Paula has not left her house for several months. when she tries to go out, she experiences great anxiety. she says she is afraid that if she leaves her house to go somewhere, she will not be able to get back. before all this started, paula seemed fairly normal except for having several episodes where, for no apparent reason, her heart started pounding, she started to sweat profusely, and she experienced all the symptoms of fear and terror. one of the reasons she is afraid to leave the house is because she is afraid she will have one of these episodes again. (hint: there are two specific diagnoses here.)

there are treatment options for depression (mdd) that may work for you. one way of treating depression may be to affect the levels of certain chemicals that brain cells use to communicate, called neurotransmitters. scientists believe that certain neurotransmitters may be out of balance in depression.

although the exact way depression medications shown to ease overall depression symptoms in some people work is unknown, scientists think that some medications work by affecting the levels of a neurotransmitter called serotonin in the brain. other treatments work by affecting the levels of other neurotransmitters like norepinephrine or dopamine.