Brief Answer:
Depression
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for choosing health care magic for posting your query.
I have gone through your question in detail and I can understand what you are going through.
From what you have stated it is quite clear that your mother is having a depressive episode. Depression can occur with regular stress and it can also occur biologically without any stress as well and it may last for months or years like in your case. She certainly needs proper treatment for the same. Lexaton will only help in her sleep but unless you treat the basic cause behind
sleeplessness, the problem is going to persist. She needs to be on antidepressants and that would certainly improve her symptoms.
There are various effective therapies for depression like
fluoxetine,
venlafaxine, bupropion,
mirtazapine or escitalopram and they are all very effective and mostly safe. You may also require some benzodiazepines like
clonazepam or lorazepam for a short period like 2-3 weeks to reduce the anxiety and help with your sleep.
I understand from your write up that you are some where not comfortable with the medications she is on. If your feelings are very strong and if you are averse to the drug therapies then there is also an option of cognitive behavioural therapy. This therapy is taken by either a
psychologist or a
psychiatrist in which the therapist identifies impaired cognitions (Thoughts) and try to correct them. They are 15-20 min weekly session and there should be around 8-10 sessions to help you with your illness.
You trying to get her doing some task is a good way and is called behaviour activation. However the task needs to be very small so that she can complete it easily and get a sense of accomplishment which should be appropriately rewarded.
The CBT therapist will take care of this part as well.
Hope I am able to answer your concerns.
If you have any further query, I would be glad to help you.
In future if you wish to contact me directly, you can use the below mentioned link:
bit.ly/dr-srikanth-reddy
Wish you good health,
Kind regards
Dr. Srikanth Reddy M.D.
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