Depression is one such illness, which is difficult to trace from the origin. However, apart from counseling, and history taking, there are several medications, which help in an effective rehabilitation. These medications may not help in removing the disorder from the roots. But the already forgotten roots with a sense of well-being in the present offer a supportive platform to lay the foundations of a new life.

Psychiatric or mental disorders form a highly complicated sector of human diseases. The need for an accurate diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders has forever been on the rise. Disorders, like anxiety and depression, are so much a part of our daily lives, that it becomes difficult for a person to discern when they actually cross the line. Moreover, every person has a unique line, rather a limit of tolerance. It is the subjective nature of this line between mental well-being and mental disorder that tends to mask this problem for months to years. Thus, several mental disorders have roots to incidents that can hardly be recalled by a conscious mind !

Several medications are being promoted for the uplift of those affected by depression. However, one must understand that, even though many of them are over the counter medications, it is not recommended for self medication. Taking anti-depressants or mood stabilizing drugs on your own is equivalent to and can itself cause addiction, leading to a further complicated mental disorder. Categorizing patients into different diagnoses and giving appropriate therapy at particular stages of treatment is the job of a psychiatrist.

Lamictal or lamotrigine was approved for use in epileptics, at least a decade before it began to give good results in depression. Although it primarily targets bipolar depression, use in routine cases of depression has also given satisfactory results. Apart from the lesser incidence of side-effects, lamictal is also known to induce an “alerting effect”, which helps greatly to wipe out depressing thoughts.

Lamictal is known to act by inhibiting sodium channels in the neurons and by modulating the effects of excitatory neurotransmitters, like glutamate and aspartate. This leads to neutralization of the imbalance of neurotransmitters in the brain, which is a key process for producing depression. Thus, in a way, lamictal does act at the root of depression !