More Information About Antidepressants

The first source for additional information about antidepressants is your doctor.

Your doctor may choose to refer you to a psychologist or psychiatrist depending on your diagnoses. The two are commonly confused. A psychologist is trained to perform psychological research and testing and to provide therapy. A psychiatrist, on the other hand, specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating mental disorders. The two professions are closely related, although a psychiatrist is generally the professional who prescribes antidepressant medication.

After you have been diagnosed, you will decide with your doctor which avenue of treatment should be most effective for you. If prescribed antidepressant medication, you may want to investigate your particular prescription online. Most popular antidepressants have their own websites now and are required by the FDA to also include risk information and side effects.

Don’t Forget Books

Books also remain great resources for learning more about your particular diagnoses and course of treatment.

For questions about cognitive behavioral therapy, you might wish to check out the Handbook of Cognitive Therapies, by Keith S. Dobson. Other choices include Managing Social Anxiety: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach, by Debra A. Hope, and Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy, by Susan M., Ph.D.

If you are taking a prescription antidepressant, check out The Antidepressant Era, by David Healy; The Essential Guide to Psychiatric Drugs, by Jack M. Gorman; or The New Antidepressants and Antianxieties, by William S. Appleton.

If you are pursuing the herbal route, there are also several books that may be of interest to you. The Hypericum Handbook: Nature’s Antidepressant, by Carol Turkington, delves into detail about St. John’s Wort. Also, The Encyclopedia of Natural Remedies, by Myra Cameron, is a wealth of information.

Antidepressants, when properly prescribed and monitored, can be highly beneficial to those suffering from depression and may be absolutely necessary to those with a lifelong history of the illness. However, prescriptions are not the solution for everyone. These articles have given a brief summary of information about some of the more recent and most common types of alternative therapies and medications. Determining which is best for you is a choice left to you and your doctor, but with the wide array of treatments available, recovery is an attainable goal.