Studies Show That a Less Than Popular Drug Can Help With Depression
09September

Studies Show That a Less Than Popular Drug Can Help With Depression

Written by Craig Rogers, Posted on , in Section Therapy News

Depression is surprisingly misunderstood for as common as it is. It is� a disease that has the potential to be deadly, and it tends to �manifest in a different way for each individual suffering from it.� Depressed people experience self-doubt, and many experience fear. Some� experience anger, or in worst-case scenarios, a maelstrom of many� negative feelings.��

Because depression is so multifaceted from individual to individual,â?¨studies that could bring relief have slowed to a grinding halt, asâ?¨ scientists struggle to come up with a single medical treatment that â?¨will work for many people. â?¨â?¨A recent New York Times story explained the predicament thusly: “We are at a point where we need to find new treatments, because it’s veryâ?¨clear that the old ones simply don’t work well for many people,” says â?¨Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health.â?¨“Our thinking about depression has to change, and it is changing.”â?¨â?¨Our brains produce a chemical called serotonin, which doctors haveâ?¨previously targeted in treatment of depression. Serotonin is known asâ?¨ a neural messenger that helps cells learn and communicate and isâ?¨ linked to our mood. Deficits or imbalances in serotonin are synonymous â?¨with depression. The more researchers learn about this chemical,â?¨ however, the more they learn that this is only one part of theâ?¨problem. When doctors use serotonin inhibitors, a small group ofâ?¨individuals actually experience reverse symptoms and their depressionâ?¨ worsens.â?¨â?¨Scientists have taken to “brain imaging” to study which areas of theâ?¨brain are active while depression symptoms rise to the surface, withâ?¨surprising results. While patients are experiencing extreme despair, activity flares in a vastly understudied region of the brain known asâ?¨the Brodman Area 25. Nobody suspected its involvement in depression.

But experiments have yielded extremely positive results. Doctors haveâ?¨implanted electrodes into the brains of extremely depressed â?¨individuals. While it is a risky procedure, most of the patients haveâ?¨ improved enough to be able to return to normal life. Many continue onâ?¨ drug therapy as well.

Scientists Are Looking At Treatments They Would Have Never Before Considered��

Researchers have also taken to extreme measures to the pharmaceuticalâ?¨side of approaching depression. Ketamine (a substance that isâ?¨ sometimes abused as a street drug which goes by Special K) has been tested on animals for depression but was never taken seriously as aâ?¨ real therapy due to its street reputation. But scientists at theâ?¨ National Institutes of Health stated in a study reported by the Newâ?¨ York Times that some people who used the drug showed signs ofâ?¨improvement within hours of taking it, and remained improved for more than a week. In order for the drug to be used as part of an effective â?¨treatment program, it would need to be modified in order to mitigateâ?¨ its narcotic effects. While reporting on these studies, Dr. Carlos Zarate, Chief of the Moodâ?¨and Anxiety Disorders Research Unit of the National Institute ofâ?¨Mental Health says, “The study tells us that we can break the soundâ?¨barrier.”â?¨â?¨Although depression is still a problem for many people, there is a light at the end of the tunnel thanks to doctors willing to considerâ?¨ previously unexplored medical territory.  As doctors and scientists â?¨continue their studies, more help will become available for those whoâ?¨ suffer.