass (2007) and a study done in 1998, prescription medication puts more than one million people in the hospital every year. The study also states that prescription medication kills more than one hundred thousand people per year. Doctor Cass (2007) states that there are almost no deaths from herbal use and that the side effects from herbs are usually mild. One report says that for every one million people prescribed antidepressants in a year, 30.1 of them will die from an overdose. Doctor...
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...Depression Treatment: The Natural Way There is a lot of controversy about appropriate treatments for depression. Today antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the world. Despite their popularity, research has suggested that antidepressant medications may not be as successful as people had imagined in counteracting depression (Johnson & Kirsch, 2008, p. 1). Extensive research and studies show that natural remedies are better than antidepressants for treating depression because there are fewer side effects, more health benefits and according to most studies, antidepressants are no more effective than placebos. Although there are many natural remedies for treating the symptoms of depression, this paper will focus on St. John’s Wort, omega-3 fatty acids, SAM-e and exercise. These four natural remedies are the most widely used and studied alternatives to treating depression. Side Effects According to Dr. Hyla Cass (2007) and a study done in 1998, prescription medication puts more than one million people in the hospital every year. The study also states that prescription medication kills more than one hundred thousand people per year. Doctor Cass (2007) states that there are almost no deaths from herbal use and that the side effects from herbs are usually mild. One report says that for every one million people prescribed antidepressants in a year, 30.1 of them will die from an overdose. Doctor Cass (2007) quotes Norman Farnsworth, Ph.D., (as cited in Cass...
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...Exercise Exercise as a Successful Treatment for Depression LIB100, Write Your Class Section Here Student’s Name Professor Kahn Summer 2011 Topic: Exercise as a Successful Treatment for Depression Thesis statement: Moderately strenuous exercise performed three times a week for forty-five minutes to an hour can relieve moderate depression. Similarly, moderately strenuous exercise performed for thirty minutes three to five times a week may help relieve severe depression. Search strategy and evaluation of resources: I began my research about treating depression through the use of exercise by performing a keyword search for the words depression exercise in the Gale Virtual Reference Library which I accessed through the ASA Library Dabases and eBooks. I chose an entry about how exercise can successfully treat depression from the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine because this is a subject specific encyclopedia that provides background information about medical topics. The entry was written by L. Fleming Fallon, a Professor of Public Health at Bowling Green State University making him an authority on medical issues. The entry was written in 2002, making it relatively current. This entry supports my assertion that exercise can be used as a treatment for depression. Next, I searched the Medline Database for articles about depression and exercise by inputting the words depression AND exercise. I decided to read an article titled Clinical Inquiries: Does exercise...
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...Exercise Can it Fix Everything or is it at Least Helpful in Overcoming Depression Attention: Exercise has been greeted as the panacea or “cure all” by many people worldwide. Are you overweight? Exercise! Stressed? Exercise! Tired? Exercise! Anxious? Depressed? Exercise! Need: Everyone can benefit from exercise, but I chose to narrow my topic to the affect of exercising on alleviating depression (2011: Mayo Clinic Staff). We certainly have a need in America to find avenues to assist people struggling with depression. One in five people will be affected by depression in their lifetime. This means over 40 million Americans over the age of 18 will succumb to depression. From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. Although suicide rates are growing among both middle-aged men and women, far more men take their own lives. The suicide rate for middle-aged men was 27.3 deaths per 100,000, while for women it was 8.1 deaths per 100,000. The most pronounced increases were seen among men in their 50s, a group in which suicide rates jumped by nearly 50 percent, to about 30 per 100,000. For women, the largest increase was seen in those ages 60 to 64, among whom rates increased by nearly 60 percent, to 7.0 per 100,000 (2013:Parker Pope). Depression is one of the most common complaints of adults who seek psychotherapy and mood disorders are the most prevalent disorder in Western...
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...figety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual 9. Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself 0 1 2 3 0 add columns 1 + 2 + 3 (Healthcare professional: For interpretation of TOTAL, TOTAL: please refer to accompanying scoring card). 10. If you checked off any problems, how difficult have these problems made it for you to do your work, take care of things at home, or get along with other people? Not difficult at all Somewhat difficult Very difficult Extremely difficult Copyright 1999 Pfizer Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission. PRIME-MD is a trademark of Pfizer Inc. A2663B 10-04-2005 PHQ-9 Patient Depression Questionnaire For initial diagnosis: 1. Patient completes PHQ-9 Quick Depression Assessment. disorder. Add score to determine severity. 2. If there are at least 4 s in the shaded section (including Questions #1 and #2), consider a depressive Consider Major Depressive Disorder - if there are at least 5 s in the shaded section (one of which corresponds to...
