Depression is a common condition, affecting about 121 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. In the United States an estimated 21 million American adults -- or 9.5 percent of the population -- have depression at some point. Many brain regions are involved in depression, and studies show that several different types of treatment, including drugs and cognitive therapy, are usually needed before patients can be cured. More natural options include exercise, yoga, herbs, diet, better sleep suggestions, and nutritional supplements. In most patients, regular exercise may work as well as medication in improving symptoms of major depression.

Medical Therapy for Depression
The most commonly used pharmaceutical agents to fight depression, the SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, and others, are often effective in fighting depression but have a high rate of side effects including headache, loss of sex drive and sensation, nausea, insomnia, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Talk therapy may beat medication for older adults depression, particularly when therapists work along with the patient's primary care doctor.

There are several supplements and herbs that can lift depression.
Favorites are Sam-e, St. John's Wort, and 5-HTP.
5-HTP can start within hours. You can find 5-HTP here.
SAM-e a powerful nutrient that starts working within hours. S-Adenosylmethionine page has more information.
St. John's wort usually takes a couple of days. You can find St-Johns-Wort here. For more info on St. John's wort.

High Quality products formulated by a medical doctor
Consider highly popular all natural products. These top quality products include Mind Power Rx for better mental focus, concentration, and mood; Diet Rx which helps you eat less. It really does curb appetite; Good Night Rx for better sleep; Eyesight Rx for better vision, often within days; MultiVit Rx a daily comprehensive multivitamin for more energy and vitality; Joint Power Rx for healthy joints; Prostate Power Rx for a healthy prostate gland; and Passion Rx for sexual enhancement, better libido, and improved performance and stamina in men and women.

Exercise for depression
Exercise can lift depression. Exercise enhance activity in the gene for a nerve growth factor known as VGF. Nerve growth factors are small proteins important in the development and maintenance of nerve cells. When researchers infused a synthetic version of VGF into the brains of mice, it produced an antidepressant effect. Nerve growth factors are small proteins important in the development and maintenance of nerve cells.

Diet and depression
Many people do not realize the crucial role diet plays in depression and mood disorders. If a patient goes to their doctor and reports feelings of depression, it is quite unlikely that their physician will do a dietary history. Most likely the prescription pad will be taken out and the words Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, or another antidepressant will be jotted down before you can even spell 'd e p r e s s i o n.' There are many causes for depression, and diet is one cause that is often overlooked. As we understand the complexity of brain biochemistry, scientists are realizing that inflammation in the brain plays a role in depression. Certain chemicals called cytokines cause inflammation in the brain which influences mood. If you ever had low mood or felt depressed during or after a bad case of the flu, then you realized first hand how these cytokines released by the immune system effected your brain. It is interesting to note that this is a typical case of a body-brain influence. The body, in this case the immune system, releases chemicals called cytokines into the bloodstream. These in turn enter brain tissue cause inflammation, leading to low mood. In addition to depressed mood cytokines also cause loss of appetite, altered sleep patterns and fatigue. 
   Fortunately cytokines, and other substances that cause inflammation, are influenced by diet. When you eat lots of fish or foods with omega-3 fatty acids, your body will make fewer inflammatory cytokines.

Depression Cause
The causes of Depression aren't fully understood. A number of factors may make a person more likely to experience depression, such as a heredity, side effects of certain medications, an introverted personality, poor self image, and emotionally upsetting events, particularly those involving a loss. Depression may also arise or worsen without any apparent or significant life stress. Having a mother who has experienced depression can double a child's chances of becoming depressed.
   Women are twice as likely as men to experience depression, though the reasons aren't entirely clear. Psychologic studies show that women tend to respond to adversity by withdrawing into themselves and blaming themselves. In contrast, men tend to deny adversity and throw themselves into activities. Of biologic factors, hormones are the ones most involved. Changes in hormone levels, which can create mood changes shortly before menstruation (premenstrual tension) and after childbirth (postpartum depression), might play some role in women. Similar hormonal changes may occur with the use of oral contraceptives in women who have experienced depression. Abnormal thyroid function, which is fairly common in women, may also be a factor.

Depression that follows a traumatic event, such as the death of a loved one, is called situational depression. Some people become temporarily depressed in reaction to certain holidays (holiday blues) or meaningful anniversaries, such as the anniversary of a loved one's death. Depression without an apparent precipitating event is called endogenous depression.

Football players who have repeated head concussions are more likely to have depression.

