Depression

 

DEFINITION:
Most people feel down from time to time. But people with depression have more severe and persistent feelings of sadness. Some symptoms include:
1. Unexplained crying spells
2. Changes in appetite or sleep
3. Irritability
4. Anxiety
5. Pessimism
6. Tiredness
7. Feelings of guilt or worthlessness
8. Difficulty with concentrating
9. Loss of interest in formerly pleasurable activities
10. Thoughts of death and/or suicide
In many cases, the symptoms interfere with family, social life, and routine activities.
Depression is one of the most common types of mental illness. According to the National Mental Health Association, 19 million Americans suffer from some form of depression. It can occur at any age and is twice as common in women as in men.

CAUSES:
Depression is not fully understood, but more and more people suffer depression these days.
Why? A growing amount of evidence shows that most people with depression have chronic diseases, so the patient has to take multiple medications for a long time. This causes an imbalance of the brain's neurotransmitters (the chemicals that allow nerve cells in the brain to communicate with each other). There are many drugs that cause depression, such as; thyroid drugs, hepatitis treatments and cancer treatments. Many scientists believe that an imbalance in serotonin, one of these neurotransmitters, may be an important factor in the development and severity of depression.

TREATMENT:
Treatments for depression usually involve medications and psychotherapy. Doctors may use a combination of therapies and it can take several trials of different treatments to find the one that's effective. Even after several treatment attempts, some patients continue to have severe, disabling symptoms. Most antidepressant medicines appear to affect (disturb) several neurotransmitters in addition to serotonin. In some cases, doctors may recommend electroconvulsive therapy.

But, the depression patient has a New Hope ( new option ):

We are using Acupoint Injection Therapy (AIT), a combination therapy which uses certain kinds of herbs and Vitamins injected directly into certain acupuncture points to treat the diseases and depression at the same time. Specific herbs and Vitamins are chosen for injection into specific points to improve the brain's functions in order to correct the imbalance by increasing the brain's own supply of serotonin. AIT does not involve any chemicals to disturb the neurotransmitters, but tries to balance the brain’s functions as well as treat the other disorders. The benefit is that AIT does not involve multiple drugs to disturb patient's body systems, so it is safe and causes no side effects compared with other types of medications. After several treatments, the patient 's general condition is much improved.
We cannot think about "curing" depression if we don't first treat the original disease to improve the patient’s condition. In this way, the patient has the chance to minimize drug usage and reduce the side effects. We use this theory for guidance in treating our patients. It controls the symptoms effectively, including depression, thereby allowing many people with depression to feel better while their body functions more normally. The most important byproduct of AIT is that the patient gains confidence to fight the disease and establish a better quality of life.