Mental Health Month 2020: An international relationship can heal you

October is Mental Health Month in Australia, so we’d like to discuss what can heal mental issues and explain why an international relationship is good for your mental health and general wellbeing. ?

A positive international relationship is just as effective as antidepressants.

Research shows that when a man is in a good relationship, he is quite unlikely to have depression. Dating experts claim that international relationships are even better because a partner from a different culture can bring a new perspective to look at things in life.

Like psychological approaches, antidepressants are a key part of treating depression. They aim to relieve symptoms and prevent depression from coming back. Opinions vary on how effective antidepressants are in relieving the symptoms of depression. Some people doubt they help, while others consider them to be essential. But as is true for many other treatments, these medications may help in some situations, and not in others. They can also have side effects. It is important to discuss the pros and cons of antidepressants with your doctor. The main aim of treatment with antidepressants is to relieve the symptoms of depression, such as feeling very sad and exhausted, and prevent them from coming back. The medications are designed to restore emotional balance and help people to get on with everyday life. They are also taken to relieve symptoms such as restlessness, anxiety, sleep problems and suicidal thoughts. This information deals with using medication to treat the most common form of depression, namely unipolar depression.

What antidepressants are available?

Many different drugs are available for the treatment of depression. They can be split up into different groups. This article mainly provides information about the following, most commonly used antidepressants:

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
Selective serotonin noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs)

Antidepressants treat severe depression; international dating treats mild depression.

Tricyclic antidepressants have been on the market the longest. They are considered to be “first generation” antidepressants. SSRIs and SSNRIs are “second generation” antidepressants. The nerve cells in our brain use various chemicals to pass on impulses. Even though not all details are known, experts believe that depression is caused by an imbalance of certain chemicals like serotonin which then affects some nerve connections. Antidepressants aim to increase the availability of these chemicals. The various drugs do that in different ways. Antidepressants are usually taken daily. The goal in the first few weeks and months is to relieve the symptoms and, if possible, make the depression go away. Once that has been achieved, the treatment is continued for at least four to nine months. This continuation therapy is necessary to stop the symptoms from coming back. The medication is sometimes taken for longer to prevent relapses. Some people take antidepressants for several years. Regular appointments with the doctor are vital during treatment. There you can talk about whether the symptoms have improved and whether there are any side effects. The dose will be adjusted if necessary. You should not increase or reduce the dose on your own. If you do, the tablets might not work properly or they may cause more side effects. Towards the end of the treatment, the dose is gradually reduced over the course of several weeks. You may experience temporary sleep problems, nausea or restlessness while coming off the medication. These problems are especially common if you stop taking antidepressants suddenly. Sometimes people stop taking their medication as soon as they start feeling better. But doing so increases the likelihood of the depression returning. Unlike many sleeping pills and sedatives, though, antidepressants do not cause physical dependence. There are a lot of different medications for depression. But it’s difficult to predict how well a particular medication will help an individual. Because of this, doctors often first suggest taking a drug that they consider to be effective and relatively well tolerated. If it doesn’t help as much as expected, it’s possible to switch to a different medication. Sometimes a number of different drugs have to be tried out before you find one that works.

Studies show that the benefit generally depends on the severity of the depression: The more severe the depression, the greater the benefits are likely to be. In other words, antidepressants are effective against chronic, moderate and severe depression. They probably don’t work in the treatment of mild depression. But it is said that international dating can treat mild depression (Source: online dating experts from www.SimplyDating.com)

The various antidepressants have been compared in many studies. Overall, the commonly used tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs and SSNRIs performed equally well. Studies of adults with moderate or severe depression showed: Without antidepressants: About 20 to 40 out of 100 people who took a placebo noticed an improvement in their symptoms within six to eight weeks. With antidepressants: About 40 to 60 out of 100 people who took an antidepressant noticed an improvement in their symptoms within six to eight weeks.