Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that combines the action of the 5-HT2A/2C agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) from Psychotria viridis with the monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) induced by beta-carbonyls from Banisteriopsis caapi. Previous investigations have highlighted the involvement of ayahuasca with the activation of brain regions known to be involved with episodic memory, contex...

With treatment to remission as the gold standard for depression treatment, there is considerable reassessment of treatment approaches with the view to finding and employing agents capable of rapidly eliminating all symptoms and returning patients to normalcy. The selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, have a single-action mechanism involve...

A meta-analysis was conducted on 61 treatment outcome trials for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Conditions included drug therapies (TCAs, carbamazepine, MAOIs, SSRIs, and BDZs), psychological therapies (behaviour therapy, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), relaxation training, hypnotherapy, and dynamic therapy), and control conditions (pill placebo, wait-list controls,...

anxiety is both a normal emotion and a disorder which can cause profound distress and functional impairment. the range of treatments available for anxiety has improved substantially in the last 20 years. this has in part been due to improved understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying anxiety. Guidelines are available for the treatment of the various anxiety disorders; selective ...

In an open trial ginkgo biloba, an extract derived from the leaf of the Chinese ginkgo tree and noted for its cerebral enhancing effects, was found to be 84% effective in treating antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction predominately caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs, N = 63). Women (n = 33) were more responsive to the sexually enhancing effects of ginkgo biloba than me...

Your question brings up a couple of different, complicated issues. First, in regards to your inquiry about the dangers of mixing Dexatrim (an over-the-counter weight loss supplement) and Prozac (generic name: fluoxetine), it may help to know that fluoxetine isn't in the antidepressant class of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Rather, it's a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Ne...

Your question brings up a couple of different, complicated issues. First, in regards to your inquiry about the dangers of mixing Dexatrim (an over-the-counter weight loss supplement) and Prozac (generic name: fluoxetine), it may help to know that fluoxetine isn't in the antidepressant class of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Rather, it's a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Ne...

Posternak and Zimmerman reported on a series of 74 outpatients with depressive disorders who were treated in their group practice at the Rhode Island Hospital between 1996 and 1999. All of the patients had either failed to respond to or relapsed after responding to an adequate trial of antidepressant medication. The treating psychiatrists either switched the patients to another antidepressant (...

Depression is a common mental disorder characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-esteem, sleep or appetite disturbances, fatigue and lack of concentration. The disorder can be either chronic or recurrent, substantially reducing the individual’s capacity to work or study, or perform the activities of daily living [1]. Depression is more common in women...

A frequent topic of discussion among research clinicians and other scientists engaged in basic psychiatric research is the extent of real advances in approaches to drug therapy in psychiatry. After the serendipitous discovery of some major avenues of drug treatment for psychiatric disorders in the 1950s, a wide range of prescription drugs became available for treating mood disorders and schizop...