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...Trends in Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression University of Phoenix Diagnosis and Treatment of Depression Introduction It is not uncommon for a person to experience feelings of unhappiness or depression. For a majority of people, such feelings are often short-lived. However, for others, it may be a long-term battle that lasts for a longer period of time; it’s those people who experience unvarying unhappiness or depression, which can be deemed as a depressive disorder. Having depressive disorders has the capacity to trespass into a person’s everyday life. Additionally, it has the ability to cause hurting associations between the person who is experiencing it and the people who are close with the person. Depression is a familiar state for most people; however, it can be a severe illness that can have far-reaching affects. Definition of Depression Depression is considered to be a psychological state that entails an elongated period of sadness (Lewis, 2003). Depression is depicted as a mixture of symptoms that slow down a person's capacity to function properly. Depression may only take place briefly within a person’s life, but it is typically recurrent. Depression has the capability to make the sufferer’s life agonizing; a sign, which means that adequate treatment, is required. It should be noted, however, that the illnesses within depressive are not all comprised of similar symptoms; the severity, regularity and period of symptoms...
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...signs, e.g. the patient’s facial expression, gait, pulse rate, heart rate, blood pressure, color, warmth, etc. Subjective data are obtained from the patient; and they are the patient’s account of his or her feelings, needs, and strength. Data are obtained by physical examination and by interviewing the patient, family, friends, and other health care providers. Assessment tools are used during the assessment phase of the nursing process to identify areas of actual or potential problems that need further exploring; they are developed to pinpoint areas of health issues with the aim of promoting, improving, and maintaining the health of the individual. The three assessment tools chosen for this paper are: Social Support Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, and Perceived Stress Scale. Social Support Questionnaire Social Support Questionnaire (SSQ) is an assessment tool that measures individual evaluation of social support that may be available to them in case of any untoward occurrence. It was designed for adolescents and adults. The SSQ comprises of 27 items, and it can be administered in about fifteen minutes (Sarason et al., 1987). Each item of the SSQ has two parts. The first part measures the number of people in the individual’s social network, to whom he or she believes will be available to support him or her should the unexpected happen; it...
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...Recognition and Treatment of Depression Jessica Breaux ENG/147 (AAIH1HE318) August 3, 2015 Anne Thurmer Recognition and Treatment of Depression People do not want to recognize depression because then they feel as if they have failed those whom they look up to or those that look up to them. Those that do have depression are unaware of it because they are uneducated about the different types, signs, and symptoms. Depression is a mental disease that disrupts a persons’ life and is marked by relapses over time. There are different types of depression including dysthymia and clinical. Dysthymia is usually last for short periods (hence the name short-term depression) and is diagnosed mostly during childhood. Typically beginning in the mid to late 20s, clinical or major depression is much more severe than dysthymia (Depression, 2004). Depression is more likely to occur in a person who is physical inactivity, smoking, in a small social network, physically impaired, prone to heart attacks; diabetic or obese (Arehart-Treichel, 2012). If detected early enough the treatments both medication and alternative can be effective in preventing further depression. Beginning prevention as early as possible could prevent the onset of clinical depression later in life. Therefore, doctors and parents need to diagnose depression in young people at an early age by recognizing the physical and emotional signs so that we can offer treatment options whether it is with or without medications...
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...What is Depression? Depression is a medical illness that causes a constant feeling of hopelessness and lack of interest. Depression affects how the person feels, behaves and thinks. This can lead to emotional and physical problems. Typically, people with depression find it hard to go about their day-to-day activities, and may also feel that life is not worth living. However, depression is not uniform. Signs and symptoms may be experienced by some sufferers and not by others. How severe the symptoms are, and how long they last depends on the individual person and their illness. Warning signs include symptoms such as: constant feeling of sadness, anxiety, and emptiness , a general feeling of pessimism, feelings of restlessness or hopelessness, loss of interest in activities, low energy or fatigue, disturbed sleep patterns, and in extreme cases suicidal thoughts. Many people are ashamed to ask for help because they are afraid of what other people might think. However, depression is a common illness for which there are many treatments. Types of Depression There are many different types of depression. Events in your life can trigger some, while others are caused by chemical changes in your brain. A few examples include: Major Depression, in which you feel depressed most of the time for most days of the week. Bipolar depression, in which you have high and low extremes. During the low phase, patients have the symptoms of major depression, while in the high phase they exhibit mania...
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...Presented here it is a critical evaluation of biological approach for treatment of depression. Antidepressant are the most common biological treatment for this type of disorder, but treatments such as Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), alteration in sleep patterns following body temperature cycle are also used to relief the symptoms of depression. However antidepressant drugs provide an effective and inexpensive help, studies have found that the behavioural effects of these drugs could take over two weeks before showing any benefit and any perceived effect before this period would be a placebo effect (Kalat, 2001). Some studies proposed the existence of a two models markers for depression: Biological/endogenous & psychological/reactive depression. Based on this assumption an endogenous depression would only respond to a pharmacological treatment while a psychological depression would only respond to psychological treatment (Free & Oei, 1989). Further we will evaluate the effectiveness of a combined (cognitive-behavioural therapy and antidepressant) intervention in order to achieve a better outcome on treatment of depression. Depression is one of the most common illnesses and is characterised by symptoms such as loss of energy, sadness, difficulty in concentration and in the most serious cases the patient can contemplate or commit suicide. Research found that women are more likely to suffer from depression, with depressive episodes more probable to occur between 25 to 44 years...
