Understanding Major Depressive Disorder Is Within Your Reach!

Major depressive disorder is a worldwide psychiatric condition that knows no boundaries. It causes patients to become unproductive members of society when they are in the middle of an exacerbation. Patients harbor feelings of worthlessness, uselessness, depression, uninterested in any activities, easily agitated, difficulty in concentrating and other similar negative or harmful feelings such as suicidal tendencies. Also seen are big changes in a person's weight in either direction. In order to have a true diagnosis of major depressive disorder, a patient must have several of these negative attributes occurring simultaneously on a daily basis for at least two weeks straight.

Researchers have been trying to pinpoint exactly what causes major depressive disorder. On an external level, we see things such as 1) being unemployed, especially for any length of time, 2) a low income level, 3) the inability to find a life mate, 4) personal disability. On an internal level, all forms of depression including major depressive disorder are thought to be due to a low level of any one of three different neurotransmitters. These transmitters are serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Because of this finding, most treatment regimens for major depressive disorder includes medications which either stop the breakdown of these neurotransmitters or they enhance the activity of them.

No one seems to know why for sure but major depressive disorder seems to affect women almost three times as much as men. It is entirely possible that since women are the major child caregivers, "being stuck in the home" and "not getting any work done" might be causative factors that lead to the depression that is so characteristic of this disease state.

Treatment goals attempt to help the patient get back into main steam society. Remission of symptoms, restoring a feeling a self-worth and just getting back into a "normal" lifestyle are all on the list of goals that clinicians try to accomplish. For some individuals, this is a formidable task. For others, it is a journey that they embrace with the hope of a full recovery. One of the biggest obstacles to recovery is the fact that there are many different medications available that have only minor differences between them. As such, treatment often involves a lot of trial and error in an attempt to find the right medicine for the patient.

Patients also need to know some of the "behind the scenes" facts about this group of medications. Unlike pain killers which work right away, anti-depressant medication takes a while before any good results are seen. One to two weeks or more is not uncommon, before a patient will start to feel better. If they are not told this, it could add unnecessary anxiety to an already agitated person. Finally, a person with major depressive disorder also needs to know to watch out for serotonin syndrome. This could happen because of interactions with similar medications or because of being over-medicated. This syndrome includes a whole host of unwanted side effects such as diarrhea, mental confusion, tremor, flushing, sweating and more.

Chris is a practicing pharmacist who writes on health care topics. You can see Chris's latest website on Manic Depressive Free and learn all about the symptoms, treatment and related information such as Manic Depressive Treatment and much more.

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