Antidepressant medications can be helpful for reducing depression symptoms in some people, especially in people with severe depression. Psychotherapy is also an effective treatment, either alone or in combination with medications.
dioxin. a highly toxic and teratogenic chlorinated hydrocarbon that is a trace contaminant in the herbicide 2,4,5-T. Acute poisoning causes vomiting, abortion, anestrus. Chronic poisoning causes liver damage, especially in dogs. Congenital defects caused include cranio-facial deformity and anasarca.
Dioxin, produced as a by-product of various industrial chemical processes, is suspected of contributing to the development of cancer and birth defects in animals and humans. It apparently acts by entering cells by simple diffusion and binding to proteins in the cytoplasm, then altering the pattern of gene expression.