Medication Treatment for Depression
For many years psychiatrists have treated depression patients who have significant depressive symptoms with a variety of anti-depressant medications. Many years ago we only had 3 or 4 medications to choose from, but in recent years the list has grown, and there are now more than a dozen widely prescribed anti-depressant medications.
Only about 30% of people who begin a single anti-depressant medication report significant improvement within 1-2 months. Most often, psychiatrists tend to add a 2nd medication, and sometimes even a 3rd or 4th, in order to augment the treatment response. With this type of multiple medication treatment, perhaps 50% to 70% of patients do experience relief from their depressive symptoms. Unfortunately, there are still approximately a third of patients who do not seem to improve even with multiple medications. For that group, additional modalities, such as TMS or psychotherapy, are important treatment strategies.
Another important issue is the side effects of medications: most commonly symptoms such as dizziness, headache, blurred vision, weight gain, sexual dysfunction. Nearly 40% of patients on anti-depressant medications, and an even higher percentage on multiple medications, will need to stop the medications due to the discomfort of these types of side effects.
If you are not responding to medications, or have had to stop the medications due to side effects, consider scheduling a consultation with us to discuss other treatment options.
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