What are the symptoms of depression and when should drugs be used for treatment?
Like symptoms other than the obvious ones like feeling down.
When does someone get the point where help from medication is needed. I know someone who is suffering from a form of depression but is worried that the antidepression tablets will have worse side effects. Its hard to know if its severe depression or even depression at all.
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According to the diagnostic and statistical manual IV, "Major depression" is classified as at least 5 out of the 9 symptoms, one of which must be:
1/ Feeling depressed/down
or
2/ Feeling like nothing interests you anymore – even things that you used to like doing
for most of the day, for most days of the week
The other 7 symptoms are:
Fatigue
Poor attention
Change in appetite/weight
Sleep changes (sleeping more or sleeping less with or without early morning wakening)
Everything slows down (the person moves slower, speaks slower, etc.)
Feeling excessively guilty / at fault / worthless
Suicidal thoughts/thoughts that life isn’t worth living
Yes it is true that there are side effects to the medications, but if the person is quite depressed that it’s affecting their life substantially, medications might be needed – if only to help them pick themselves up again.
This is especially the case if suicidal thoughts are involved as their safety is of significant importance.
However, one thing you need to keep in mind is that these medications take a long time to work.. at least 6 weeks for them to start to feel better. They may even feel worse after a week or 2. They also need to continue the medications for 12 months for it to be effective.
Counseling might be an option initially if the person you’re talking about is wary about taking drugs and worried about their side effects, but if there is any indication of suicidal ideation, it could be quite serious and counseling might not be enough. All the best!