Depression in the elderly and very elderly, especially those in long-term care facilities, often is more difficult to treat than depression in young or middle-aged adults. Because this population may be more sensitive to the common adverse effects of many antidepressant drugs, particularly the anticholinergic side effects, administration of pharmacologic therapy for depression in the elderly re...

Results Alterations in proteins involved in glutamatergic signalling are implicated in variations in behaviour in animal models of depression. Drugs acting at Glu receptors appear to have antidepressant-like effects in these models, and traditional antidepressant pharmacotherapies act on the glutamatergic system. Recent evidence from genetic studies and in vivo spectroscopy also correlate gluta...

Adequate sexual expression is essential to many human relationships and provides a sense of physical, psychological and social well-being. Epidemiological and clinical studies show that depression and schizophrenia are associated with impairment of sexual function and satisfaction, even in untreated patients. Most antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs have adverse sexual effects but it is diff...

This article describes the pharmacology of the novel atypical antidepressant drug agomelatine, critically reviews and evaluates its clinical use for the treatment of major depression, and suggests areas for further research. Agomelatine is a synthetic analog of the hormone melatonin. It stimulates the activity of melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors and inhibits the activity of serotonin 5HT-2C rece...

BACKGROUND New selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are perceived to be much safer in use than older tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). However, previous assessments of association with fatal toxicity were made too soon after the introduction of the new drugs to permit accurate estimation. AIM To determine the level of association of antidepressant drugs with fatal poisoning in the ...

introduction: depression has multifactorial characters including brain-behavioral disorders, alteration in cognitive psychomotor and emotional process. millions of people are worldwide suffering from this illness. this disease happens in all ages of men and women. this research tries to introduce a traditional medication in comparison with common chemical anti-depressant drugs. this experiment ...

Considerable attention has been paid to a possible role of immunological dysregulation in the pathogenesis of depression. It has been reported that combined administration of antidepressant drugs and the non-competitive NMDA receptor antagonist amantadine reduces immobility time in the forced swimming test (FST). Moreover, preliminary clinical data show that such a combination of drugs has a be...

BACKGROUND Psychotic depression is a clinical subtype of major depressive disorder. A number of clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the combination of an antidepressant (for example, a tricyclic antidepressant or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)) and an atypical antipsychotic or electroconvulsive therapy in treating psychotic depression. In some cases, the clinician ...

Since the emergence of Miltown in the 1950’s, through the development of popular drugs such as Librium and Valium, and presently with the SSRIs best exemplified by Prosac, antidepressants have been viable therapies for many with mood disorders and especially depression. Moreover, since World War II, there has been a virtual explosion in the prescription and use of such drugs. Unfortunately, no ...