The type of antidepressive medications known as tricyclics have proven very helpful in cases of depression; some forms of psychosis may respond to an antipyschotic drug. Sometimes a combination is needed in order to achieve success. Electroshock therapy may help some depressed patients. In virtually any case, however, psychological counseling is crucial if the patient is to understand and manage the disorder.

I must emphasize, as I have before, that treating the insomniac component of these disorders without taking the whole complex of symptoms into account is not only unproductive but possibly dangerous as well. Use of a sleeping pill to achieve sleep may make the patient feel more rested temporarily but does nothing to penetrate and manage the larger psychiatric disorder. Only when the physician addresses the underlying problem will the insomnia be conquered on any but a short-term basis.

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