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.

Researchers explore the antidepressant effects of ketamine

Drug treatments for depression can take many weeks for the beneficial effects to emerge.

22 Feb 2008

Comparison of venlafaxine and SSRIs in the treatment of depression

There are numerous antidepressant medications currently on the market, but sadly, many patients still experience the debilitating symptoms of depression even with treatment.

21 Feb 2008

Aquatic exercise shows benefit for fibromyalgia sufferers

Patients suffering from fibromyalgia could benefit significantly from regular exercise in a heated swimming pool, a study published in the open access journal Arthritis Research & Therapy shows.

21 Feb 2008

Brain's serotonin system differs between men and women

A new thesis from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows that the brain's serotonin system differs between men and women.

21 Feb 2008

Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) versus placebo for obsessive compulsive disorder

Common antidepressant drugs such as Prozac and Zoloft can be effective treatment options for obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a new review of studies.

20 Feb 2008

As depression symptoms improve with antidepressants, hopelessness can linger

People taking medication for depression typically see a lot of improvements in their symptoms during the first few months, but lagging behind other areas is a sense of hopefulness, according to new research from the University of Michigan Health System.

18 Feb 2008

Suicide rates in young men at lowest levels since 1970s

The reasons for the steady decline in suicides among young people in the UK are explored in two studies by researchers from the University of Bristol published on bmj.com.

18 Feb 2008

Brain's serotonin system differs between men and women

Serotonin is a brain neurotransmitter that is critical to the development and treatment of depression and chronic anxiety, conditions that, for reasons still unknown, are much more common in women than in men.

14 Feb 2008

Depression in seniors

Depression is sometimes viewed as a normal part of aging.

13 Feb 2008

More doctors prescribe exercise to treat depression

A mental health charity in Britain says increasing numbers of doctors are prescribing exercise for people with depression.

11 Feb 2008

Insomnia patients often denied sleep treatment when they have mental health problems

Patients with insomnia who are diagnosed with accompanying mental health ailments often are not prescribed medication that will help them sleep - which could then make related anxiety or depression worse, new research suggests.

4 Feb 2008

Participants recruited for VCU study on premenstrual dysphoric disorder

The Virginia Commonwealth University Mood Disorders Institute is recruiting participants for a national study of a new treatment method for premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a severe and debilitating form of premenstrual syndrome, or PMS.

4 Feb 2008

New Parkinson's disease research points to serotonin

For most people with Parkinson's disease, the only relief from the tremors, rigidity and impaired movement associated with the progressive loss of their motor skills is a drug called L-DOPA. But as the disease progresses, L-DOPA can cause prominent side effects that counteract its effectiveness.

4 Feb 2008

Antidepressants might be worthless for treating low back pain

The review appears in the latest issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

30 Jan 2008