Depression is a very dangerous and disturbing mental disorder. People of all age groups can be affected by depression. It affects women the most. The exact cause of depression is still unknown. It needs to be treated at the right time so that the severe affects of it can be diminished. Most depressed people do recover from depression. Patients that do not respond to at least two of the following treatment methods; Medication, Psychotherapy, electroconvulsive therapy, and other treatment methods, are said to be suffering with Treatment Resistant Depression.

The cause of resistant depression may be alcohol abuse or substance abuse, your relationship with your spouse or family. Chronic pain may also slow down the effectiveness of antidepressants or other treatment methods. Patients that do not respond to traditional treatment methods like medication, psychotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy, may be helped by a scope for treatment resistant methods such as:

1. DBS (Deep brain stimulation). It has been found by a team of researchers from Emory university school of medicines, that the region of the brain Brodemann area 25 is metabolically overactive in Treatment Resistant Depression. Researchers studied this to to determine if is there a chronic deep brain stimulation to modulate the activity that could help sufferers with treatment resistant depression. They observed that deep brain stimulation was linked with a striking and sustained remission of depression in most of the sufferers they studied. Six treatment resistant participants were chosen for the study. These participants were suffering depression for 1.5 to 10 years. After regular treatment for two months, 5 out of 6 patients reported 50% reduction in depression. These results proved that DBS is an effective treatment to help with treating resistant depression.

2. A combination of drugs can also help you in treating resistant depression, According to various studies, a combination of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and Tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) will gives good results, as much as a 50% reduction in depression. Patients were augmented with the drug Desipramine, at a dose of 1 mg per kilogram of body weight. After the first, second, and third week blood levels of Tricyclic were taken, most of the patients responded to the drug augmentation and showed a reduction in depression.

3. Lithium augmentation is also very effective in treatment resistant depression. According to various studies, lithium augmentation is a big help in those cases where anti depressants do not respond. It reduces resistant depression by more than 50%.

4. Electro convulsive therapy also is one of the best treatment methods to help with treatment resistant depression. An electric current is used for the treatment of depression. It is one of the fastest and most responsive treatment methods. Electro convulsive therapy responds in all cases of depression. That’s the reason Electro convulsive therapy has long been used in treating resistant depression.

5. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is also another good treatment method in treating resistant depression. The FDA has approved it in treating resistant depression. Though it is not as common as ECT it still is a very effective treatment.

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