Psychotic Depression Treatment

Psychotic major depression is also known as PMD and this is a type of depression that can include symptoms and treatments, which may be very different from those of non-psychotic major depressive disorders or NPMD. The PMD is also a part of regular depression and it has been estimated to affect about 0.4% of the population. Usually the patients with psychotic depression experience delusions and these are actually beliefs or feelings that are unsupported and are not true.

The PMD is sometimes mistaken for the NPMD, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and other psychotic disorders. The bipolar patients can go through PMD during depressed states. Basically the term depression has been used to describe the negative reactions to life's situations. Here people have to deal with various kinds of situations like negative and positive emotions of excitement, frustration, happiness, anger, sadness, joy, fear, etc.

But there are some people who are biased towards negative thoughts and thus suffer from depression. This psychological disorder can lead to physical problems and this problem happens to both adults and children. It is vital to understand the symptoms of the treatments and the symptoms of this for health benefits. The symptoms of psychotic depression are similar to the regular symptoms of depression which include sadness along with lack of interest in pleasure and normal activities.

The depression symptoms are also followed by sleep disturbances or oversleeping. A lot of people experience alterations in appetite and decreased energy level. Such people also feel helpless and thoughts of suicide are also caused in their minds because of stress induced depression. These people feel low even when they are given a lot of advice by friends and relatives, and they don't want to be happy.

The persistence of feelings of lethargy and low energy also lead to drastic mood swings. Apart from the regular forms of psychotic depression there are many other forms of depression that affect people also and these include Atypical depression, Melancholic depression, etc. The physiological constitution of the person is the determining factor for the kind of depression that he or she suffers from.

There are various causes of depression and different factors lead to depression. These include biological factors along with psychological and social factors. Some of the biological causes of depression include neurotransmitters. The genetic factors that are affecting our physical and mental features, including the genes in the cells, may also cause depression. Then there are hormonal imbalances in the body, which lead to depression of various kinds, especially in women.

The treatments for psychotic depression include Anti Depressants, which include adequate dosage and duration of the treatments. Then there are combination treatments with atypical anti-psychotics and SSRIs, which have been associated with significant weight gain and sexual dysfunction. The TCA is not suggested here as it is lethal in overdose. The ECT can also have side effects of temporary cognitive deficits and thus it is best to use psycho-therapy for treating this problem.

But psychotic depression should not be left untreated as it can lead to suicidal traits and prove fatal in many cases.

• Juliana Breckinridge
• 24/04/2009, 6:59 AM
• 0 Comments