Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, the Betty Jo Hay Distinguished Chair in Mental Health at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, offers advice about how you can help your loved one recognize the symptoms of depression and take steps toward improving.<\/div>\n
Q. What should I know about depression?<\/font>
A. Major Depressive Disorder, or MDD, is more than just feeling sad. It is a mood disorder in which feelings of sadness, along with other symptoms, interfere with day-to-day activities for a long period of time. It is widely believed that major depressive disorder is the result of an imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, which is believed to influence a person’s mood.<\/font> Although more than 15 million Americans suffer from MDD each year, the majority of people diagnosed can be effectively treated. Symptoms can include depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or sleeping too much, psychomotor agitation, fatigue, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, diminished ability to think or concentrate, and recurrent thoughts of death.<\/p>\nQ. How can I suggest to my loved one that they should get help?<\/font>
A. You can begin by telling your loved one that you’ve noticed a change in them, that you’re concerned and suggest they may consider seeing a medical professional.Talking openly with a professional about their symptoms may help your loved one identify actions they can take, including medication. To help them feel more comfortable before the appointment, you can also help them draft a list of questions to ask. While it may be uncomfortable to bring up concerns about medication or side effects, it is important that your loved one try to establish an open line of communication with his or her healthcare professional. That’s what doctors are here for. The more they know, the better they can help tailor treatment to meet an individual’s needs.<\/p>\nQ. What types of medications are available?<\/font>
A. There are a number of different antidepressant options available that can help reduce symptoms of depression. VIIBRYD® (vilazodone HCl), which became available in 2011, is the medication most recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat depression in adults. While the exact way in which VIIBRYD—or any other medication for depression—works is unknown, it is thought to affect the activity of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter known to play a key role in regulating mood<\/font>.<\/strong><\/p>\nQ. What else can I do?<\/font>
A. After you take the first step by approaching your loved one and letting them know you are concerned, you can be a valuable source of support during their treatment. While the best way for friends and family to help a person who’s depressed will vary from patient to patient, just being there to listen when needed can be important. Have patience and understand that treatment takes time.<\/div>\n<\/strong><\/sup><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
Followed by "Serotonin is a neurotransmitter known to play a key role in regulating mood<\/em>."<\/p>\nRemarkable!…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is the article mentioned in the last post [an outrageous waste…]. I had missed the chemical imbalance theory [in red] so I post it here for the full effect. I’d love to know how this made it to a Health and Wellness page in Appalachia… The Exponent Telegraph The Independent Voice of North Central […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34635"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34650,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34635\/revisions\/34650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}