Physicians and psychiatrists have devised various treatment methods for treating depression. Antidepressants such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely administered on elderly depressed patients. However, the popularity of SSRIs in treating depression is slowly losing popularity to the emerging alternative medicine approach of treating the illness. The use of alternative medicine in treating depression among the elderly is gaining favor and relevance as compared to the use of SSRIs. Several authors have contributed varied perceptions on the relevance of alternative medicine methods over SSRIs treating elderly depressed patients.
Articles’ summaries
“ The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Fibromyalgia: a Comprehensive Review”.
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The article concurs with the research question on the effectiveness of alternative medicine methods over SSRIs. The article gives a vivid description of the functionality of SSRIs on depression patients. The authors argue that Selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work through controlling the levels of the hormone serotonin in the relay system of nervous coordination ( Prabhakar, Kaiser, Novitch, Cornett, Urman & Kaye, 2019). SSRIs increase the levels of hormone serotonin by preventing its reabsorption in the neuron. Serotonin is the hormone responsible for happy feelings and increasing its levels in the brain results in the rectification of moody feelings and hence treating depression.
“ Cost-effectiveness model for a hypothetical monotherapy vs standard of care in adult patients with treatment-resistant depression”
The above-mentioned article is a masterpiece is expressing the relevance of alternative treatment approaches overs the use of SSRIs. The article is written by eleven credible authors. The article emphasizes on the economical aspect of using alternative medicine methods. The authors of the article argue that Alternative medicine methods provide cheaper options in treating depression through the use of available resources ( Wang, Anderson, Mitchell, Johnson & Shiozawa, 2019). The authors use Yoga as an example of an alternative medicine method that cheap but effective. Yoga is a depression treatment method that works by focusing energy on certain spots on the human body and regulating breath.
“ Pharmacoepidemiology research: Delivering evidence about drug safety and effectiveness in mental health”
The article was written by ten credible professors of mental health and published on “The Lancet Psychiatry” on November 25th, 2019. The authors of the article have emphasized on the safety aspect of using alternative medicine methods. The article argues that the use of alternative medicine methods is currently preferred to the use of SSRIs because it does not have dependency effects on patients. The authors continue to argue that the use of SSRIs leads to develop a dependency on the drug ( Davis, Farooq, Hayes, John, Lee, MacCabe & Woelbert, 2019). The article recommends subjecting elderly depression patients to alternative medicine approaches such as exercise and controlled nutrition because the overuse of SSRIs causes dependency on the drugs.
“ Cost-effectiveness of linaclotide compared to antidepressants in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation in Scotland”
The article is a literature work of six authors. All through the article, the authors present SSRIs as an expensive approach to treating depression in elderly persons. According to the authors of the article, elderly depression patients need to access cheaper facilities because they lack medical covers on many illnesses ( Fisher, Walker, Falqués, Moya, Rance, Taylor & Lindner, 2016). The article provides another facet of treating depression without the use of medical covers. The authors of the article emphasize the essence of affordability as a factor affecting quality healthcare.
“ Current research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the treatment of depression: an evidence-based review”.
The author of the article begins by acknowledging that complementary and alternative methods (CAM) of treating depression in elderly persons are proving more effective than SSRIs. According to the author of the article, alternative medicine methods provide permanent solutions to preventing depression ( Pilkington, 2018). The use of controlled nutrition is an example of alternative medicine approaches that provide permanent solutions to elderly depression patients. The article uses Omega-3 as an example of permanent solutions to depression. According to the article, using Omega-3 nutrients provide a more permanent and friendlier approach to managing mood in elderly depressed patients.
