A brief history of antidepressants - Neil R. Jeyasingam
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In the 1950s, the discovery of two new drugs sparked what would become a multi-billion dollar market for antidepressants. Neither drug was intended to treat depression at all— many doctors and scientists believed psychotherapy was the only approach to treatment. Neil R. Jeyasingam details the decades-long journey that followed and how it revolutionized our understanding of depression.
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Doctors rely on studies made by researchers. Typically they will try first the medication that have fewer side effects and if it don't work, try the next one which have just a bit more side effects. On talking therapies we have studies pointing "The therapy A works better than the therapy B for disease X", so we recommend the therapy A.
Sorry any mistakes, my English is a work in progress.
One way that doctors could identify which treatment a person needs is by trying therapy first, because that has no side effects, and if that doesn't work, the doctors can try antidepressants.
I think doctors would probably first analyse the reason why the patient is feeling depressed, and then based on the reason and the severity of depression they would decide what treatments to use for that patient.