Are Antidepressant Medications for Depression Enough for Me?

Written by Julie Fast

Besides, or in addition to antidepressant medications, there are other effective treatments for depression.

Gold Standard for Treating Depression (part 5)

The goal of medication treatment for depression is a complete remission of symptoms. You may be one of the lucky people who do respond very favorably to antidepressant medications at first try. Unfortunately, this is not the case for all people who try antidepressants either due to side-effect intolerance or less than significant symptom relief from the medications. Because of this, the overall treatment proven most effective for depression is one that uses antidepressant medications along with other comprehensive treatments such as lifestyle changes; including:

• bright light exposure
• regulated sleep
• diet and exercise

and behavioral changes including:

• looking for and managing the triggers of depression
• learning your personal symptoms of depression so that you can determine what part of your behavior comes from the illness and what represents your real emotions

and finally, taking an active role in your own treatment.

It's also very important that you surround yourself with people who understand depression and have the tools to help you when you get sick, including healthcare professionals, family and friends.

video: Depression Treatment Interviews w/Julie Fast

next: What are My Other Treatment Options for Depression? (part 6)
~ all articles on Gold Standard for Treating Depression
~ all articles on depression treatment
~ all articles on depression