The Misunderstood Epidemic: Depression is the newest documentary by filmmaker Susan Polis Schutz. It is an intimate look at how depression affects its victims and their families. It tells powerful stories of people who suffer the lowest depths of depression. The film explores through first-hand accounts that depression can happen to anyone regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic background. One by one the topics are unraveled in gripping detail: suicide; the stigma and lack of understanding; the stress in families and relationships; the loss of ability to work. The film also discusses the pros and cons of medication, different types of therapy, and support groups. The film contains uplifting advice to families and friends of people who are depressed. It inspires hope for happiness and a path to get better. — 57 min — PBS release date: February to May 2010 — www.ironzeal.com
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Common Methods To Treat Depression

Depression is a very common condition that can occur in any person at any stage of life. The depressed person always feels loneliness, helpless, hopeless and sad for most of the time. These conditions are not temporary and may go for months or years. The proper treatment of depression is required. There are two very common way to treat depression. These are psychotherapy and medication.

In psychotherapy, the patient takes the help and services of a qualified therapist or psychologist. The therapist gives proper time to the patient and tries to identify the reasons of depression of the patient. The good therapist becomes the friend of patient and talks about different aspects of life. In this way he tries to identify the change in the mood of patient during different discussion topics and try to find out the event, accident or problem that was the real cause of the depression. Sometimes, there may more than one reasons of depression that makes the case very complex. Once, the actual reasons, causes or triggers of depression in a person, are identified it becomes easier to do the treatment. Now, therapist encourages the patient and discusses that causes in detail. These discussions and sharing of thoughts, releases the burden and tension from the mind of patient.

The second common way to treat depression is the use of medicines and drugs. Usually drugs are given along with the psychotherapy. These medicines usually have some side effects, so should only be taken according the prescription of the therapist.

In Nov. 2006, results from the Star D Study were published. The nation’s largest real-world study of treatment-resistant depression suggests that a patient with persistent depression can get well after trying several treatment strategies, but his or her odds of beating the depression diminish as additional treatment strategies are needed. The analysis also found two important indicators of treatment success. Those who become symptom-free have a better chance of remaining well, as measured in the follow-up period, than those who experience only symptom improvement. Those who need to undergo several treatment steps before they become symptom-free are more likely to experience a relapse during the one-year follow-up phase, reminding clinicians that even if a patient overcomes the depression, he or she still needs attention. HealthyPlace.com Expert Depression Patient and author, Julie Fast, provides an easy-to-understand summary of the Star D Study and you can read her “Gold Standard of Treating Depression” section on HealthyPlace.com here: www.healthyplace.com
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Shrinkpod Part 2 of 3 Dr. Michael Blumenfield interviews Dr. Rena Cooper-Kazaz senior psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Hadassah University Hospital , Jerusalem Israel. Dr. Cooper-Kazaz discusses the latest research on this technique for treating resistant or non-responsive depression to the usual antidepressant medications
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Essential Herbs For Treating Depression – Which Ones to Take to Regain Your Sense of Well Being

Herbs for treating depression can be even more effective than drugs at lifting mood and creating energy and motivation than prescription drugs. This is because they are tolerated well by most people. In this article, you’ll learn about some effective medicinal remedies that you can take to get back your sense of physical and emotional well-being.

First, a word about herbs that treat depression. Because we’ve been so overwhelmed with advertisements for antidepressants by the pharmaceutical companies, many people see medicinal herbs as an alternative treatment. In their minds, this means that herbs are “new-fangled” medicine.

Actually, the opposite is true: since medicinal herbs have been used since the beginning of man, it is drugs that should be considered new-fangled. After all, knowledge about the healing properties of plants and herbs has been passed down for centuries and used by generations of people in countries around the world, while antidepressants have only been around for a number of decades.

