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Recognizing and Treating Severe Depression
By Penny | April 21, 2007
Depression is the most common mental health condition for which sufferers seek treatment. Fortunately, it is also the most successfully treated mental health condition as well. Without medical treatment, depression feels like the end of the world. Severe depression may well be the end of the world since this is when most patients commit suicide.
Like all physical and emotional illnesses, depression can range from the presence of minor symptoms like feeling sad and “down” every day, to moderate symptoms involving feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and a lack of concentration, to severe depression that usually involves suicidal thoughts and plans. Another type of severe depression consists of psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations and/or delusions. Regardless of the severity of the depression, medical and mental health treatment are essential.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Severe Depression?
Sometimes depression is so severe that the patient’s mind is too clouded to recognize that he or she is in a serious health crisis. Depression in all forms involve feelings of perpetual sadness, shame and guilt, feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, disturbances in sleep and appetite, inability to concentrate or focus, chronic fatigue, and inability to take pleasure in normal activities.
Since depression is a disorder of chemical imbalances in the brain, how severe these symptoms become depend upon each individual. In severe depression, all of these symptoms are greatly increased, sometimes to the point where the sufferer cannot get out of bed and function in life roles. It may take a friend or family member to notice the severity of the depression. If thoughts of suicide are present, this is a medical emergency; the sufferer should be taken to the ER immediately.
How is Severe Depression Treated?
As distressing and sometimes life-threatening severe depression can be, the good news is that this condition responds extremely well to anti-depressant medication and therapy. Medications to treat severe depression are called “SSRIs” (Selected Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). These drugs bring brain chemicals called neurotransmitters back into the correct balance. Prozac, Zoloft, Wellbutrin, and Effexor are among the most commonly prescribed antidepressants.
With severe depression that involves suicidal ideation and/or psychotic symptoms, more serious treatments are considered. The patient should be hospitalized to prevent suicide, and given antipsychotic medication such as Resperdol. Antipsychotics will eliminate hallucinations and delusions, but some have unpleasant side effects such as extreme sedation. A patient on antipsychotic medication needs to be treated as an inpatient and examined at least daily by a psychiatrist.
Finally, with a severe depression that does not respond to medications and the patient continues to be at risk for suicide, electro-convulsive therapy is the treatment of choice. ECT or “shock treatments” are extremely effective in breaking the cycle of depression in brain chemicals. ECT is nothing like it was in the “old days.” The patient is under general anesthesia and the seizure, or convulsion, cannot even be seen except for perhaps curling of the toes. The patient has no recollection of the treatment and is not at all traumatized by it.
Topics: treatment for severe depressions |