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...(MAOIs) and trycyclics (TCAs) are effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Antidepressants have been tested in trials with placebos and have found to be effective in reducing symptoms of severe depression in around 65% to 75% compared with around 33% for placebos – Gitlin 2002. Gitlin carried out a clinical trial testing selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and placebos. He found that SSRIs were effective in reducing symptoms of depression in around 75% of patients compared with 33% for placebos. However the 33% of patients that felt better after taking the placebo drug suggests that the cause of depression is not all down to biological reasons but possibly cognitive too and that it may be about the way we think. There were factors that caused limitations to this study, the study was correlational, and this means that the cause and effect was not established between depression and the supposed cause. Hollon did a follow up study to see whether or not SSRIs are effective in treating the actual cause of depression or not. He found that those who were withdrawn from cognitive therapy had a relapse rate of 31% and those withdrawn from drug therapy had a relapse rate of 76%. This shows that drugs only treat the symptoms of depression rather than the actual underlying cause of depression. Therefore it is palliative. It is clear that drugs do not necessarily offer a long term cure as in many cases; symptoms recur when the drugs are no longer taken. To argue about appropriateness...
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...Treatments for Depression Treating depression is truly imperative to help get things back on track. When you’re depressed, it can feel like you’ll never get out from under a dull shadow. However, even the most serious depression is treatable. So, if your depression is keeping you from living the life you need to, don’t hesitate to look for help. Learning about your depression treatment choices will assist you with choosing what approach is a good fit for you. From therapy to medication to healthy lifestyle changes, there are numerous effective treatments that can assist you with overcoming depression and recover your life. Treating depression is really essential to help get things back on the track. There are diverse strategies used to treat...
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...Treatment Issue Regarding the Possible Efficacy of Psilocybin on Depression Jennifer Pepper The Chicago School of Professional Psychology MM627 Clinical Psychopathology Tonya Bennett, Ph.D. Summer 2014 - Final Paper Treatment Issue Regarding the Possible Efficacy of Psilocybin on Depression For thousands of years, humans have been using psychedelic plants all over the world for healing purposes. Despite this fact, in 1971, these medicines were classified as schedule I drugs. Schedule I drugs are defined as drugs with a high potential for abuse or drugs that have no recognized medical uses. After 40 years of almost-total prohibition, psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists are reassessing the role of psychedelic drugs. This research paper will focus on the classical serotonergic psychedelic called psilocybin or the so-called ‘magic mushroom’ and it’s clinical potential in the treatment of various psychiatric disorders. First, it is important to recognize certain facts about psilocybin that may be unknown due to misperceptions about the plant. Psilocybin is not known to cause damage to the brain or any other organs in the body and is regarded as non-addictive (Nichols, 2004; as cited in Krebs & Johansen, 2013). In fact, studies have found that psilocybin may lead to neurogenesis, or the regrowth of brain cells (Catlow et al., 2013). Psilocybin can cause sustained positive changes in attitudes, mood and behavior, and a recent study suggests it may be helpful...
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...Diagnosis and Treatment Kelly Haggerty BEH/225 April, 21, 2013 Debra Pearce Diagnosis and Treatment There are many psychological disorders that can significantly impact the way in which a person functions within their daily lives, and of these afflictions, depression is rapidly increasing among many within the general population. It is because of this that it has become increasingly imperative for us to come to a better understanding of what depression is, how it manifests, and how to properly diagnose and treat the disorder. We all learn to use our emotions to guide us through life, and while in a healthy emotional state; they will propel us to excel by motivating and encouraging feelings that bring forth a sense of inner peace. However, those suffering with depression will be conflicted with thoughts that encourage negative feelings toward oneself, surroundings, and their overall purpose in life. It is when these negative thoughts take control of ones emotions that they begin to feel a significant interference within their quality of life and that the presence of a mood disorder is recognized. Depression is caused by various factors and they range from genetic predispositions, chemical imbalances, and ongoing stressful exposures. Most frequently, depression is a combination of these factors, and it is because of this that the proper diagnosing of depression may come from many levels and may present treatments that are intrusive and extensive. Diagnosis: In order...
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...Mental Illness: Depression Phill S. Reg University of Phoenix Online HCA 240 July 20, 2014 Mental Illness: Depression Many American suffer from a form of mental illness. When you look at the statistics, it is quite alarming just how many Americans suffer from a mental illness. It is estimated that 26.2 percent of the American population from the ages of 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental illness (NIH, n.d). This is an astounding number to consider. If you do the math, that means that approximately 1 out of 4 Americans has a mental illness. We will discuss the mental illness of depression for this discussion. One of the most common mental illnesses in America is depression. A large number of Americans live with depression undiagnosed and untreated. What is Depression? “Over 9 million American adults suffer from clinical depression each year” (Stanford School of Medicine, 2014). Why does depression affect so many people? Let us first define depression. Most people would probably consider depression as being sad. However, clinical depression goes much deeper than just feeling sad. “Depression is a persistent state that can significantly impair an individual's thoughts, behavior, daily activities, and physical health” (Stanford School of Medicine, 2014). People who are diagnosed with depression will usually receive psychological assistance as well as regular prescriptions of some sort. The History of Depression “Melancholia” was...
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