With the advent of scientific studies, these herbs have also proven themselves effective in clinical trials. Better still, manufacturers can combine complementary herbs and boost their restorative properties. For instance, the mood-lifting properties of St. John’s Wort is enhanced with the addition of Passion Flower. In fact these are the most effective herbs for treating depression known today. Although you might have taken St. John’s Wort, you probably haven’t taken it with Passion Flower.

Rather than taking these herbs separately, take them together in a quality formulation that ensures the same dose every time. After taking it for about three weeks, you will start to feel a difference. Feelings of positivity and a return of energy and motivation are common signs to look for.

Once this happens, you can enhance the action of the supplement by making small improvements in your diet. By eating more fresh green vegetables which are full of phytonutrients, you will be going the extra mile to improve your brain health and thus stabilize your mood.

Add in some healthy oils, like coconut oil or flax seed oil which increase brain and heart health. Recent research has indicated that these oils are also helpful in the prevention of cancer. As these herbs that treat depression have you feeling better, your outlook and your life will improve immeasurably. Plus you won’t be reliant on synthetic substances to control your mood.

Get started on the natural route today.

Depression ? Types and Symptoms

Clinical depression goes by many names — depression, “the blues,” biological depression, major depression. But it all refers to the same thing: feeling sad and depressed for weeks or months at a time (not just a passing blue mood), accompanied by feelings of hopelessness, lack of energy, and taking little or no pleasure in things that gave you joy in the past.

Psychiatrists estimate that one in four women and one in ten men can expect to develop depression during their lifetime; depression affects at least one in 50 children under 12 and one in 20 teenagers.

Symptoms

Generally, the symptoms of depression include:

• Feeling sad, hopeless and despairing

• A loss of interest and pleasure in normal activities

• Loss of appetite or weight

• Loss of sex drive

• Sleeping problems, such as an inability to get to sleep or early waking

Types of Depression

Psychotic Depression:

Sufferers of psychotic depression begin to hear and see imaginary things – - sounds, voices and visuals that do not exist. These are referred to as hallucinations, which are generally more common with someone suffering from schizophrenia. The hallucinations are not “positive” like they are with a manic depressive. The sufferer of psychotic depression imagines frightening and negative sounds and images.

Melancholic Depression

Is a more severe depression than non-melancholic depression and is primarily caused by biological factors. It is an uncommon type of depression, affecting only around 1-2% of the population and roughly the same number of males and females. It can occur on its own (unipolar) or as part of Bipolar Disorder.

Major Depression

An individual with major depression feels a profound and constant sense of hopelessness and despair.

Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms that interfere with the ability to work, study, sleep, eat and enjoy once pleasurable activities. Such a disabling episode of depression may occur only once but more commonly occurs several times in a lifetime.

Cyclothymic disorder

Cyclothymic disorder is when a person has mild and alternating mood swings of elation and depression occurring over a long time period. Because the mood swings are mild, and the elation is often enjoyable, frequently people with cyclothymic disorder do not seek medical help.

The periods of elation and depression can last for lengthy periods, such as a few months. Often, a person with cyclothymic disorder has a relative with bipolar disorder, or they may develop bipolar disorder themselves.

Psychotic depression –

A depressed mood which includes symptoms of psychosis. Psychosis involves seeing or hearing things that are not there (hallucinations), feeling everyone is against you (paranoia) and having delusions.

Non-melancholic – in this case the depression is not melancholic, or, put simply, not primarily biological. Instead, it has to do with psychological causes, and is very often linked to stressful events in a person’s life, alone, or in conjunction with the individual’s personality style.

