Join a Research Study
Clinical Trials for Depression
Everyone feels stressed or anxious at some point – and almost everyone will feel unhappy with their life or have difficulty sleeping. With depression, this becomes the ‘norm’. Those suffering from depression find that it’s not just an occasional moment where they feel off in one of these ways, but the occasional moment where they don’t.
When unhappiness, anxiety, despondency, or any of the side-effects of these feelings start to rule your life, you need to get help – but sometimes that help doesn’t make you feel completely better.
Signs & Symptoms of Depression
Understanding the Signs and Symptoms of Depression
The everyday occurrences of life can leave everyone feeling sad on occasion. From the breakup of a close relationship to career disappointments, it is natural to experience loneliness and related feelings of sadness. However, when the symptoms of depression begin to impact your quality of life, you need to take action.
Adults and teens exhibit somewhat different symptoms of depression, with some overlap in signs. Clinical depression can result in physical symptoms and behavioral concerns.
What Are the Main Signs of Depression in Adults?
If you have ongoing difficulties concentrating and remembering details, it could be due to chronic depression. Other mental symptoms of depression include loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, including sex.
Additional symptoms include:
Extreme eating, either overindulgence or avoidance
Ongoing anxiety, sadness and feelings of worthlessness
Chronic aches and pains that don’t have an identifiable origin and are treatment-resistant
Bouts of irritability, restlessness and guilt; helplessness
Fatigue
Digestive difficulties
Pessimistic attitude toward life and/or the world
Symptoms of Depression in Teens
While teens may exhibit any or all of the same symptoms as adults with depression, the following indicators are also indicative of teen depression:
Apathy
Irresponsible or rebellious behavior, including skipping class or assignments
Promiscuity
Use of alcohol or mind-altering substances
Preoccupation with death
Erratic sleeping patterns including staying up all night
Depression Treatment
Effective Treatments for Depression
Depression treatments can take many forms. Adjunct therapies include the use of medications accompanied by either family or group therapy sessions. In some cases, both types of therapy sessions are used. Adjunct therapies are intended to be used along with other therapies as a way of enhancing the benefits each one offers. While they can be used alone, they work best when blended together.
One-on-One Therapy Sessions
One-on-One therapy sessions allow patients to receive to individual attention they need. This ensures that the patient and the specialist are both on the same page when it comes to achieving the desired emotional result, maintaining a positive attitude that is conducive to controlling behaviors that are associated with depression, anxiety, and panic disorders. Those who suffer depression can have a negative effect not just on their own life, but on the lives of their loved ones. By taking the time to personally teach a patient how to cope with their behavioral changes and subsequent depression treatments will help everyone become more unified with the treatment plan.
TMS Therapy Sessions
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation therapy, or TMS therapy, offers a drug-free alternative to treating depression. By using magnetic fields to stimulate nerve cells in the brain, we can mitigate the symptoms of depression in a milder, noninvasive way. This type of therapy is a safe, non-systemic treatment that the patient is entirely alert for TMS.
Medications
Although there are several types of psychiatric medications, depression and anxiety disorders are most often treated with anxiolytics and other anti-depressant medications. Anxiolytics help to primarily control behaviors that are associated with anxiety.
Anti-depressants primarily target norepinephrine and serotonin. Both serotonin and norepinephrine are neurotransmitters known to affect areas of the brain associated with depression.
In most cases, it can take up to two weeks for a patient to begin to notice any effects. When the medications are used regularly, they can control the balance of chemicals within the brain and help reduce the signs and symptoms of depression. Patients who take their medications regularly and attend therapy sessions, with family or in groups, are often more able to rise above many of the issues they experienced prior to their treatment.
About the Study
Our Research Centers are currently enrolling subjects with Depression into research studies. All study related visits, laboratory work, study medication, and all study related procedures including physical exams are provided at no cost to those who qualify for study. Qualified participants will receive compensation for time and travel. Other criteria for eligibility will be discussed with interested persons, without obligation, when calling the telephone number of your nearest site. Please go to our contact page for ways to inquire about this study.
More Information
If you, or someone you know, suffers from depression, you may be eligible to participate in a research study. Our studies seek to determine the safety and efficacy of an investigational drug for the treatment of those with the disease. For more information please contact us.
