Does moderate depression require medication?

People with moderate depression need to take medication. In order to avoid delaying the optimal period of treatment, causing moderate depression to develop into severe depression, and leading to serious consequences such as suicidal tendencies.

For patients with moderate depression, adequate dosage, sufficient course of treatment, and individualized single medication can eliminate the patient's depressive symptoms early, improve the patient's quality of life, restore their social functions, reduce the recurrence of depression, and minimize the disability and suicide rates.

At present, serotonin reuptake inhibitors are mainly used in clinical practice, such as paroxetine hydrochloride tablets, fluvoxamine maleate tablets, citalopram hydrobromide tablets, etc. This class of drugs regulates serotonin levels in the brain, thereby improving symptoms of depression.

In addition, selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, such as venlafaxine hydrochloride capsules and duloxetine hydrochloride capsules, are also effective in treating moderate depression. In addition, patients can also use Chinese patent medicines as directed by their doctor, such as Shugan Jieyu Capsules.

However, some patients with moderate depression are often resistant to drug treatment and even refuse drug treatment. They may think that depression is a mental illness, so "a heart disease requires medicine" and "once depression begins to be treated with medication, it means that the disease is terminal." Some even think that using medication to improve one's mood is a sign of weakness or a very shameful thing.

In fact, the fact that patients with depression receive medication does not mean that the disease has reached an irreversible point, nor is it something that needs to be avoided or shamed. Just like ordinary diseases require medication, patients with depression need corresponding medication to get out of the gray haze.

Therefore, patients with moderate depression need to take medication, but they need to follow the doctor's advice. They can also combine it with psychological treatment and regular review. At the same time, according to the development of the patient's condition, the patient's medication plan can be adjusted in a timely and reasonable manner. Patients and their families must not use antidepressant drugs at will or delay treatment due to misunderstandings about antidepressant drug treatment.

References

[1] Hao Qi. Principles of drug treatment of depression [J]. Everyone’s Health, 2021, (7): 36.

[2] Fu Liping. Treatment methods for depression [J]. World Latest Medical Information Digest, 2019, Volume 19 (62): 133.

[3] Hao Qi. Principles of drug treatment of depression [J]. Everyone’s Health, 2021, (7): 36.