Depression is more than sadness or feeling depressed for a few days.  A serious condition that can last months or even years, that’s depression.  Each year about 15 million Americans suffer from this illness.  The sad fact is that only a third of those Americans will ever seek help for their affliction.  It’s the mental illness stereotypes, things like the crazy eyed old man, that make people think twice before seeking treatment for depression.  Depression gets worse with time.  It will get worse without treatment or depression medication.  It cannot be ignored. 

Depression is caused by a variety of factors.  Physical and emotional problems, chemical issues, even DNA all play a part.  It can be given birth by the very environment that the victim lives in.  Stress and other negative influences have been known to contribute.  Depression is a very complicated disease.  The human mind is very complicated as well.  To learn how the mind works, doctors and researches are studying it each day.  It’s clear that it’s an imbalance of chemical compounds in the brain that creates depression.  We are learning more every day about how the whole process works.  The phrase is “learning is half the battle” and with depression knowledge is power.

There are a variety of depression medications available to treat this illness.  Of course the market is full of ‘quick fix’ antidotes.  You have to be careful to seek depression medications that have been clinically studied and have been proven to display positive effects in the treatment of depression.  Not too long ago people who were considered mentally ill were thrown into asylums, never again to be seen or heard.  Fortunately that has all been changed.  The anti-depressant Prozac first came into use in the USA in 1988.  It has bee proven effective and is still in use today although it does come with side effects.

A new class of anti-depressants has become widely used since then.  Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors, SSRI, are being used today. These include Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro, Celexa, and Luvox.  All have been proven effective but come with varied side effects.  There are also numerous natural herbal depression medications available on the market.  The majority of these that have been proven to work as well as the anti-depressants contain the St. John Wort extract ingredient called ‘hyperforin’.   Some herbal remedies don’t contain this ingredient in the proper strength so they don’t work.  Be careful, do your research and you will find effective depression medications.