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Depression is more than sadness or feeling depressed for a few days. A serious condition that can last months or even years, that’s depression. According to various reports as many as fifteen million Americans suffer from this disease. Only about 4.5 million of those people seek help, which is unfortunate. The age- old stereotype associated with mental illness influences many to still avoid admitting they suffer from depression. Depression is a progressive illness. Without attention it will become more and more severe. People should pay attention to the signs.

Depression is caused by a variety of factors. Physical and emotional problems, chemical issues, even DNA all play a part. It can be given birth by the very environment that the victim lives in. It can be caused by stress brought on by even more detrimental factors. Depression is a very complicated disease. The human mind is very complicated as well. To learn how the mind works, doctors and researches are studying it each day. A chemical imbalance in the brain causes depression, that’s known. We are learning more every day about how the whole process works. The more we learn about depression the better we can treat it.

Depression can be treated with a host of available medications. Quick fix schemes exist too, but they don’t work. You have to be careful to seek medications that have been clinically studied and have been proven to display positive effects in the treatment of depression. At one time asylums and mental institutions were filled to the brim with mentally ill people. Fortunately that has all been changed. In 1988 the anti-depressant ‘Prozac’ first hit the market in the United States. It has bee proven effective and is still in use today although it does come with side effects.

Since then a new class of anti-depressants has become popular as well. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, SSRI, are being used today. These include Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, Celexa, and Luvox. These work even though they too show some side effects. The market is also ripe with herbal medications and treatments. Hyperforin, an ingredient in the St. John Wort extract, is common in those that seem to work as well as anti-depressants. If this ingredient is used in the proper strength it is effective. Be careful, do your research and you will find effective medications to treat depression.

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