Antidepressant News and Research

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Antidepressants are medicines that treat depression. Your doctor can prescribe them for you. They can improve your mood, sleep, appetite and concentration. It may take several weeks for them to help. There are several types of antidepressants. You and your doctor may have to try several before finding what works best for you.

Study finds the cause behind women experiencing higher rates of depression than men

Although treatments for depression exist, sometimes these treatments don't work for many who use them. Furthermore, women experience higher rates of depression than men, yet the cause for this difference is unknown, making their illnesses, at times, more complicated to treat.

14 Jul 2022

New non-invasive treatment for patients suffering from treatment-resistant depression and dementia

A joint research team from the LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and City University of Hong Kong (CityU) has discovered that the electrical stimulation of the eye surface can alleviate depression-like symptoms and improve cognitive function in animal models.

8 Jul 2022

Gun safety ‘wrapped in a mental health bill’: A look at health provisions in the new law

The gun safety law forged through tense bipartisan talks in the Senate last month has been heralded as the first federal legislation in 30 years to combat rising gun violence. But what often falls below the radar is the new law's focus on improving mental health services.

7 Jul 2022

Combining psychotherapy with antidepressants does not improve outcomes in severely depressed patients

Antidepressants are the first-choice treatment for severe depression. Antidepressant use is often supplemented by psychotherapy.

6 Jun 2022

Study identifies how ketamine works as a rapid antidepressant

Ketamine is the speedster of antidepressants, working within hours compared to more common antidepressants that can take several weeks. But ketamine can only be given for a limited amount of time because of its many side effects.

1 Jun 2022

Researchers call for nursing homes to shift to non-medication-based methods to help dementia patients

A decade-long effort to reduce medication risks for nursing home residents with dementia has paid off in some ways – but produced unintended consequences that now need addressing, new research shows.

31 May 2022

Ketamine uses a previously unknown pathway to produce an antidepressant effect, study finds

For the 280 million people suffering from depression globally, relief cannot come fast enough. Monoaminergic antidepressants, including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) take weeks to months to take effect and do not work for more than one in three patients.

26 May 2022

Cannabidiol for Parkinson's disease symptom management

Scientists have published a review study in the Journal for Nurse Practitioners that has focussed on various aspects of the use of cannabidiol in Parkinson's.

17 May 2022

Polypharmacy can lead to harmful drug interactions, especially among cancer patients

Here's a scenario so common that it applies to nearly 92 percent of older adults with cancer: An individual comes in for treatment and reports taking several medications that might include a drug for high blood pressure or heart disease, an antidepressant, or something for diabetes.

17 May 2022

Maternal antidepressant use during pregnancy does not increase epilepsy risk in babies

A new study suggests that antidepressant use by mothers during the first trimester of pregnancy does not increase the chances of epilepsy and seizures in babies.

11 May 2022

Changes in gut microbiome impact depression

Over the last five years, the effects of the gut microbiome on depression have gained scientific attention, resulting in a significant increase in research papers.

8 May 2022

The effect of antidepressants on patient-reported health-related quality of life

A new study published in PLoS ONE aimed to investigate the effect of using antidepressant medications on the HRQoL of patients with depression.

27 Apr 2022

In utero exposure to mother’s drugs may affect development of newborn's brain networks

New study demonstrates that in utero exposure to mother's antiepileptic or antidepressant medication may affect development of the newborn brain networks.

20 Apr 2022

Antidepressant use is not related to better health-related quality of life in the long run

Over time, using antidepressants is not associated with significantly better health-related quality of life, compared to people with depression who do not take the drugs.

20 Apr 2022

Magic mushroom compound helps to 'open up' depressed people's brains after use

Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms, helps to "open up" depressed people's brains, even after use, enabling brain regions to talk more freely to one another.

11 Apr 2022

Study shows clinical value of pharmacogenomic testing for patients with treatment-resistant depression

Pharmacogenetic testing was associated with nearly a two-fold (89 per cent) increase in remission rates compared to treatment as usual in a Centre for Addiction and Mental Health- (CAMH-)led clinical study just published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

29 Mar 2022

Depression occurs independently of inflammation for many older people, study suggests

Multiple prior studies have found higher levels of inflammation in older individuals with depression. Now, a new Penn Medicine study has found that clinically depressed older individuals, on average, don't have elevated levels of inflammation if they don't already have other inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

28 Mar 2022

Identifying and managing drug-drug interactions key to the safe use of nirmatrelvir–ritonavir in COVID-19 treatment

Researchers compiled evidence-based recommendations in consultation with European and North American clinicians and pharmacologists for recognizing and managing drug-drug interactions with nirmatrelvir–ritonavir.

3 Mar 2022

Researchers explore possible use of stress reduction in atrial fibrillation management

Stress has been linked with poor health outcomes, though the exact mechanism remains poorly defined. Psychological stress is recognized as a contributing factor in atrial fibrillation (AFib), both in initiation and heightening of AFib.

23 Feb 2022

Nearly 1% of all US adults prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives

As many as 2.6 million Americans—equivalent to 1 per cent of all US adults —prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives, including benzodiazepines plus another type of sedative drug, estimates research published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine.