Armah A Quick Guide
Major depressive disorder is one of the most highly prevalent psychological conditions experienced by people worldwide. Likewise, the symptomology, severity, and treatment of depression have been widely researched. Today, antidepressants are effective in managing symptoms of depression and up to 60 to 70% of people. However, there are 10 to 30 % of people exhibit treatment-resistant depression. This simply means that even though they undergo antidepressant and psychotherapeutic treatment for their depressive symptoms, they do not experience any improvement. Instead, their symptoms keep coming back. Along with this, such people also have severe difficulties in their social relationships and work life which can have a drastic impact on their overall day-to-day functioning.
Signs of treatment-resistant depression
If you are confused and wondering if you have treatment-resistant depression, look out for the following signs. See if they apply to you:
- You do not respond well to medication or psychotherapeutic treatment for depression
- Other treatments of depression are also not effective in your case
- There are brief periods where your depressive symptoms seem to improve. However, this is only temporary. As you often experience relapse after these brief periods of improvement. In other words, your depressive symptoms have remained consistently present in your life.
Watch: [Treatment Resistant Depression]
Risk of developing treatment-resistant depression
There are a few risk factors that increase the chance of a person developing treatment-resistant depression. These include:
- Low social support
- Poor quality of life
- Poverty/ having limited economic resources
- Coming from a low educational background
- High-stress levels
- Noncompliance to antidepressant medication or treatment e.g. Skipping medicine, not taking medicine for at least 6 to 8 weeks, experiencing unpleasant side effects, getting the wrong medicine or the wrong dose
- Having medical conditions like heart disease, cancer, eating issues, thyroid problems
- Having comorbid psychiatric issues and drug abuse
- Misdiagnosis of the type of depression e.g. psychotic, bipolar, melancholic, atypical depression, etc. As this may ultimately result in an incorrect treatment choice.
Diagnosis and management options
Treatment-resistant depression is diagnosed when one fails to respond to two or more antidepressant treatments. According to some researchers, up to 70 to 90% of patients may respond positively. Especially, with a combination of different treatment modalities. However, 30 % of people still do not respond to any treatment.
What to do if you are struggling with treatment-resistant depression?
People with treatment-resistant depression may undergo a challenging experience that offers little hope for recovery. It is integral that:
- You should share all of your experiences and any underlying concerns with your psychiatrist or mental health professional.
- It is better to ask any questions that come to mind related to possibilities of risk factors underlying the offered treatment as well as other available treatment options.
- Similarly, do not hesitate to present any queries about lifestyle changes, insurance, medication schedule, duration and severity of treatment, and its side effects.
- Finally do not delay or hide any thoughts about suicide, suicide attempts suicidal self-injuries, and intolerance issues from your care provider.
When you do all of the above, your psychiatrist will be able to individually design a treatment plan according to you. This can include switching antidepressants, combining different medications from different classes, etc.
We hope the above article was useful for you in understanding depression resistance to treatment and what steps to take to manage it. To find out more about depression, check out the related articles.