Greenbrook's Dr. Geoffrey Grammer on Facebook Live

Dr. Geoffrey Grammer, Greenbrook's Chief Medical Officer, was featured on a recent Facebook Live Event to discuss depression treatment options, when to access treatment, and much more.

Dr. Geoffrey Gramme r, Greenbrook's Chief Medical Officer, was featured on a recent Facebook Live event hosted by NeuroStar. Dr. Grammer discussed depression, treatment options, and answered questions live.

An important first step in getting the right depression treatment is to recognize when you may be experiencing an episode of depression. Dr. Grammer advises that there are a "constellation of symptoms" of Major Depressive Disorder; if you've experienced some of the following symptoms for more than two weeks, you should reach out to a medical professional:

Dr. Grammer emphasizes that depression requires medical intervention. He explains that when he was in the Army, he had a patient with severe depressive symptoms who had been struggling for quite some time. This patient had informed her supervisor that she was having difficulty, and her supervisor tried to help her by talking with her and suggesting lifestyle modifications. Despite that, the patient's depression symptoms worsened and hit a critical point. It wasn't until she was able to get medical treatment that she began to feel better. That's because, as Dr. Grammer says, "depression is a medical disease that requires medical intervention." Though well-intentioned, lifestyle modifications are not always enough to reduce depression symptoms.

Dr. Grammer describes the different methods of depression treatment such as medication management, talk therapy, or TMS therapy. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy is an FDA-cleared treatment to treat depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. TMS therapy delivers magnetic stimulation to the parts of the brain known to be underactive in people with depression. 

The full video is below: