Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious but treatable illness. Depending on how severe depression symptoms are, your primary care doctor or psychiatrist may prescribe medications to help.
However, many people with depression also benefit from seeing a psychiatrist, psychologist or other mental health professional.
In deciding the best treatment plan for you, your doctor will consider how severe your illness is, the events that may have triggered its onset, and any treatments you have already had.
Medication
Prescription medicine called antidepressants can help relieve and resolve depression symptoms. Based on clinical judgment and depending on the overall treatment plan being followed, your doctor may gradually increase the dosage, as needed.
Antidepressants have side effects, which may improve with time. If they don’t, talk to your healthcare team. A different medication may be more suitable for you.
Timely follow-ups are important to help with assessing your response to treatment and potential side effects.
Antidepressants help many people. However, they may not be suitable for everyone. If you are having a partial response or no response to your treatment after several weeks, your doctor may decide to:
Add an adjunctive medication to the antidepressant
Switch antidepressants
Your doctor may need to try different drugs or combination of drugs, at different doses, to discover which treatment works best for you.
Depression therapy can be tailored to you! Work with your doctor to find your fit.