Major Depression
Major Depression is a horrible feeling with a sense of hopelessness and “no light at the end of the tunnel”, with self doubt and loss of self confidence and self-esteem. There is low motivation, low energy and loss of the ability
to get things done. Often there is poor sleep, disturbed appetite and weight loss or gain, loss of enjoyment and pleasure, and sometimes there is reckless risk taking or self harm. Severely depressed people may self-medicate with alcohol, benzodiazepines or cannabis in large amounts. These chemicals usually make the depression worse. Tolerance to these chemicals quickly develops and greater and greater amounts, giving more and more toxic effects, and sometimes malnutrition, are needed to produce the desired intoxication.
Major Depression is due to reduced production by the brain of the chemicals Serotonin, Noradrenalin and Dopamine, to excessive production by the brain of slow Electrical Brain Waves, and to nasty memories and negative thinking habits.
These causes of Major Depression are partly inherited, are partly due to traumatic experiences and circumstances, and are partly due to negative thinking habits and pessimism learned from pessimistic negative people.
Fortunately every few years new and better antidepressant medications become available and antidepressants become more and more widely accepted. Also we have recently discovered that many people with depression who didn’t get better on one single antidepressant, even in high doses, will get better when they are given smaller doses of one antidepressant in the morning and of a different antidepressant in the evening.
Unfortunately sometimes the people who most need antidepressants refuse to take them. This is often because they think antidepressants are addictive in the way that benzodiazepines are addictive, or because they don’t realise that SNRI “antidepressants” are not the same as Benzodiazepines. In over 40 years I have only seen 3 or 4 people addicted to antidepressants, which really are very very different to Benzos and much much safer. Paroxetine is the only antidepressant I have seen people addicted to and even that is rare, but I never prescribe paroxetine for that reason. Even with paroxetine addiction it is not very difficult to overcome the problem – I simply put the patient on low doses of 2 other SNRI Booster antidepressants, one in the morning and the other in the evening, watch out for Serotonin Syndrome, which is rare, and then the patient can easily wean off the paroxetine.
SNRI and Tricyclic Antidepressants are only “addictive” in the sense that breakfast is “addictive” for most people. Every morning when most people get up they want and need breakfast, but they are not really addicted to breakfast – they don’t have to have bigger and bigger breakfasts as the weeks go by! Some people need antidepressants and their depression comes back again if the antidepressants are stopped. That means they need antidepressants like they need breakfast but does not mean that antidepressants are addictive. They can easily stop their antidepressants at any time but will go back to how they would have been without antidepressants.
Some people only develop depression once in their life time and only need to take antidepressants for 6 to 18 months till that depressive episode passes. They have no difficulty stopping those antidepressants when the depressive period has passed and then never need antidepressants again. Some other people have 2 or 3 periods of depression in their lifetime and need to take antidepressants for 1 or 2 years each time but still have no difficulty weaning off the antidepressants once the depressive episode has passed.
Some people have inherited depression strongly through their genes, or have suffered multiple severe Shocks that have done long term damage to their brain’s capacity to produce normal flows of electricity and sufficient Serotonin, Noradrenalin and Dopamine. These people may have frequent bouts and/or very long periods of depression. They usually need long term antidepressants to boost and maintain their Serotonin, Noradrenalin and Dopamine levels. Their depression is relieved by antidepressants but is not cured and comes back if they stop these medications. But they are not addicted to antidepressants any more than they are addicted to breakfast – they just need long term daily doses of antidepressant if they don’t want to be chronically miserable, to perform poorly, to spoil their relationships and to be in danger of substance abuse or self harm. It is particularly important that in addition to antidepressants these people have CBT (Special Counselling or Therapy) to train them to think positively, and have EEG Biofeedback to permanently improve their brain electricity flows. They are most likely to get better and stay better if they have Medications and Counselling and EEG Biofeedback.
Although I consider correct antidepressant medications are essential to begin with in moderate to severe depression, reading good books on positive thinking, and learning to think positively with or without the help of a trained Counsellor, Psychologist or Therapist are essential for the long term cure of depression. I believe that learning to be positive is the most important thing in life.
EEG Biofeedback is now giving very good results with depression, especially if done in conjunction with printed Information Handouts on Depression, as well as Counselling and Medications. When possible our treatment of moderate to severely depressed patients is now always Quadruple Therapy – Information Sheets and Reading good books, Counselling, Medicines and EEG Biofeedback. This gives early rapid relief and very good long term results.
Any other Nervous Disorders present also need to be diagnosed and successfully treated to successfully treat Major Depression e. g. Adult ADD is a very depressing problem to live with and it is hard to recover from Depression if your ADD is undiagnosed and untreated, which is so often the case. That is why doing the comprehensive Beck Mini DISCOMFORTS/DYSFUNCTIONS Checklist at www.DrBecksChecklists.com is so important. It tells you what all of your Nervous Disorders are, if there are any, it only takes 20 to 25 minutes to do, and then all of your problems can be fixed. As you fix each problem all of your other problems improve. If any problems remain undetected or untreated they tend to make everything else worse. You continue to suffer from Discomforts and Dysfunctions that spoil your life until everything is discovered and everything is fixed.
