An understanding of the clinical pharmacology of antidepressant agents is essential to optimal prescribing. The following chapter outlines general principles that influence prescribing, and then discusses specific subgroups of antidepressants. There is no generally accepted classification scheme for antidepressants, and current groupings reflect marketing, the history of development, and pharma...

Studies establishing the use of new antidepressants often rely simply on proving efficacy of a new compound, comparing against placebo and single compound. The advent of large online databases in which patients themselves rate drugs allows for a new Big Data-driven approach to compare the efficacy and patient satisfaction with sample sizes exceeding previous studies. Exemplifying this approach ...

Of all the controversies over the different medi cations used in psychiatry, there is probably least dispute about the effectiveness of antidepressants in controlling depressive illness. However, the choice of which antidepressant to use is bedevilled by the spectre of potential toxicity from adverse effects, interactions and overdose. The unwanted effects may vary from mild and tolerable to po...

Where is its place in therapy? ! There is no convincing evidence to suggest an overall advantage in efficacy, relapse prevention or speed of onset with reboxetine over existing antidepressants. ! It may be useful in SSRI resistant depression. More evidence is needed to support its use in indications such as anxiety, OCD and panic disorder. ! Noradrenergic deficiency differs to serotonergic defi...

In this report, recommendations for the pharmacological treatment of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders are presented, based on available randomized, placebo- or comparator-controlled clinical studies. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are the first-line treatment for panic disorder. Tri2-cyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are equally effective, but they are less well tolerated...

Neurological disorders are characterized by progressive loss of neurons leading to disability. Neurotransmitters such as nor-adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin partially regulated the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO). Treatments for conditions like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, anxiety, depression involve use MAOIs. To target MAO inhibition, various scaffolds prepared evaluated, including modified c...

New antidepressants or more of the same? Effective antidepressant drugs have been available for half a century since the fi rst monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI), isoniazid, and the prototype tricyclic antidepres-sant (TCA), imipramine, were introduced into therapy (Leonard and Spencer 1990). The use of MAOIs declined when reports appeared of hypertensive crises associated with ingestion of di...

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is prevalent in women; however, preclinical research on PTSD has predominantly been conducted male animals. Using a predator scent (PSS) rodent model of PTSD, we sought to determine if stress-susceptible female rats show altered monoamine concentrations brain regions associated with PTSD: the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and dor...

Background Antidepressants are commonly prescribed. There clear national guidelines in relation to treatment sequencing. This study examines trends and variation antidepressant prescribing across English primary care. Aim To examine England, with a focus on: monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs); paroxetine; dosulepin trimipramine. Design & settin g Retrospective longitudinal using practice-...