Did you know that anti-depressant drugs are now less popular than before although the actual number of prescriptions seems to be increasing. Why is that? The reason is that thanks to the Internet , support groups and forums, people are generally much better informed now than say, ten or fifteen years ago. Add to that the fact that anti depressant medications have been subjected to more scrutiny and their side effects have been publicized a lot more now, than in the past. Treating depression without drugs is now a real possibility but don't expect your doctor to tell you that!

When you read the boxed warnings about suicidal thoughts on some of the anti-depressant medications like Prozac, Zoloft or Tofranil, you begin to wonder what these drugs are really doing to our brains and what the long term effects will be. You may well wonder why there must be such a high price to pay, in every sense of the word, to access depression treatment which can destroy a person's life. But there is lots of good news about treatments for depression which concern alternative methods.

While the pharmaceutical companies compete for your attention on Facebook and other social media networks, let's think of successful self help tips as the best alternative to depression treatment. Given that the roots of depression are complex and complicated, self-help is one of the best ways to face up to depression. Medication and counselling all have their place and I know that many patients have gained benefit from medication but I would also point out that there are problems of side effects such as weight gain and reduced sex drive which tend to have a boomerang effect on this type of depression treatment.

Don't ask your doctor as he may not know much about depression treating strategies. The majority of primary care providers will prescribe anti-depressant medications as the first and only option. While anti-depressant medications are a perfectly valid and sometimes helpful method of treating depression, I would not exactly call them successful as a study three years ago showed that only about 50% of patients could actually get rid of their symptoms with this type of medication. That is not a high success rate.