Medical conditions predispose depression
A combination of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes risk factors known as the metabolic syndrome is a predisposing factor for the development of depression.

Depression is associated with physical changes in the brain
There is decreased blood flow in the brain's emotional centers, abnormal metabolism, shrinking of certain brain regions, and changes in neurons and dendrites. Therefore, it is unrealistic to tell someone with depression to "just snap out of it." Depression is as much of a physical illness as diabetes and heart disease.

Depression may also occur with, or be caused by, a number of physical diseases or disorders. Physical disorders may cause a depression directly (such as when thyroid disease affects hormone levels, which can induce depression) or indirectly (such as when rheumatoid arthritis causes pain and disability, which can lead to depression). Various prescription drugs, most notably drugs used to treat high blood pressure, can cause depression. A number of psychiatric conditions can predispose a person to depression, including certain anxiety disorders, alcoholism and other substance abuse disorders, schizophrenia, and the early phase of dementia.

Postpartum depression
First-time mothers remain at risk of postpartum depression and mental illness 4 or 6 weeks or longer after the length of time suggested in reference manuals. Furthermore, although new fathers are exposed to some of the same stressors as mothers -- lifestyle changes, sleep deprivation -- their risk of psychiatric illness and depression does not increase during this time.

Depression and heart disease
Depression appears to increase the development of blood vessel plaques, known as atherosclerosis, a condition that can lead to heart attack, stroke, and a host of other cardiovascular problems.

Depression Research Update
Close female friends help women through depression -- Nearly all women say they get depressed, stressed or anxious at some point in their lives, and most turn to their female friends for support during these and other tough times.

For information on suicide.

Depression Gene
A gene associated with depression and other forms of mental illness may enlarge an area of the brain that handles negative emotions. The study is one in a number which shows that the brains of people with depression are structurally different than the brains of people who are not depressed. Writing in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center looked at a serotonin transporter gene, which has two forms, or variants -- short, or SERT-s, and long, SERT-l. People with two SERT-s genes had pulvinars, a brain region which handles negative emotions, that were 20 percent larger and contained 20 percent more nerve cells than people with either one or two SERT-l genes. The gene also affects serotonin, a message-carrying chemical or neurotransmitter associated with mood, and one targeted by certain classes of antidepressant drugs, said the researchers, who had studied the brains of 49 people who had died. The gene is a serotonin transporter since when brain cells release serotonin, the gene brings it back into the cell. Depression drugs slow this process down, making serotonin available to the cells for longer. Dr. Dwight German, a professor of psychiatry who worked on the study, said similar studies have shown that certain other areas of the brain are smaller in people with the SERT-s gene. German's team estimated that about 17 percent of the population has two copies of the SERT-s gene. These people appear to be more sensitive to emotional stimuli and more likely to experience depression than people with one or no SERT-s genes, they said.

Treatment of depression during pregnancy
The choice of depression medication options in women who are pregnant is limited. Doctors can recommend psychotherapy and bright light therapy in the winter. Bright light therapy has been found to be effective for seasonal affective disorder. Prescription drugs are widely used for depression and include antidepressants from various drug classes. Some examples include selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepineph rine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and tricyclic antidepressants. All available antidepressants are considered to be equally effective for uncomplicated depression, and the choice of agent depends on safety, side-effect profile, potential drug interactions, patient preference, and cost. Treatment goals should focus on remission of patient symptoms and restoration of function. A doctor may also consider recommending natural supplements such as 5-HTP, SAM-e, and St. John's wort, and the lowest dosages should be used for the briefest period of time necessary for these natural supplements to be effective. The safety of the fetus have to be balanced with the wellbeing of the mother.

Depression emails
Q. I have dealt with depression for too long and need the following tests done before I go down another dead end
road. Could you direct me to the right resources? I need a muscle biopsy measuring the level of ATP. I need a brain scan to determine my neurotransmitter levels.
   A. We have not seen any medical research that would indicate how the results of a muscle biopsy for ATP would help determine the course of therapy. A brain scan does not determine neurotransmitter levels. Neurotransmitter levels can be measured by scientists through a spinal tap, but it is difficult to determine what medicines or supplements are useful based on neurotransmitter levels which can fluctuate during different times of day, changes in diet, stress levels, etc.

Q. I have used Prozac, Paxil, Celexa, Effexor XR over a 15 year period. I am presently 61 and my sexual desires have decreased gradually from the time I started using the drugs. Now, I have almost none. I still have never gotten to a place where the depression is eliminated completely.

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