WHAT OTHER TREATMENTS COULD I HAVE?
- Medication
As mentioned earlier in this leaflet, there are several different types of antidepressant drugs available. Newer medications can have fewer side effects. Many patients have found, by trial and error, that one medicine works for them when others don't. See page 13 for further details.
- 'Talking Treatments'
It is important you have the opportunity to talk through your problems at length, providing you are well enough to do so. Various forms of psychological treatments - such as counselling and psychotherapy (including cognitive therapy) - have been shown to be effective in some people with moderate or severe depressive illness.
- Light Therapy
If your depression tends to strike mainly or wholly during the winter months, you should investigate the use of light therapy (where you spend time daily in front of a special lightbox). This treatment is not generally available on the National Health Service, although you could ask if your hospital has a lightbox.
If you have been recommended for ECT it is likely your depression is severe, and in such cases light therapy may well work best when used together with other treatments, such as antidepressants and/or a talking treatment'. See contacts? page for the address of the Seasonal Affective Disorders Association.
