Treatment-Resistant Depression

I remember all too well years ago the advertisements in psychiatric journals stating that antidepressants will "restore the person within the patient," and although these medications have indeed made a dramatic difference in the outcome of depressive illness, they are by no means the miracle drugs that some thought them to be. In fact, a paltry 30 percent of depressed clients achieve remission (defined as a 50 percent reduction in the severity of symptoms via rating scale determination) on their [...]

Vitamin B folate or folic acid -- active in citrus fruits, legumes, green, leafy vegetables -- is yet another arrow in the psychiatrist’s quiver for managing treatment – resistant depression (TRD). Deplin (l-methylfolate) is a folic acid type of derivative. Deplin helps normalize amounts of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine when used in conjunction with antidepressants. Folate is also crucial to the production of S-Adenosyl-Methionine, or SAM-e, which aids in the synthesis of nerve cell membranes and activates norepinephrine, serotonin and [...]