Can Anything Be Done to Fix It?
It is important to realize that since mood disorders are an illness, the patient cannot fight them alone. It can't be wished away. It needs specific medical treatment to correct the imbalance just like insulin is used to treat diabetes. The most important first step is for is for the patient to accept the diagnosis and consent to treatment. Even mild chemical depressions can be cleared with medications. There is no longer any need to wait until one is suicidal to begin treatment.
The medical treatment of mood disorders involves the use of drugs that are extremely effective in restoring the normal balance of neurotransmitter chemicals. For depression, there are over twenty medications called antidepressants. They restore brain serotonin levels and correct the imbalance. Concentration, mood, and thought control can then be restored and the racing thoughts will stop. For bipolar or manic-depressives, the mood stabilizing drugs like Lithium, Valproic Acid, or Carbamazapine are used to eliminate and prevent mood swings. Some bipolar patients will need to take a combination of stabilizers and antidepressants to prevent mood swings. If we use the vision analogy again, this is like wearing bifocals, a lens for distance and one for reading.
The medications only restore normal mood and the ability to control one's thoughts. They do not create an artificial high nor artificial personality and have no effect at all on a person with normal mood. It is not possible to know in advance which antidepressant medication will work for any given person. Many may have to be tried before finding the right one. The benefit of a pill can take six weeks to feel, which is frustratingly slow. It may take six to eight months to find the right medication that will give maximum benefit with the least side effects. This process is similar to trying to find the right key to open a lock. Many keys may have to be tried before the lock opens. During this waiting period the person needs lots of encouragement to continue trying to find the right medicine.
Once the correct medicine is found, one must stay on it for at least six months after the end of the depressive symptoms. This long period lessens the chance of relapse after the medications have been stopped.
No, definitely not. Mental disorders are a physical illness caused by chemical imbalances in your brain.
You see, the brain is divided into regions called "control centers" that direct every activity the body does, including thinking. It is important to realize that forming a thought is as physical an event as blinking an eye or moving your arm. Nerve cells in the brain allow you to form thoughts in the same way that they permit movement. We only have full control of our thoughts when all the nerve cells are working properly to give us that control. This process is subject to malfunction like any other part of the body. We can lose voluntary control of our thoughts if we have an internal neurological malfunction or an imbalance of nerve transmitter chemicals even though we may have the best of intentions to control our thoughts.
The mood control center is a place in the brain where thought content and thought speed are regulated. This center controls what you think about and how fast you think about it. It therefore controls your mood and ability to concentrate. Unfortunately, we don't knthoughts. You would have lost the ability to put brakes on these thoughts.
For more information visit Answers to common mental health questions.
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