People who experiences severe episodes of depression must immediately seek medical help before the depression worsens.
There is a line of distinction between an episode of a mild depression and a severe form of depression.
Crossing this line can be categorized as a mental disorder.
As it is, a severe form of depression is characterized by the following:

• The depressed person does not know why he is depressed.
  
• The period of depression lasts from a period of three days to weeks and months.
  
• The depression recurs without any identifiable trigger.
  
• The cause of depression is not reasonable.
  
• There are outbursts of anger and crying throughout the episode of depression.
  
• The relationships of the depressed person to his family and friends are badly affected.
  
• The depressed person is thinking of suicide or has already hurt himself or somebody else.
  

The presence of the above signs and symptoms means that a depressed person needs to seek professional help immediately.
There can be an underlying personality disorder that must be treated aside from the depression.
Treating Depression With Talk Therapy and Antidepressant Drugs Depression is different for each individual.
A depressed person may be overly active (eating too much for example), while another may lose all interest throughout the day.
For one person, a simple sigh may signify that he is depressed and not feeling good, while someone else may blurt out aggressive remarks (such as "I don't care!") instead that can mean feelings of depression.
Clearly, depression has many forms and a new treatment for depression is required to keep up with it.
Depression is currently treated by subjecting patients to psychotherapy sessions and by the administration of antidepressant drugs.
Depending on the progress of the treatment, either one of these treatment method can be stopped until full treatment has been achieved.
A new treatment for depression may enhance these current treatments or be a new strategy of approach.
Though antidepressant drugs have been in use for years, people are still doubtful about their effectiveness - that is why experts are still in search for new treatments for depression.
Antidepressant drugs are known to cause a number of side effects more painful than the actual symptoms of depression.
On the other hand, although psychotherapy sessions are very effective against depression, people are starting to look for new treatment methods so as to retain the interest of the patients to the program.
Choosing a New Treatment for Depression Following are a couple of alternative methods that can be used as enhancements to the existing treatments of psychotherapy sessions and antidepressant drugs.
1.
Employing exercise as part of the treatment of depression.
Studies have revealed that integrating a daily exercise regimen in the therapy for depression will improve the progress of the treatment.
Exercise can be used to improve symptoms of mood disorders and depression.
Routine exercises can be done for 10 to 20 minutes and improvements in the symptoms will be readily noticed.
2.
The ancient Chinese tradition of acupuncture is also used as a potential treatment for depression.
Acupuncture uses needles to activate specific nerve points of the body.
The practice of acupuncture was known to calm the nerves and make the muscles of the body relax.