Depression Is a Treatable Disease
Life is a roller coaster, full of ups and downs. But if you start to feel like you’re always “down” or you start to have trouble just getting through the day, you may be depressed. More than 17 million people in the U.S. experience an episode of depression each year, twice as many women as men. Fewer than two-thirds of depression sufferers receive the medical help they need, yet in most cases proper treatment can alleviate symptoms of the disease.
Yes, depression is a disease. Depression is caused by an imbalance of chemicals in the brain. It is a whole body illness that affects you physically, mentally and emotionally. Depression is not a matter of trying harder, thinking happy thoughts, a sign of weakness or lack of will. People suffering from depression cannot just “pull themselves together.” Depression is a medical disease just like diabetes or heart disease. Without treatment, depression can last for months, even years. Some people have an isolated episode of depression triggered by a traumatic event like job loss, financial difficulties or the death of someone close to them. Chronic stress or anxiety can result in depression. Some people have periodic episodes of depression throughout their lives; for others, the disease is chronic.
The symptoms of depression are unique to each person. Depression causes changes in thinking, feeling, behavior and physical health. The severity of symptoms differs with each individual. Symptoms of depression may include:
- Persistent feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness or helplessness
- Loss of interest in normally enjoyed activities
- Irritability, restlessness, excessive crying
- Sleeping too much or too little, trouble getting out of bed in the morning
- Loss of appetite and weight loss or overeating and weight gain
- Fatigue, exhaustion, decreased energy.
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions, memory lapses
- Thoughts of death or suicide
Although antidepressants help alleviate depression symptoms for many people, not everyone who is diagnosed with depression requires medication. The most effective treatment for depression is generally a combination of psychodynamic therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication management administered and coordinated by an experienced psychiatrist.
If you or someone you know suffers from depression, don’t lose hope. Depression can be treated. With the support and guidance of a caring psychiatrist like Dr. Tracey Marks, you can rediscover joy in your life.
Depression Medication Linked to Gestational Hypertension
Currently SSRI’s (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are commonly prescribed during pregnancy for those who have been previously responsive to SSRI’s and those who have severe depression or anxiety. A March 2009 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry reported increased incidence of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia in women who took SSRI’s during the last trimester of pregnancy.
Should pregnant women take depression medications? This is a complicated question and requires an individual assessment of the woman’s needs. The risks of taking depression medication have to be weighed against the risks of not taking it. We know that some drugs can cause birth defects especially if taken during the first trimester. Some babies experience medication withdrawal after birth if their mothers took antidepressants during pregnancy. On the other hand, we also know that untreated depression during pregnancy carries its own risk to the baby such as preterm labor, smaller head size and lower birth weight. Also, babies born to untreated, anxious, depressed mothers are more difficult to soothe and may have slowed motor development.
So what’s a woman to do? I tend to be on the conservative side of the spectrum with regards to avoiding medication if at all possible, especially during the first trimester when the baby’s organs are forming. However, I think the general trend has been to use SSRI’s even in mild cases of depression. There are definitely women who cannot continue the rest of their pregnancy off depression medication without putting their life and the life of their unborn baby at risk. In general the findings seen in this study should make us give more consideration as to which women should continue on depression medication throughout their pregnancy and which ones should continue off depression medication and be monitored closely.
Depression Medications Don’t Make You Bulletproof
Taking antidepressant medication does not mean you will not feel bad. It’s important to have reasonable expectations of how you should feel on an antidepressant medication. Depression medication corrects a chemical imbalance responsible for the typical depressed symptoms. Some of these symptoms include a depressed mood, appetite changes, poor sleep (too much or too little), anxiety and poor energy and concentration.
Not everyone who is clinically depressed feels sad. But let’s say you take depression medication and notice improvement in your level of anxiety, your sleep problems resolve and you feel less irritable and hopeless. What then happens when you lose your job? You will be upset and experience the emotions you would have felt if you were not on medication. In other words, the depression medication does not protect you from grieving a loss or responding to hardships with emotional upset.
Some people expect to sail through a difficult situation unscathed if they are on depression medication. If a crisis hits and they have a dip in their mood, they fear they are having a relapse. You may be having breakthrough symptoms, but you may be having the usual and expected response to a difficult situation.
I often say having your depression treated with an antidepressant medication helps give you a stronger foundation to weather the storm more effectively than you could if you were depressed. It’s like kicking an athlete in top form versus kicking a sick man who’s already down.
