First Line Depression Treatment Approaches

Every year, more than 17 million individuals in the United States deal with depression. Depression, characterized by disruptions in a person's emotions, behavior, and thoughts, deprives a person of their ability to experience pleasure in life. Patients often experience a state of near-total numbness or persistent grief. The psychiatrist will typically recommend the proper treatment for patients after diagnosis.

Psychiatric medication is not always the first-line treatment for depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the first line of defense against many mental health disorders, indicating that despite the availability of more appropriate care, most patients do not receive the treatment they need. The goal is to provide a treatment that is as scalable and reliable as pharmaceuticals.

Overview of the first-line treatment

The first-line treatment is the 'gold standard’ therapy for each medical issue. Psychiatrists often prioritize beneficial treatments to provide patients with the best possible outcomes. However, a treatment's efficacy alone is not enough to be the first-line suggestion. The side effects also demand consideration.

For example, even if a medication is very efficient at relieving one symptom, it may not be given as a first option if it causes several other problems. Therefore, first-line therapies have the highest chance of successfully treating the patient while pushing the least harm to the patient.

Deciding on the first line of depression therapy

Each mental and physical health problem has its chain of recommended treatments. Providers cannot keep track of all (vital) data, hence the need for therapeutic recommendations. Mental health professionals condense this data into brief, understandable suggestions for each illness, such as an advised course of therapy. If one path does not provide desirable results, they may try another.

Organizations like the American College of Physicians (ACP) and others use the best available clinical evidence to develop, manage, and disseminate recommendations in the United States.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

For most mental health issues, including depression, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the treatment of choice. CBT helps treat anxiety, depression, and chronic insomnia. The goal of CBT, often administered by a qualified mental health practitioner in an individual or group setting, is to alter the beliefs and routines that serve to maintain a mental health disorder.

The use of CBT can produce long-term improvements in mental health and has fewer adverse side effects than medicine, as it focuses on addressing the underlying causes of mental illness. Therefore, medications should not be the primary or only choice in mental health treatment, but a patient and their doctor should consider them as part of their treatment plan.