Women are more likely than men to attempt suicide. If you are thinking about harming yourself or attempting suicide, tell someone who can help immediately..

• Call your doctor.
• Call 911 for emergency services.
• Go to the nearest hospital emergency room.
• Call the toll-free, 24-hour hotline of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255); TTY: 1-800-799-4TTY (4889) to be connected to a trained counselor at a suicide crisis center nearest you.

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If you are unsure where to go for help, ask your family doctor. Others who can help are:

• Mental health specialists, such as psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, or mental health counselors.
• Health maintenance organizations (HMOs).
• Community mental health centers.
• Hospital psychiatry departments and outpatient clinics.
• Mental health programs at universities or medical schools.
• State hospital outpatient clinics.
• Family services, social agencies or clergy.
• Peer support groups.
• Private clinics and facilities.
• Employee assistance programs.
• Local medical and/or psychiatric societies.
• You can also check the phone book under “mental health,” “health,” “social services,” “hotlines,” or “physicians” for phone numbers and addresses. An emergency room doctor also can provide temporary help and can tell you where and how to get further help.

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Before adolescence, girls and boys experience depression at about the same frequency. By adolescence, however, girls become more likely to experience depression than boys.

Research points to several possible reasons for this imbalance. The biological and hormonal changes that occur during puberty likely contribute to the sharp increase in rates of depression among adolescent girls. In addition, research has suggested that girls are more likely than boys to continue feeling bad after experiencing difficult situations or events, suggesting they are more prone to depression.

Another study found that girls tended to doubt themselves, doubt their problem-solving abilities and view their problems as unsolvable more so than boys. The girls with these views were more likely to have depressive symptoms as well. Girls also tended to need a higher degree of approval and success to feel secure than boys.

Finally, girls may undergo more hardships, such as poverty, poor education, childhood sexual abuse, and other traumas than boys. One study found that more than 70 percent of depressed girls experienced a difficult or stressful life event prior to a depressive episode, as compared with only 14 percent of boys.

If you know someone who has depression, the first and most important thing you can do is to help her get an appropriate diagnosis and treatment. You may need to make an appointment on her behalf and go with her to see the doctor. Encourage her to stay in treatment, or to seek different treatment if no improvement occurs after six to eight weeks.

In addition, you can also:

• Offer emotional support, understanding, patience and encouragement.
• Engage her in conversation, and listen carefully.
• Never disparage feelings she expresses, but point out realities and offer hope.
• Never ignore comments about suicide, and report them to your friend’s or relative’s therapist or doctor.
• Invite your friend or relative out for walks, outings and other activities. Keep trying if she declines, but don’t push her to take on too much too soon. Although diversions and company are needed, too many demands may increase feelings of failure.
• Remind her that with time and treatment, the depression will lift.

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Researchers are looking for ways to better understand, diagnose and treat depression among all groups of people. New possible treatments, such as faster-acting antidepressants, are being tested that give hope to those who live with difficult-to-treat depression. Researchers are studying the risk factors for depression and how it affects the brain. NIMH continues to fund cutting-edge research into this debilitating disorder.

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Most prescription drugs used to treat depression either imitate a neurotransmitter or redistribute existing neurotransmitters.  These medications provide relief by working with the existing neurotransmitters, but do not alter the overall neurotransmitter supply.  Because they fail to bring neurotransmitter levels back into proper balance, their effectiveness is often limited.

When the body’s supply of neurotransmitters drops below a critical level, some drugs simply stop functioning.  This prompts  many doctors to switch patients to another type of drug or add supplemental drugs.  Since the new drugs are not designed to address the chemical imbalance behind the disorder, they can also meet with limited success.

Neurotransmitter therapy works by increasing the overall supply of  neurotransmitters with a combination of targeted amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that adjust your body’s production of specific neurotransmitters.

A simple urine test measures neurotransmitter levels in the body.  The test results are used to design a specific targeted approach to restore the body’s neurotransmitter balance and health.

This is highly successful in helping individuals with depression and other mood disorders.  This targeted approach can be used alone or in tandem with prescription medications as directed by your health care  provider.

