Medications to relieve symptoms of depression are called antidepressants. They work by altering levels of certain neurotransmitters such as serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine in the brain. A neurotransmitter is a brain chemical that enables messages to pass from nerve cell to nerve cell in the central nervous system. Many people with depression have low levels [...]

Continue reading " Medication "

The major classes of antidepressant medication are the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs), the monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and the atypical antidepressants.
SSRI medications affect levels of serotonin in the brain. For many people, these medications are the first choice. Examples of these medications are listed here. The generic name is first, [...]

Continue reading " Medications "

Antidepressants are far less effective than doctors and the public may have been led to believe, a new study has claimed.
Eighty – eight per cent of clinical trials that showed the drugs were less than effective either were not published in medical journals or were presented as positive findings, according to the study in the [...]

Continue reading " Depression pills’ value exaggerated "

Children as young as eight may soon be able to use the antidepressant drug, Prozac, following a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA).
Prozac (fluoxetine) is an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed class of antidepressant.
The drug is authorised for the treatment of major depressive episodes, obsessive compulsive disorder and [...]

Continue reading " 8-year-olds may be prescribed Prozac "

The antidepressant, Prozac, may help to curb disease activity in a particular form of multiple sclerosis (MS), new research indicates.
A team of researchers followed the progress of 40 patients with the relapsing remitting form of MS.
MS is a condition which affects the brain and spinal cord. It is characterised by a slowly progressing disablement. According [...]

Continue reading " Prozac may curb MS activity "

There’s major news on the antidepressant front, but it comes in an odd form: research on treating “lazy eyes” in rats. A study suggests that, yes, Prozac and similar medicines really do make the brain more flexible.
The report, titled “The Antidepressant Fluoxetine Restores Plasticity in the Adult Visual Cortex,” appears in the current issue of [...]

Continue reading " How Prozac Restores Function to the Brain "

The New York Times science section today features an essay on the long-term use of antidepressants. The lead refers to the sort of question I introduced in Listening to Prozac: how do these medications shape identity? But most of the piece concerns the biological effects of taking the drugs for years.
The author, Richard A. Friedman, [...]

Continue reading " Prozac for the Long Term? "