Non-melancholic depression is the most common of the three types of depression. People with non-melancholic depression experience:

• a depressed mood for more than two weeks

• social impairment

Related Types Of Depression Articles

Dr. Michael Blumenfield interviews Dr. Rena Cooper-Kazaz senior psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Hadassah University Hospital , Jerusalem Israel. Dr. Cooper-Kazaz discusses the latest research on this technique for treating resistant or non-responsive depression to the usual antidepressant medications. www.shrinkpod.com

I wrote this one during my third-year psych rotation. It’s probably a bit too detailed for Step 1, but you could learn a lot from it. Because all music should be free, I’m giving mine away: music.studywithsubstancep.com This song was supposed to be a funk song, but it turned out sounding a lot like the Minutemen during the bridge. I am a medical student who decided that it’s nearly impossible to memorize everything for the USMLE board examinations without making things more memorable. Thus, I starting writing songs about the diseases to help me (and you) remember a little bit about them. I realize that this practice can be a bit dehumanizing and may even seem inappropriate or malicious. I assure you that I mean no harm and do not mean to poke fun at these conditions. I know that people suffer from disease each and every day and that disease is no laughing matter. Nonetheless, medical education can be a bit dry and simultaneously completely overwhelming. Thus, I thought singing about these diseases might help me remember them. I apologize if you are offended, but I assure you that I have a big heart. I wrote these songs to ensure that I would know something about your diseases when I am treating you in the future.

Using Herbs To Treat Depression

There are many ways to treat depression. Many effective drugs are available in the markets that give very good results. But these drugs should not be taken without asking your therapist. Some of the drugs act on the nervous system to make it fast and release the depression, while some other drugs inhibit the nervous system to release the stress from the mind. Actually in some patients, the state of depression may be due to over-activity of the nervous system. In some other patients this might not be the case. So, a patient cannot decide himself or herself about the correct drug to release the depression. There are some other treatment ways like electric shock treatment, holistic treatment method and natural treatment methods.

Another effective way to treat depression is to use the herbs in order to release depression signs and symptoms. Griffonia Simplicifolia is the name of a plant. Its seeds are known to be very effective in depression treatment. The seeds of this plant contain a chemical namely 5-Hydroxy-Tryptophan (5-HTP). This chemical is a natural depression-inhibitor. This chemical is usually given in capsule form to the patients. Its side effects are very less and less sever than ordinary anti-depressants.

Ginkgo biloba is another herb that is very effective in depression treatment. When the extracts of this plant are used, they increase the flow of oxygen and blood to brain and all other body parts. This results in the relaxation of mind and the person feels relaxed, normal and happy. This herb is especially effective in elder persons.

This is a song i did last year when i was having a hard time handling my depression, just doing the song helped me alot………..this is not my beat, i don’t own it…this is soul theory’s beat

Treating Depression With Psychotherapy

Depression is a very real disease and millions of people are suffering from it. They may have suffered a terrible loss or something terrible might have happened against them by someone that they love or trust. Or

it is possible that some people may be suffering from depression because of chemical and hereditary imbalances in the brain. Whatever the reason is there are ways that these people can seek out treatment.

Depression is very real and many people have to face it everyday. It isn’t always known how and why depression can hit someone – but what we do know is that it can affect the way we live and interact with the people around us. It is important for people with depression to find treatments that will help them to work past it.

The most common treatment for depression is psychotherapy. This type of therapy involves a number of techniques during which time the affected patient will talk to a trained and licensed mental healthcare professional. Together they will help to identify the cause of the depression.

Psychotherapy helps people with depression by:

- Understanding the emotions and behaviors that work to attribute to the depression.

- Understanding and identifying the life events or problems that might have jump started them into a depression and help them to cope with it.

- To learn to feel pleasure in their life and to have control over their life.

- To practice techniques that will help them to cope.

Types Of Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy can be offered in a few different ways.

Individual – This type of therapy involves only the therapist and the patient.

Group – During this therapy for treating depression two or more patients may be asked to participate at the same time. This way the patients can share their experiences and what they have learned to see who else may feel the same way.

Couples – During this therapy couples and spouses can try to understand why their partner feel the way they do and how they both can work to keep them from becoming depressed.

Family – Family is very important in most people’s live and can do a lot to helping patients to heal. They only way they can help is to know what they are going through and why. Together they can work with each other and help each other to cope.

