Dealing With Depression Although there isn’t yet a single, widely accepted definition for treatment-resistant depression, researchers are coming close. Nevertheless, you don’t need a textbook to understand that your condition isn’t getting better. Treatment-resistant depression is defined as depression that has not improved after taking two or more antidepressants in a strong enough dose for a sufficient amount of time.
Finding a drug that works depends on a variety of factors. You may have tried two antidepressants, either from the same class or distinct ones. In general, it takes six to eight weeks to determine whether an antidepressant will be effective for you.
Dealing With Depression
Your doctor may use a number scale to determine whether (or how well) your symptoms are improving, or he or she may ask you to complete questionnaires about your symptoms when you visit to discuss whether (or how well) your treatment is working for you. You are improving if your symptoms are at least 50% less severe than they were before you started taking your medicine.
1. What Causes Treatment-Resistant Depression in Some People?
Nobody is aware of the reasons why some depressed individuals recover while others do not. You might respond to antidepressants less readily than others if you’ve experienced trauma or abuse in the past.
Additionally, it has been discovered by researchers. That individuals with treatment-resistant depression have relatively high blood levels of inflammatory indicators, such as C-reactive protein. Specific brain regions that regulate emotion, like the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, have shrunk, according to MRI scans. If you have another ongoing medical issue, it could be more difficult to treat your depression.
Dealing With Depression
There are additional factors that could be at play if your treatment isn’t working: Your initial prognosis might not be accurate. Your symptoms may not be caused by depression but rather by bipolar illness or another ailment, which would explain why the medications aren’t helping. The dose may also be incorrect. Occasionally, and for various reasons, you might not be taking your medication as prescribed—possibly the negative effects are too bothersome, or perhaps it’s the cost of the drugs.
2. What Indicates Depression Resistant to Treatment?
The symptoms of treatment-resistant depression are similar to those of depression, but because the medication does not improve them, they frequently worsen. You could encounter:
. Overwhelming sadness unrelated to a recent occurrence, such as the death of a loved one,
.Crying uncontrollably or having difficulty controlling your tears
.Heart-pounding anxiety and terror without a clear cause
.Complete weariness that makes getting out of bed difficult
.Either eating almost nothing because you no longer crave the meals you used to, or eating everything in sight and putting on weight.
.Feeling as though you can’t or don’t want to continue, even when your loved ones still depend on you
.Considering how you might end it all and that no one would mourn you if you did
3. How Can Treatment-Resistant Depression Be Managed?
Today, there are more treatments than ever before that can help you reclaim your identity. It will still take time to determine whether a new treatment is effective, no matter how difficult it may be to hear.
Psychotherapy
It’s common for medication to not work as well as you’d like. In actuality, many patients who are given antidepressants for depression don’t entirely recover. Although adding or trying another drug is a popular next step (more on this to come), you by including psychotherapy in your treatment regimen, you may have greater comfort and improve your response.
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A Cochrane Review of studies on the advantages of psychotherapy found evidence that, when combined with antidepressants, persons with treatment-resistant depression have symptom improvement and have a higher chance of both short- and long-term remission. READ MORE :Anxiety conditions anxiety disorders
The two strategies can complement one another. While treatment enables you to identify, alter, and confront habits that are aggravating your depression, medication can address the underlying chemical causes of your depression. Cognitive-behavior therapy, or CBT, is particularly successful at this. According to the research, when therapy is added to the mix, patients with a treatment-resistant type of. The disorder experience fewer episodes of depression and are more likely to be symptom-free after six months.
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