Depression is a polygenic and highly complex psychiatric disorder that is currently a major burden on society. Depression is highly heterogeneous in presentation and frequently exhibits high comorbidity with other psychiatric and somatic disorders. Commonly used treatments, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are not ideal since only a subset of patients achieve remission. ...

QUESTION Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are complex conditions I see in some of my pediatric patients. The indications for antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) do not include treatment of FGIDs; however, some children are prescribed SSRIs for this condition. Are antidepressants effective and safe to use for treating FGIDs in children and adolesc...

Correction Contact me if this article is corrected. Citations Contact me when this article is cited. This article has been cited 193 times. Topic collections Contact me when new articles are published in these topic areas. Women's Health; Pregnancy and Breast Feeding Related Letters . 1998;279(23):1873. JAMA Lynn R. Grush et al. Risk of Fetal Anomalies With Exposure to Selective Serotonin Reupt...

In this issue, El Marroun et al suggest an association between prenatal selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) exposure and autistic traits in children, as well as an association with prenatal depressive symptoms. However, SSRIs may be mere markers of severity of underlying illnesses and it may be premature to reach such conclusions about effects of treatment. Studies like this raise con...

OBJECTIVE Anhedonia is the reduced ability to experience pleasure. It is a core symptom of depression and is particularly difficult to treat. This study aims to compare the level of anhedonia between depressed patients on anti-depressants and healthy subjects. METHOD A total of 111 depressed patients on selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) and 82 healthy subjects were recruited from ...

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between trends in antidepressant prescribing and suicide rates in Australia for 1991-2000. DESIGN Analysis of databases of suicide and rates of antidepressant prescribing according to age and sex. SETTING Australian Bureau of Statistics data, sales data from the Australian pharmaceutical industry, prescribing data in general practice. SUBJECTS Men and ...

Given the enormous contribution of anxiety disorders to the burden of disease, it is key to optimize their prevention and treatment. In this critical review we assess advances in the pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders, as well as remaining challenges, in recent decades, the field has seen rigorous clinical trial methods to quantify the efficacy and safety of serendipitously discovered agents,...

Panic disorder is a chronic and disabling condition that is often accompanied by other psychiatric and medical conditions. The serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) have been used effectively with panic disorder (PD) and conditions in which panic attacks frequently occur. Escitalopram is the most selective SSRI and a variety of evidence s...

Editor—Gunnell et al’s report on suicide risk with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) raises several issues. Firstly, clinicians have observed that the first weeks of treatment of severe depression with an antidepressant are accompanied by a higher risk of suicide because of a drug induced motor disinhibition that is not yet accompanied by mood improvement. Secondly, the authors’ f...

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