The inability of the guardians to detect depression in their wards becomes a massive deterrent in the proper depression cure of children. More often than not parents don’t like to believe that their child is suffering from as serious a disease as depression. Sadly enough any form of mental ailment is not taken in the correct light by the people. In a number of cases parents, in some way or the other, become a cause of unhappiness and depression in their child, though unintentionally. This is something that is not taken to very well by the parents. They find it hard to believe that they are in some way or the other not living up to their child’s expectations and needs. Taking the child’s unusual behavior as rudeness, unruliness, aloofness etc or sometimes even taking them to be usual in growing children, the parents offer depression the chance to develop its roots deeper in the child’s psyche.

The only way to cure depression in the children is that the guardians or the parents should be keen followers of their wards’ behavioral pattern, habits, nature etc. Over and above that the other emotional requirements of the child should also be fulfilled. If these conditions are met tracking depression in children won’t be that tough a task. There are numerous ways to cure depression in children nowadays. The disease can be perfectly cured with the help of proper medical and domestic cure and attention. However, a disturbing revelation in the area of depression cure in children is that the most commonly used antidepressants have been found to be unfit for children. Many of the antidepressants claim that they can be had on medical prescription but recent studies show the contrary. They say that antidepressants are not the ideal cure for depression in children. Nevertheless, antidepressants can be very effective in adults but only when taken as per the doctor’s advice. Celexa online is one such pill. In order to prevent Celexa abuse, one is deemed to buy Celexa only on presenting the Celexa prescription.

It is not fully understood why Tricyclic antidepressants work so well on killing pain. The theory is that these type of antidepressants increase neurotransmitters in the spinal cord that reduces pain signals. However, Tricyclic antidepressants do not work immediately and you may have to take them for several weeks before they start reducing pain. The good thing about using Tricyclic antidepressants is they are not addicting or cause people to become dependant on them but they do have the ability to make you drowsy at first. Your doctor will probably prescribe them for you to take at night before you go to bed. Side affects can be anything from causing dry mouth, sleepiness, constipation and weight gain, difficulty with urination, and changes in blood pressure. To reduce side effects, your doctor will probably start you on a low dose and increase dosage until the one that is right for you is achieved.

Other side effects you will want to watch out for are dizziness, lightheadedness, and fainting may occur, especially when getting up from a sitting or lying position, it’s recommended to rise slowly when getting up. Tricyclic antidepressants may cause your skin to be more sensitive to sunlight than normal. Be aware of how long you are out in strong sunlight when you first start this medication until you know if it will have an adverse affect on your skin. Getting to much exposure from the sun may cause a skin rash, itching, redness or other discoloration; even server sunburn may be an adverse affect from this medication. It is suggested that one stay out of the sunlight during the hours of 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. if possible. Be sure to apply a good sun block to exposed areas of skin when taking Tricyclic antidepressants , with at least a SPF of 15, and for fair skin a sun block with a higher SPF rating. Be sure to discuss these types of topics and any others you may have a concern about with your doctor before you start taking any medication. You want your medication to work for you so it will help you get well.

However, sexual side effects caused by antidepressants are also a very challenge to clinicians, since they have to distinguish between sexual dysfunction (SD) associated with depression, treatment-emergent SD and pre-existing SD exacerbated by treatment.

Making the difference between these situations is quite important, since treatment strategies are not the same for the above mentioned SDs. Sexual dysfunction associated with depression may be treated raising the antidepressant dose, however, this would be particularly inappropriate for a treatment-emergent SD, in which case the appropriate thing is to lower the dose.

For managing appropriately antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction, experts recommend that clinicians may attempt to alleviate the sexual side effects of a drug though a reduction of the dose and/or a change to an alternative therapy that may be less likely to cause sexual side effects. These strategies are more likely to be used in patients who are not responding fully to treatment and also risk sacrificing the therapeutic benefit of treatment.

Nonpharmacologic interventions are also recommended by experts. Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral techniques employed by sex therapists are the most common, although there are no studies evaluating their success in patients taking antidepressants.

There exist a number of medications quite useful in the treatment of sexual dysfunction associated with antidepressants. Under experts’ opinion, the most common medications for antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction fall into three categories:

What is depression?

Depression is basically a pathological change in mood. For being diagnosed as depressed medically one has to have certain well defined symptoms such as early morning awakening, decreased or increased appetite, decreased interest, sense of guilt, etc. continuously for a period of 2 weeks. From the biochemical point of view at the neuronal level it is hypothesized that there is a lack of nor adrenaline and Serotonin at the neuronal nerve endings.

Different types of antidepressants

Modern day antidepressants are classified broadly into nor adrenaline and serotonin reuptake inhibitors, selective serotonin reuptake intake inhibitors and the atypical ones. As stated above, the cause of depression is lack of nor adrenaline and serotonin and hence most of the antidepressants are meant to serve that purpose for e.g. some like imipramine increase the concentration of nor adrenaline and serotonin while selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) like fluoxetine block the uptake and hence increase the concentration of serotonin. The atypical antidepressants like mianserin increase the release of nor adrenaline at the neuronal nerve endings cause the elevation of mood. Extreme forms of depression are associated with suicidal tendencies and they are mostly treated by electro convulsive therapy.

Uses and side effects

The antidepressants are used in major depression and also are sometimes used in enuresis of children. The side effects of the antidepressants are many like dry mouth sedation increased appetite hypotension and convulsions to name only few but the most important of them all are dependence of the patients on these medications and then the drug abuse. The electro convulsive therapy has the side effect of some impairment in memory hence it is only used in extreme cases.

Other options and their advantages

The other options available in the market are herbal medicines, cognitive psychotherapy, yoga and other alternative medicine. Most of these therapies are based on the age-old system on minimally disrupting the chemical composition of the body but at the same time relieving the subjects of their symptoms. One of the herbal medicines is St. John’s wort. Therapies like yoga and psychotherapy are gaining ground as most the drugs are having their own side effects profile but these have none. Cognitive therapy aims at altering the thought processes of the individual and has beneficial effects not only in depression but also in disorders as varied as panic attacks, bulimia, etc. From the discussion it is clear that there are a number of options available and what is best for one is not necessarily going to be the best for other and hence the therapy should be customized for individual rather than generalized.

Typical drugs within the SSRI category are Seroxat, Cipramil, and Prozac. 5 There are a number initial and on-going side-effects associated with these drugs including nausea, sleep problems, headache, restlessness, fever, sweating, dizziness, sedation and sexual dysfunction. Virginal bleeding has also been reported after withdrawal of SSRI’s. The severity of any side-effects/withdrawal effects may be dependant on the length of time the drugs are taken and the dosage.

The neurotransmitter, Serotonin, is thought to have an effect on mood - although, its function is not fully understood. Therefore, the efficacy (effectiveness) of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) is also not fully understood. However, it is thought that by increasing serotonin levels in the brain, it may be possible to lift depressed feelings or low mood.

Current theory about these antidepressants is that they act within the brain to restrict the reuptake (reabsorption) of Serotonin back into the original nerve cell once the neurotransmitter (chemical messenger) has jumped between one nerve cell and the next. By preventing the natural reabsorption of serotonin, the neurotransmitter remains in the gap (synapse) between nerve cells and floods the system - thus increasing serotonin levels.

It is clearly a personal choice whether or not to take antidepressants drugs and to balance the risks against the possible benefits. Although, given our limited knowledge of the human brain and its delicate and complex nature it may be worth questioning the wisdom of attempting to alter its natural balance by artificial means.