Treatment phases
You need to be aware that your depression can relapse if your treatment is interrupted. Therefore, it is important to know the different phases of treatment:
- acute treatment
- maintenance treatment
- preventive treatment
Acute treatment
The period from the start of your treatment until the depressive symptoms disappear is called the acute treatment. After the acute treatment you will feel well. The acute treatment typically lasts one to two months.
It is important to remember that the symptoms disappear gradually over several weeks. We strongly advice you not to interrupt your treatment just because you haven't felt any effects after one week. Have plenty of patience.
Your family will often notice the effect of your treatment before you yourself notice it. You should therefore listen to them.
After 4-6 weeks of treatment, you proberly will be able to feel that you are better.
Maintenance treatment
Your mood, energy and interest in the people around you have returned. You will be able to resume work and other activities. You can live your life the way you used to before you got your depression.
It is so important that you continue to take your with medication. If there is a need to reduce your dose, consulting your doctor or psychiatrist will be the best thing to do.
Continue taking your medicine
Depression is a serious and painful disease, and it doesn't disappear on its own accord after a week under the duvet.
If you stop taking your medicine during this period, you risk becoming depressed again.
Therefore, we advice you to continue with your treatment and keep the dose unchanged until your depression symptoms ceased.
If your treatment need to be stopped after a year, we recommend you to gradually reduce the antidepressant's dose over a period of one to two months. However, different medications have different properties, your doctor or psychiatrist will be the best person to educate you on this.
Preventive treatment
After your maintenance treatment, you and your doctor must decide whether or not you need to continue with preventive treatment.
If you have had one episode of depression, the risk of developing another depressive episode at a later stage is approximately 50%. In this case, your preventive treatment should last at least be a year. If you have had three or four depressive episodes, the risk of developing a new one is (90%). Your preventive treatment should at least be 5 years and in severe cases for the rest of your life.
During your preventive treatment, you can lead a normal life. That is carry on with your education, work and look after your family...etc.
Can be permanent
The goal of preventive treatment is to avoid new depressive episodes. If you had several depressive episodes, preventive treatment is especially important, as the more depressive episode you had, the easier it is to develop a new one.
Preventive treatment is long - in some cases lifelong. You might regard this as a negative thing but just think about what you gain from the treatment: you might avoid developing another depression ever again.