Literature Review Matrix
| Electronic databases | Research or professional organization | Expert in the Field to consult | Books, Encyclopedia, Handbooks |
| The internet | The lancet psychiatry | Professional psychiatrist | Peer approved journal |
| The internet | European Journal of Health economics | Psychiatric professor | Journal |
| The internet | Clinico-Economics and outcomes research | Professor | journal |
| The internet | springer | Psychiatric professor | Book |
| The internet | Current rheumatic reports | Professional psychiatrist | Journal |
Question 2: Key words
| Key words and phrases | Major authors | Introduction criteria | Exclusion criteria |
| Serotonin | Amait Prabhakar | Introduced in defining SSRIs | The term is developed throughout the article as a component of SSRIs |
| Inhibits | Prabhakar | Introduced in describing the functionality of SSRIs | The author develops the term by emphasizing the effect to SSRIs to reabsorption cites. |
| Linaclotide | Michael Fisher | Introduced as an example of SSRIs | Developed in the emphasize of the effect of SSRIs of reabsorption cites |
| Complimentary alternative medicines (CAMs) | Pilkington, Wang and Anderson | Introduced as other term for alternative medicines | Developed throughout the articles in explaining the functionality alternative medicines |
| Yoga meditation | Johnson, Shiozawa | Introduced as an example of CAMs | It is developed in the description of various CAMs |
Questions 3: Boolean Search Strings
The Boolean search strings for the research are ‘mental health’ ( mental “and” health ), ‘antidepressants’ ( anti “and” depressants ), ‘cost effective’ ( cost “and” effective ). Moreover, other search strings in the research are ‘neuro relay’, ‘alternative medicines’ and ‘evidence based’.
Analysis of Literature
| citation | Conceptual framework theory | Main finding | Research method | Strengths of study | weaknesses | Level of evidence |
| Davis, et al, 2019. | The functionality of SSRIs | SSRIs inhibits secretion of Serotonin | observation | The authors of the article have professional mastery of the subject. | The article uses illustrations and they could be easily misunderstood | Convincing evidence |
| Fisher, et al, 2016 | Cost effectiveness | Alternative medicine approach is a cheaper | observation | The authors of the article have credible knowledge on the field | The author of the article use jargons. | Convincing evidence. |
| Wang, et al, 2019 | safety | CAM are safer compared to SSRIs | Illustration | Article uses real time examples | Illustrations in articles could be misinterpreted. | Convincing evidence |
| Pilkington, 2018 | Durability | Alternative medicines provide permanent solution to depression | Illustration | The author is a professor in psychiatry | The book has used many medical jargons | Strong evidence |
| Prabhakar, 2019 | The functionality of SSRIs | SSRIs have side effects | Description | The article has arranged ideas in a logical format | Descriptions can easily mislead the audience | Convincing evidence |
Existing Gap in the current literature
The contemporary literature does not reflect on the certain procedures that should be adopted in administering SSRIs so as to increase on their effectiveness. The existing literature depicts a wide difference in administration of both SSRIs and CAMs. Nevertheless, the provisions of the existing literature do not provide guidelines that should followed in administering SSRIs so as to improve on their effectiveness ( Elkins, 2010) . The current literature should present various strategies that be adopted to merge the administration of both SRRIs and CAMs so as to improve on effectiveness.
References
Elkins, M. Y. (2010). Using PICO and the brief report to answer clinical questions. Nursing2018 , 40 (4), 59-60.
Davis, K. A., Farooq, S., Hayes, J. F., John, A., Lee, W., MacCabe, J. H., & Woelbert, E. (2019). Pharmacoepidemiology research: Delivering evidence about drug safety and effectiveness in mental health. The Lancet Psychiatry
Fisher, M., Walker, A., Falqués, M., Moya, M., Rance, M., Taylor, D., & Lindner, L. (2016). Cost-effectiveness of linaclotide compared to antidepressants in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with constipation in Scotland. The European Journal of Health Economics , 17 (9), 1091-1100.
Pilkington, K. (2018). Current research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the treatment of depression: evidence-based review. In Understanding Depression (pp. 317-328). Springer, Singapore.
Prabhakar, A., Kaiser, J. M., Novitch, M. B., Cornett, E. M., Urman, R. D., & Kaye, A. D. (2019). The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Treatments in Fibromyalgia: a Comprehensive Review. Current rheumatology reports , 21 (5), 14.
Wang, S. T., Anderson, I. M., Mitchell, D., Johnson, S. J., & Shiozawa, A. (2019). Cost-effectiveness model for a hypothetical monotherapy vs standard of care in adult patients with treatment-resistant depression. ClinicoEconomics and outcomes research: CEOR , 11 , 257.
