As Research Advances, Treatment for Depression Keeps Getting Better

As Research Advances, Treatment for Depression Keeps Getting Better Have you ever felt like you were at the bottom of a deep hole with no way out? One of the most characteristic effects of depression, a mental health condition that affects some 22% of Americans, is a feeling of exhausted sadness towards the present and hopelessness that things can or will ever get better. Given our advancements in the fields of psychology and neuroscience, this condition has never been so treatable; so why does it continue to affect so many? Incredible stigma exists around almost all mental health conditions, and depression is no different. Over centuries a diverse group of thinkers from economists to scientists have all touted theories that would blame the individual for the depression and difficulties they’re experiencing and leave it at that. But as our own scientific research delves deeper into the causes and treatments for depression, we are beginning to understand how completely some depressive episodes lay outside of the will of the individuals who experience them, and how we can help. A recent study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry illustrated how even the most severe and lasting depressive episodes can be caused by malfunctioning brain chemistry. Researchers found that by isolating specific metabolic deficiencies determined through an analysis of a patient’s cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), specific metabolic and neurotransmitter deficiencies can be identified and impl...
Source: Cliffside Malibu - Category: Addiction Authors: Tags: Richard Taite Source Type: blogs