As with any medication, different individuals respond to different medications in different ways. It works faster than many other antidepressants and is as effective as most antidepressants currently available. It has few troublesome side effects, and people usually find that the side effects fade soon after treatment starts. Venlafaxine may be especially helpful for people who have severe depression or who haven't responded to other treatments. Nefazodone is as effective as tricyclic antidepressants, and it may be helpful for people who experience sexual difficulties as a side effect of drugs like Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, or Effexor.
Most people find that the side effects of nefazodone become less bothersome over time.
Mirtazapine also seems to help reduce anxiety and sleep disturbances in depressed people and is taken only once a day. ECT induces a seizure by passing an electrical current through the patient's brain. Today ECT is nothing like what you may have seen in the movies or heard about in the past. Today's patients are given a short acting general anesthetic and strong muscle relaxants while a much briefer and more mild electrical pulse is passed through the brain. Patients usually receive between seven and nine ECT treatments over a two to three week period.