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Depression results when brain chemicals also known as neurotransmitters are out of balance.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that relay signals between nerve cells, called “neurons”.  They are present throughout the body and are required for proper brain and body functions.  Serious health problems, including depression and anxiety, can occur when neurotransmitter levels are too high or too low.

Every neurotransmitter behaves differently.  Some neurotransmitters are inhibitory and tend to calm, while others are excitatory and stimulate the brain.  Deficiencies involving the central nervous system’s neurotransmitters – serotonin and norepinephrine – appear to be involved in the development of depressive disorders.  Disruptions of other neurotransmitters, like GABA and glycine, have been more closely linked to anxiety disorders.

Environmental and biological factors including:

• Stress
• Poor diet
• Neurotoxins
• Genetics

Can cause imbalances in the levels of neurotransmitter chemicals in the brain.  These imbalances can trigger and exacerbate depressive symptoms.

Depressive disorders are among the most common neurotransmitter-related  conditions.  Others include anxiety disorders, compulsive behaviors, insomnia,  and migraines.

There are a few company’s who offer neurotransmitter testing, a simple urine test.  However conventional medicine does not see the validity in this type of testing.  I can tell you from experience with my own clients the testing and treatment protocols do work.  This is especially helpful for those who do not get relief with antidepressant medication.

Coming soon further learning about neurotransmitter testing and how it can benefit you.

In cases which medication and or  psychiatric counseling does not help alleviate a person’s severe depression shock therapy may be helpful.  Shock therapy used to have a negative reputation.  But in recent years, it has greatly improved and can provide relief for people with severe depression who have not been able to feel better with other treatments.

This 8 minute video shows a real case study of a women going through shock therapy for her depression the severest form.  Worth watching if you are considering shock therapy treatment for severe depression.

Many people, including patients and psychiatrists, believe that shock therapy can be an invaluable tool in the recovery from clinical depression, while others criticize it as unsafe, extreme and even unhelpful.

Earlier this year, influential mental health organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, teamed up to urge that the FDA downgrade the risk rating of ECT (shock therapy) devices to medium-risk from high-risk, a move that would put them in the same risk category as syringes and surgical drills. After reviewing the request, an FDA advisory committee in March recommended against taking this action — not because the procedure is known to be unsafe but because there’s little research that proves it is safe, particularly long term. Proponents of ECT argue that this will make it difficult for many patients who would benefit by having access to ECT, with some saying that such a ruling even may make the treatment unavailable altogether.

Safety Testing Hasn’t Been Done
Though ECT has been around in one form or another since the 1930s, you may be surprised to learn that it has never undergone rigorous clinical trials. Because of its long history of use, it was grandfathered into FDA regulations in 1976, when the agency was given more authority to regulate medical devices. At the time it was categorized as “high-risk,” primarily because of the memory loss and other cognitive problems suffered by recipients. But keeping it in that category going forward may mean that manufacturers would be required to perform expensive and time-consuming tests to prove safety — which device makers claim they cannot afford.

As agency officials ponder their decision, I put in a call to Charles Kellner, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a leader in ECT research. He told me that the technology does have some history of abuse — such as when patients at psychiatric hospitals received ECT simply for not being cooperative… or when ECT was used as a punishment for troublesome inmates in prison — and acknowledged that as a result there is a stigma surrounding it. But he believes that evidence shows today’s version of ECT is safe, painless and effective for people with severe depression who have found no relief from other therapies.

Is ECT Dangerous?
About 100,000 American adults undergo ECT each year. It’s typically prescribed for patients who haven’t been helped by medications and psychotherapy, and 60% to 90% are helped by the treatment. It’s believed that ECT works by triggering changes in brain chemistry that reverse at least some of the symptoms of serious mental illness, often within days.

The main criticism of ECT is that it causes memory loss — and it does — but Dr. Kellner cited three reasons he believes the concern is exaggerated…

* Modern techniques, such as lower doses of electricity and application to only one side of the brain, have greatly reduced memory loss in comparison to past methods of administration.

* The memory loss that does occur varies greatly by individual and is usually only temporary — typically lasting for a few weeks.

