antidepressant

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antidepressant

antidepressant, any of a wide range of drugs used to treat psychic depression. They are given to elevate mood, counter suicidal thoughts, and increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Before the introduction of such drugs in the late 1950s, most patients with major depression had no recourse but hospitalization; only 45% improved after one year. In contrast, 80%–90% of such patients can expect significant relief from depression with one of the medications now prescribed.

Antidepressants act on the flow of the neurotransmitters epinephrine, serotonin, and norepinephrine across neural synapses. Common antidepressants include monamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) such as isocarboxazid (Marplan), tricyclics such as imipramine (Tofranil) and amitriptyline (Elavil), and the newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) as fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline HCL (Zoloft). Venlafaxine (Effexor) inhibits both serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake.

The choice of antidepressant often has more to do with its side effects (variously sedation, constipation, hypotension, tachycardia, weight gain, sexual dysfunction) than efficacy, as they are generally regarded to be equally effective. The newer drugs, especially SSRIs, are tolerated better and are currently by far the most widely prescribed, but SSRIs also appear to be less effective in children and teenagers and may cause some of them to become suicidal.

antidepressant

[‚an·tē·di′pres·ənt]

(pharmacology)

A drug, such as imipramine and tranylcypromine, that relieves depression by increasing central sympathetic activity.

antidepressant

any of a class of drugs used to alleviate depression

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

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Regulation of G proteins by chronic antidepressant drug treatment in rat brain: tricyclics but not clorgyline increase [G.sub.o[alpha]] subunits.

Neurobiology of major depression and its pharmacologic treatment

In contrast, little variation was found in suicide risk across antidepressant drugs in the adult subjects.

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Tooker's doctor prescribed Remeron, an antidepressant drug in a class of its own, but sometimes referred to as an SNRI.

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Interestingly, the manufacturer of a popular antidepressant drug funded a study that appears to have been designed in such a way as to make St.

Sins of omission: drug companies twist the evidence about antidepressants

"The serotonin/ norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine, which had the highest risk of suicidality in the [Food and Drug Administration] analysis of pediatric randomized controlled trials, was associated in the present study with 2.3 times the risk of suicide attempts, compared with no antidepressant drug treatment.

Antidepressant risks are far from definitive

"The serotonin/norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor venlafaxine, which had the highest risk of suicidality in the [Food and Drug Administration] analysis of pediatric randomized controlled trials, was associated in the present study with 2.3 times the risk of suicide attempts, compared with no antidepressant drug treatment.

New study on antidepressants far from definitive: suicidality risk found in kids, not adults

This is despite the fact that the evidence base for some of this is not impressive: eg antidepressant drug treatment trials often report placebo responses only slightly below active drug responses.

Healthy budget

"We were quite surprised when paroxetine came out as an active compound -a result, we later determined, of what seems to be a completely new effect unrelated to its antidepressant actions and not shared by any other known antidepressant drug."