Depression is a disabling condition resulting in significant impairment in social functioning, involving the patient's family, friends, work colleagues, and society at large. Although both psychologic and pharmacologic treatments generally improve many depressive symptoms, they do not always result in significant improvement in social functioning. The importance of recovery of social functionin...

B. Understand the indications, contraindications, efficacy, use, drug interactions, and side effects of classical and newer or alternative antidepressants for treating comorbid mood or anxiety disorders in patients with pain. This would include the use of first-generation agents (e.g., tricyclics, including nortriptyline and desipramine, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors, including phenelzine), ...

OCD is a syndrome characterized by obsessions and compulsions, as well other neuropsychiatric features, often associated with primary psychiatric disorders various neurologic conditions. If severe, can seriously interfere the patient’s quality of life. The mainstay treatment psychotherapy, especially cognitive-behavioural therapy, pharmacologic interventions, selective serotonin reuptake inhibi...

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors can lead to increased prolactin levels and galactorrhea. Herein, we reported a 40-year-old female patient who developed galactorrhea hyperprolactinemia two weeks after initiation of fluoxetine 20 mg/day. Galactorrhea was discontinued the fifth week withdrawal reached normal limits. The patient's depressive symptoms disappeared with citalopram 40 mg/day no...

The 1997 NHMRC clinical practice guidelines for depression in young people included recommendations for treatment that need to be modified in light of more recent research. Changes to the guidelines should include the findings that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and some forms of psychotherapy are effective in treating adolescent depression. It is increasingly recognised that depressio...

The fact that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have antidepressant effects in some patients supports the notion that serotonin plays a role in the mode of action of antidepressant drugs. However, neither the way in which serotonin may alleviate depressed mood  nor the reason why several weeks needs to elapse before the full antidepressant effect of treatment is expressed  is know...

Treatment with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) can reduce contextual conditioning. Since contexts comprise a variety of potentially competing cues, impaired overshadowing may provide an account of such effects. The present study therefore compared the effects of two SSRIs on overshadowing and contextual conditioning, testing suppression of an ongoing behavioral response (licking...

Antidepressants are efficacious in the treatment of depression but they are not without side effects. The recent findings on the risk of suicide with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment, however, have raised serious concerns about the risk-benefit ratio of their use. The development of the concerns is traced and the risks discussed, particularly in the child and adolescent group. T...