Reflection on the Effectiveness of Depression Treatments: A Review

This assignment, a reflection paper, delves into the realm of evidence-based treatments for depression, meticulously examining the efficacy of various therapeutic interventions. The paper begins by introducing the multifaceted nature of depression, outlining its key characteristics and the stepped-care approach often employed in its treatment. It then explores cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) as prominent evidence-based approaches, highlighting their effectiveness, particularly in specific contexts such as adolescent depression. The reflection also investigates the role of pharmacotherapy, specifically focusing on the rapid action of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists like ketamine in treating major depressive disorder and bipolar depression. The paper references several studies and articles to support the claims. The conclusion emphasizes the potential advantages of treatments with rapid therapeutic effects, such as ketamine, over other therapies.

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REFINED REFLECTION TEMPLATE Use 1 page for your 250 words. References can be on page 2. Use no more
than 5 references. Do not change format (Arial 12 single spacing).
Depression is a disorder that can be characterized by unhappiness, loss of curiosity, guilt feelings, low
self-worth, tiredness feeling, and poor concentration (World Health Organization, 2017).
Straten and Cuijpers have demonstrated that patients suffering depression undergo stepped-care
treatment where they initially undergo low-intensity treatment. Later they receive higher-intensity treatment.
This treatment comprises of heterogeneity steps, which is delivered for 12 months. The outcome of this
treatment was that patients were better receiving the initial treatment, and thus, they did not require any further
treatment. Also, this treatment was cost-effective (Van et al., 2015).
CBT has been regarded as an evidence-based treatment for depression. In CBT, a therapist teaches
coping skills and prepares them to view a situation through a different perspective to get different possible
results. However, while treating the depressive disorders, medications and psychotherapist are also introduced
to get better outcomes (Caplan et al. 2017).
An experiment conducted by Nicolas et al. has shown the rapid action of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)
receptor antagonist ketamine, in the treatment of the major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar depression
(BD) (Iadarola et al., 2015). Another study verified the Ketamine reaction rate, which varied from 25-85% in 24
hours post-infusion and from 14-70% at 72 hours post-infusion, with few adverse effects. Based on this
research on depression, different therapeutic drugs interacting with NMDA receptor has been developed (Dang
et al., 2014).
It can be concluded that the pharmacotherapy treatment (NMDA receptor antagonist ketamine) which
has rapid therapeutic effects is better compared to other therapies.

REFERENCES
Caplan, R., Doss, J., Plioplys, S., & Jones, J. E. (2017). Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) treatment of anxiety
disorders and depression in pediatric PNES. In Pediatric psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (pp. 147-160).
Springer, Cham.
Dang, Y. H., Ma, X. C., Zhang, J. C., Ren, Q., Wu, J., Gao, C. G., & Hashimoto, K. (2014). Targeting of NMDA
receptors in the treatment of major depression. Current pharmaceutical design, 20(32), 5151-5159.
Iadarola, N. D., Niciu, M. J., Richards, E. M., Vande Voort, J. L., Ballard, E. D., Lundin, N. B., ... & Zarate Jr, C. A.
(2015). Ketamine and other N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists in the treatment of depression: a
perspective review. Therapeutic advances in chronic disease, 6(3), 97-114.
Van Straten, A., Hill, J., Richards, D. A., & Cuijpers, P. (2015). Stepped care treatment delivery for depression: a
systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological medicine, 45(2), 231-246.
World Health Organization. (2017). Depression and other common mental disorders: global health estimates (No.
WHO/MSD/MER/2017.2). World Health Organization.
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