Related Treating Depression Articles

Natural Cures for Depression Problem

Introduction to depression:
Depression is a state of mind which is characterized by a negative sense of inadequacy and a visual lack of activity. It is a mental state in which the effecting person experiences sad feelings of gloom and downturn in mood, which may be relatively transitory and may be due to something complex. The common behavior includes feelings of sadness, despair, low self-esteem, low self-reproach and discouragement. It is one of the most upcoming troubles in the present world. We can refer this as ‘common cold’ of the mental disorders. This shows how common it is in mental disease. Almost all the people are affected by depression in their hectic scheduled life indirectly or directly at least once in their life. There is a confusion surrounding many other types of depressions like seasonal affective disorders, maniac depression, dysthymia, biological depression etc. one can say that the depression is nothing but a set of feelings, which follows the perfect pattern of the event right from the desired happenings to the idea or project getting flopped.

Depression is most common psychiatric problem nowadays. Depression can occur at any stage of the life, from childhood to the old age. This can result in plenty of different factors, which may lead to chemical changes in the brain. Inherited predisposition, chronic stress, biological changes, aging, trauma, isolation of social matters etc are most common trigger factors for the depression. In women, menstruation plays an important role in depression.

Definition of depression:
This disorder is known as vishaada in Ayurveda. It can be defined as the illness that involves body, thoughts, mood that affects the dietary habit, behavior and sleep pattern. It is not a condition that can be avoided and it is a sign of individual weakness. The people with depression go vain and can’t merely pull themselves together and get better in their routine work schedule. If depression is left untreated, it can last long up to days, weeks, months or sometimes even years. Appropriate treatment can help many of the people.

Types of depression- There are many types of depression but broadly they can be classified as below:

Psychotic depression- People who suffer from this type of depression start seeing and hearing those sounds, voices and things which are imaginary or don’t exist. One can refer this as hallucination. These symptoms are more common with a person having schizophrenia. Hallucinations are not positive and give bad impact on others. This type of depression brings imagination of negative and frightening images and sounds.

Atypical depression- In this, a person sometimes feels happiness and moments of elation. But it is never for a long period. Symptoms of atypical depression include overeating and sleeping, weight gain and fatigue. Person with this type of depression believes that outside events control his or her mood. These outside events can include praise, success and attention. The episodes of this type of depression can vary from a person to person. This can be up to several weeks, months or even a year.

Dysthymia- It is quite common that many people who just walk around seem depressed. They are at sea all the time and remain sad, blue or melancholic. If you as them, they have been in this situation since years. This is the condition in which, there are people who are not aware of this but they just live with the depression as daily routine. For them, it is a part of life. They generally go through life feeling dissatisfied, unimportant, waste and dissatisfied. It is quite tough for them to enjoy the life and never find life as in interesting mood.

Maniac depression- This type of depression falls under emotional disorder indicating lots of changing in mood. This can also vary in depression to mania and quietly rapid. This is dangerous condition as people with this type of depression are susceptible o commit suicide. For them, life is a mystery and will remain unsolved till the die. The strong desire of their love, exams, test is always in their mind.

Bipolar depression- Bipolar depression includes both; low and high mood swings. This type of depression may have variety or set of symptoms that may not be present in other types of depression.

Treatment of depression:
There are lot many anti-depressant pills are available. Ayurveda believes this to be mental disorder and there are internal as well as external therapies for depression.

Some Ayurvedic herbs like Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Mandookparni, Shatavari, Guduchi, Aamlaki, Vacha, Shankhapushpi are considered to be best drugs that can treat mental disorders. Ayurvedic therapy like Panchkarma is practiced to treat mental disorders since years and have great positive effects. Some massage on head with medicated oils is beneficial for treating mental disorders.

One of the most important treatments for depression is Yoga and meditation. Along with this, mental counseling is the best way to treat depression.