Depression is a term that refers to depressive disorders, mental health conditions that can lead to debilitating and life-altering symptoms that can severely disturb a person’s life. And, can even be deadly if left untreated. Unfortunately, many people who are struggling with the impacts of depression don’t get the help they need. And, even those who do aren’t guaranteed a full recovery when using traditional depression treatments alone. People who don’t get the results they want from traditional depression treatments alone may be living with something known as treatment resistant depression. But, what are the causes of treatment resistant depression? Knowing more about what causes this depressive phenomenon can help people who are living with it identify it in their own lives and pinpoint methods of treatment that are successful and effective.
Some of the risk factors and causes of treatment resistant depression may include:
Sometimes, living with concurring mental and physical health issues can keep people from getting effective treatment. For example, people who are diagnosed with both depression and physical illnesses like hypertension, digestive conditions, and heart disease may be at an increased risk for treatment resistant depression. Furthermore, along with physical health issues playing a factor in risk for treatment resistant depression, so are concurring mental health issues. Many people living with treatment resistant depression are also diagnosed with concurring mental health issues including PTSD, anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, etc. These concurring issues can play a part in traditional treatments not working as well as they would in other patients who don’t have concurring health issues.
The way that a person metabolizes their food can also play a role in how effective traditional depressive treatments are. Some people living with treatment resistant depression have metabolic deficiencies which can impact how antidepressant medications are digested which can alter their effects, making them less successful in reducing the severity of symptoms of depressive conditions.
Sometimes, people may be at a higher risk of developing treatment resistant depression due to genetic factors. This means that people who have family members who have treatment resistant depression are more likely to develop the condition themselves.
While traditional treatments may not be as effective for people diagnosed with treatment resistant depression, there is still hope for recovery. Alternative therapies like TMS, ketamine nasal spray, and ketamine infusion therapies are both effective and non-invasive approaches to treating treatment-resistant depression and other mental health issues. Both of these approaches are available on an outpatient basis at Delray Brain Science. Find out more about these alternative therapies and whether or not they are right for you.
