Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that people who have endured a traumatic event such as war, a violent crime, or abuse sometimes deal with. PTSD includes symptoms such as nightmares, irrational fears, flashbacks, anxiety, and insomnia. It affects about 7.7 million American adults and it can affect children, too.

Preliminary research suggests that PTSD patients may benefit from virtual reality psychotherapy. The virtual reality helps patients relive some of their traumatic experiences while in a safe environment. Iraq war veterans took part in the study -- taking medication and using the virtual reality treatments -- and it's helped many of them confront their fears.

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A research team recently conducted a study on some antidepressant medications. The team found that, except for with the most severely depressed patients, the meds weren't much more help than the placebo sugar pills they used for control. The particular meds they studied were fluoxetine (found in Prozac), paroxetine (found in Paxil), venlafaxine (found in Effexor), and nefazodone.

Researchers caution that, if you're taking antidepressants, by no means should you stop taking them without consulting your doctor. Some drug manufacturers think the study was too limited and produced flawed data. Antidepressants can take a long time to work for an individual and there may need to be tweaks and changes in the prescriptions until the right medications are found. If you're dealing with depression, your best bet is to work with your doctor and/or therapist on medication help and to also take natural measures to manage your depression. Check out the gallery for some ideas.

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