Medication can be very helpful for a wide range of psychiatric disorders. And one of the best known examples is clinical depression. But there are a wide range of disorders including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) , where people can get a great deal of benefit from psychiatric medications.

Most people go through periods of feeling down, but when you're depressed you feel persistently sad for weeks or months, rather than just a few days. Some people think depression is trivial and not a genuine health condition. They're wrong – it is a real illness with real symptoms. Depression is not a sign of weakness or something you can "snap out of" by "pulling yourself together".

As well as a very low mood there are a range of other symptoms that go along with it. For example, feeling hopeless, sometimes feeling suicidal, and also having biological symptoms, such as loss of appetite, difficulty sleeping, and the loss of libido. The good news is that with the right treatment and support, most people with depression can make a full recovery.

Antidepressants are a type of medicine used to treat clinical depression. They can also be used to treat a number of other conditions, including: obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), generalised anxiety disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) It's thought they work by increasing levels of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and noradrenaline, are linked to mood and emotion.

Bipolar disorder is widely believed to be the result of chemical imbalances in the brain. The chemicals responsible for controlling the brain's functions are called neurotransmitters, and include noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. If there's an imbalance in the levels of one or more neurotransmitters, a person may develop some symptoms of bipolar disorder. It's also thought bipolar disorder is linked to genetics, as it seems to run in families. The family members of a person with bipolar disorder have an increased risk of developing it themselves.

A psychiatrist is primarily trained to prescribe medications and diagnose psychiatric disorders, although some psychiatrists can also offer psychological therapies as well. A psychologist has specialist training in giving people talking treatments or psychological therapies. The things to bear in mind when choosing whether to see a psychiatrist or psychologist are whether you’re likely to need medication or not. If you will need medication, then it’s very important to be assessed and treated by a psychiatrist, though you may also need to see a psychologist for talking treatment as well.

A psychiatric consultation is a meeting to look into the symptoms that you’re having to see how long you’ve been suffering from them and what might have led to them coming on. You would talk about all the different factors, which could have led to the psychiatric difficulties that you’re having now. Your psychiatrist would diagnose your condition and prescribe the most appropriate medication.