* When you have a potentially life-threatening disease that can lead to suicide — the eleventh-leading cause of death in the US — the vast majority of psychiatrists believe that the benefits outweigh the risks.

What Patients Experience
ECT can be administered on an outpatient basis and typically involves six to 12 treatments over three to five weeks, each costing $1,000 to $2,000. Some insurance companies pay for the treatments, others don’t.
Each treatment begins with the patient being given a muscle relaxant… a foam bite block… and general anesthesia through an IV line, which renders the patient unconscious and unaware during the procedure. An electrode pad is placed on his/her forehead, through which a mild electrical current is passed, triggering a seizure that lasts about 45 seconds. The patient wakes up within 10 minutes or so, is taken to a recovery area to be monitored for any problems (such as increased heart rate and blood pressure) and goes home, usually about an hour after the treatment. Many patients experience temporary confusion and disorientation, which typically doesn’t last more than a few hours and usually just a few minutes. Other possible transitory side effects include nausea, vomiting, headache, jaw pain and muscle aches or spasms.

Take the Bad with the Good?
Serious depression is often a lifelong illness, Dr. Kellner noted, and although ECT alleviates current symptoms, it cannot cure the underlying disease. Therefore, if they are not already taking it, patients also are given antidepressant medication to prevent the next depressive episode. Some 20% of patients also receive prophylactic maintenance ECT — a once-a-month repeat treatment to forestall future occurrences of depression.

Dr. Kellner compares ECT to serious medical interventions in other health crises — for example, coronary bypass for people with heart disease and chemotherapy for those with cancer. They’re not easy or risk-free treatments, but they can and do save lives. He pointed out that many people fail to understand that severe depression also threatens survival — and for patients with this disease, ECT can likewise be lifesaving.
Source(s):

Charles Kellner, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the division of geriatric psychiatry, director of the ECT Clinical Service, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York City. Dr. Kellner is a leader in the field of electroconvulsive therapy research. He is the coprincipal investigator of a multisite study of maintenance ECT for geriatric depression and has led the collaborative ECT research group, Consortium for Research in ECT (CORE), in the performance of NIMH-sponsored multisite research protocols.

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Several types of psychotherapy—or “talk therapy”— can help people with depression.

Some regimens are short-term (10 to 20 weeks) and other regimens are longer-term, depending on the needs of the individual. Two main types of psychotherapies-cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT)-have been shown to be effective in treating depression.

By teaching new ways of thinking and behaving, CBT helps people change negative styles of thinking and behaving that may contribute to their depression. IPT helps people understand and work through troubled personal relationships that may cause their depression or make it worse.

For mild to moderate depression, psychotherapy may be the best treatment option. However, for major depression or for certain people, psychotherapy may not be enough.

Studies have indicated that for adolescents, a combination of medication and psychotherapy may be the most effective approach to treating major depression and reducing the likelihood for recurrence. Similarly, a study examining depression treatment among older adults found that patients who responded to initial treatment of medication and IPT were less likely to have recurring depression if they continued their combination treatment for at least two years.

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The extract from the herb St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), a bushy, wild-growing plant with yellow flowers, has been used for centuries in many folk and herbal remedies. Today in Europe, it is used extensively to treat mild to moderate depression. In the United States, it is a top-selling botanical product.

To address increasing American interest in St. John’s wort, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) conducted a clinical trial to determine the effectiveness of the herb in treating adults suffering from major depression. Involving 340 patients diagnosed with major depression, the eight-week trial randomly assigned one-third of them to a uniform dose of St. John’s wort, one-third to a commonly prescribed SSRI, and one-third to a placebo.

The trial found that St. John’s wort was no more effective than the placebo in treating major depression.  Another study is underway to look at the effectiveness of St. John’s wort for treating mild or minor depression.

Other research has shown that St. John’s wort can interact unfavorably with other drugs, including drugs used to control HIV infection. On February 10, 2000, the FDA issued a Public Health Advisory letter stating that the herb appears to interfere with certain drugs used to treat heart disease, depression, seizures, certain cancers, and organ transplant rejection.

The herb also may interfere with the effectiveness of oral contraceptives. Because of these and other potential interactions, people should always consult their doctors before taking any herbal supplement.