Treatment for Depression

“Recent data estimate the overall prevalence of depression at about 11.1% of the American population, or nearly 35 million individuals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). A predictive models suggest that up to 50% of the population will experience at least one episode of depression during their lives” (Life Extension, 2014). Depression has negatively affected the lives of many individuals throughout the world. Look around you there may even be someone close to you that is demonstrating signs of its stifling affects. Depression does not discriminate with its suffocating

While CT combined with ADM may significantly improve severe MDD recovery rates, Huber, Henrich, Clarkson and Klung (2013) evaluated the differences between psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy for depression over the course of three years. Fifty-five participants were placed into either the

As concentration, and therefore thinking becomes more difficult for depressed individuals, a more simplistic form of therapy, may prove to be more appropriate to not only engage the client, but also keep their attention long enough to experience positive effects.

In the United States, major depressive disorder (MDD) is listed as one of the most common mental health disorders (NIMH). Medication, such as antidepressants are effective in treating depressive symptoms in the short run but not in the long run (El-Mallakh, Gao & Roberts, 2011). The acknowledged importance for mindfulness intervention in treating depression has gained attention in the recent years. Mindfulness refers to the conscious state in which an individual focuses on experiencing the present moment (Brown & Ryan, 2003). In the practice of mindfulness, exercises such as meditation techniques, breathing techniques, postures and more are used to facilitate the moment-to-moment experience (Kabat-Zinn, 2005). Some preliminary evidence supports mindfulness therapy for treating depressed mood (Manicavasgar, Parker & Perich, 2011; Kuyken et al., 2008; Mathew, Whitford, Kenny, et al., 2010). In particular, mindfulness therapy has shown an equivalent level of depression relapse prevention as maintenance antidepressant drug (Piet & Hougaard, 2011).

The statistics derived from the treatment for Major Depression suggests that 66% to 75% of those who undergo rTMS will see significant improvements in their conditions.

It has changed 100,000’s of life's drastically. Leadpoint Focus is a microelectrode recording (MER) system for DBS procedures. The next generation technology combines performance, recording, customizable functionality, and ease of use. Leadpoint Focus offers: Reliable performance that increases physiological localization and improves decision-making confidence, easy-to-use modular design with plug and play operation, and clinical research capabilities in advanced signal recording and processing. Besides these goals, brain stimulation is already so advanced that scientist mainly shoot for just improving the accuracy of it. Another type of brain stimulation is Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) uses an electric current to treat serious mental disorders. This type of therapy is usually considered only if a patient's illness has not improved after other treatments (such as antidepressant medication or psychotherapy) are tried, or in cases where rapid response is needed (as in the case of suicide risk and catatonia, for example). Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive procedure that uses magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain to improve symptoms of depression. TMS is typically used when other depression treatments haven't been working. It works like this, during a TMS session, an electromagnetic coil is placed against your scalp near your forehead. The electromagnet painlessly delivers a magnetic pulse that stimulates nerve cells in the region of your brain involved in mood control and depression. And it may activate regions of the brain that have decreased activity in people with depression. This is another form of brain stimulation that helps change many people's lives. As I mentioned before it is to help people that go through depression. Brain stimulation is a very useful method, but many don’t know that there is different types. There is agus

In addition, the word hippocampal pertains to the hippocampus, which remains accountable for short-term and long-term memory. Thus, to determine if both specific aims are true or false, the study was established on “12 in-patients with depression receiving antidepressant pharmacological treatment referred for ECT” (Nordanskog et al., 2014, p. 303). And to ensure that the researchers selected the proper patients for the study, they tested the patients with the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and a neurological test battery, before and after ECT. The assessments were repeated for 6 and 12 months with a baseline of 10, and hippocampal volumes were measured by the usage of a Tesla MRI. As a result, the left hippocampal would significantly increase for the first couple of months; however, the hippocampal would return to the starting point when patients would meet for the 6 month. Also, depression levels would decrease among patients after a couple of ECT sessions, which reinforced that ECT remains as an effective method to reduce

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, (TMS), involves a small metal coil being positioned close to the participants skull and a short pulse of electrical current is run through it. This creates a temporary magnetic field which impedes processing in the area of the brain stimulated, this is often called a brain lesion. This leads to electrical stimulation in the brain. When lookung at cognition, several magnetic pulses are administered in a short period of time, this is called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, (rTMS). If TMS application to an individual area of the brain leads to defective task completion, it can be concluded that the specific brain area is needed for that task. One advantage of using TMS is that it doesnt require brain

The whole group went through a normal daily treatment with deep transcranial magnetic stimulation over the four weeks, then a subgroup continued with weekly maintenance sessions. This study is based on previous findings that depression is associated with hypoactivity in the left DLPFC and hyperactivity in the right DLPFC. All subjects showed improvement after the initial treatment, but then declined if they did not receive weekly maintenance

can be as effective as the use of medication in mild to moderate depression for the treatment in

Depression is a detrimental and prevalent mental illness having strong effects on brain neurological structure and function. However the etiology and neuropathology of depression is not well understood. Even though antidepressant drugs do exist, not all patients are effectively treated and therapeutic onset is delayed, while the exact mechanisms of the drugs are yet to be completely understood. A range of theories do exist in regards to depression such as modulation of monoaminergic neurotransmission, changes in neurotrophic factors and the up regulation of adult hippocampal neurogenesis. However these theories don’t effectively explain the pathology and treatment of depression unto itself. Recently, neural plasticity theories of depression

Muñoz San José et al., (2015) states that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is helpful in treating and reducing depression in those with MS.

At baseline, before stimulation, it was found that the more depressed an individual was, the less activation there was in the prefrontal cortex and caudate nucleus (Teneback et. al, 1999). Teneback et. al (1999) also noted that following high-frequency treatment, the people who responded to the treatment had increased inferior frontal gyrus activity compared to those who did not respond, and days later, they also had decreased medial temporal activity. The prediction is that while both the responders and non-responders showed changes in a Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) image, the responders had more normalization of blood flow (Teneback et. al, 1999). These results support the idea that depression can be caused by either hyper-activation or hypo-activation, an imbalance within the brain. If it can be measured as to which causes an individual’s depression, the frequency needed for TMS to be effective can be predicted to further help the suffering individual.

If you 've been treated for depression but your symptoms haven 't improved, you may have treatment-resistant depression. Taking an antidepressant or going to psychological counseling (psychotherapy) eases depression symptoms for most people. But with treatment-resistant depression, standard treatments aren 't enough. They may not help much at all, or your symptoms may improve, only to keep coming back.

Furthermore, findings exhibited evidence of right hemispheric dominance during the completion of n-back tasks (Fitzgerald et al 2007). These findings link right hemispheric dominance with previous theory regarding the right hemispheres role in depression and mood regulation and also supports the findings from EEG research discussed earlier in this essay. The main advantage of using fMRI’s in research is that when used correctly it is virtually risk free as unlike other brain scanning techniques such as CT’s and X-rays it doesn’t involve the use of radiation. This is a strength as patients are kept safe when undergoing brain scans such as these and therefore fMRI's provide a relatively more ethical alternative method of investigating brain structure and function. However not only are fMRI's expensive, they’re conducted in enclosed spaces and therefore for patients who are claustrophobic and/or suffer from mental disorders may become distressed within the process and this therefore may have implications for the results, decreasing the reliability of the findings. Additionally, fMRI’s poor temporal resolution means that patients must remain completely still in order for scanning to work which may cause problems when investigating cognitive function in children for example as they may find it difficult to remain