Abstract

Depression is a mood disorder that affects physical and mental health by altering a person’s behaviour, feelings, and thoughts. Multiple neurotransmitters and part of brain (mainly amygdala, the thalamus and the hippocampus) are involved with disorder of depression. Main cause of depression is unknown but it may be due to neurohormonal or neurochemical imbalance. There are two main hypothesis involved in the pathophysiology of depression that is- monoamine hypothesis and neurotropic hypothesis. According to National Comorbidity Survey, lifetime prevalence of major depression and dysthymia are 16.9 and 2.5% respectively. Several type of intervention have been shown to be efficacious in treating depression including pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. Pharmacological approaches include conventional medical therapies and non-pharmacological approaches include complementary and alternative therapies. Conventional medical treatment involve antidepressant medications, they are relatively safe and effective for many patient. Electroconvulsive therapy is particularly effective for the most severe and resistant depressions, but it has some severe side effects on memory and cognition. There are various complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) like herbal, homeopathic, bright light therapy, traditional Chinese medication, aromatherapy, physical exercise etc. It was identified that complementary therapies have less side effects as compared to conventional therapies. Keywords: Depression, hypothesis, monoamines, serotonin, noradrenaline, dopamine, antidepressants, CAM.

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