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.

Drug company warns of risk of liver problems with antidepressant

The warning about possible liver-related problems with the depression drug, Cymbalta, has been expanded and doctors are being cautioned against its use in chronic liver disease patients.

18 Oct 2005

Cannabis boosts brain power in rats

Scientists now say that Cannabis, the third most popular recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco, could boost brain power.

17 Oct 2005

Cannabis boosts brain power in rats

Scientists now say that Cannabis, the third most popular recreational drug after alcohol and tobacco, could boost brain power.

16 Oct 2005

Prozac helps learning and memory in people with Huntington's disease

People with Huntington's disease have progressive motor problems, cognitive deficits (dementia) and psychiatric symptoms (the most common is depression) that usually start to appear in mid-life. There is no cure and death usually results within 10 to 20 years of symptom onset, or faster in the childhood-onset form of the disease.

9 Oct 2005

Researchers look at pharmacogenomics

When patients receive chemotherapy, 15 percent will have severe side effects while 85 percent will not - even though they're given the same relative dose.

28 Sep 2005

PET brain scans of a brain chemical messenger system may prove sensitive enough to help plan brain surgery for epilepsy

When drugs fail to control epilepsy, brain surgery is often the only remaining therapeutic option. However, identifying the correct spot for surgery has traditionally required a separate preliminary -- and inherently risky -- surgical procedure.

26 Sep 2005

Effects of 10 commonly prescribed second-generation antidepressants studied

Because clinical depression is so disabling and affects more than 16 percent of adults in the United States at some time in their lives, researchers have worked hard to develop more effective treatments. But how much better are the newer pharmaceuticals?

21 Sep 2005

Contraceptive pill controls severe premenstrual disorder

According to a new study, a low dose oral contraceptive works as a treatment for the most severe form of premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

1 Sep 2005

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy for treatment-resistant depression proves effective for some patients

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy, a treatment recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treatment-resistant depression, produced a positive response in more than 25 percent of patients in a national, yearlong study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center psychiatrists

31 Aug 2005

Low dose oral contraceptive effective in controlling premenstrual disorder

A new study led by researchers at Yale School of Medicine shows for the first time that a low dose oral contraceptive with a unique progestin and dosing regimen is effective in treating symptoms of premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), the most severe form of premenstrual syndrome.

31 Aug 2005

Depression survey reveals gap in awareness of treatment goals

Results of a new national survey reveal a disparity between what people with depression say they know about their illness and how they manage it.

24 Aug 2005

Drug company disputes claim of new study on antidepressant Paxil

Drug company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is disputing claims that its antidepressant Paxil was linked to an increased suicide risk in adults.

23 Aug 2005

Antidepressant drug should have suicide warning for adults as well as children

According to a Norwegian study, adults taking the antidepressant drug paroxetine are at a higher risk of attempting to commit suicide than those not taking medication.

22 Aug 2005

Paroxetine linked to higher rate of suicide

Adult patients taking the antidepressant drug paroxetine are at higher risk of attempting to commit suicide than those not taking medication.

22 Aug 2005

Cognitive therapy can have a preventive effect for depression

Three years ago, Terry Tuton was laid off from his job as project manager at a large technology firm, leaving him limited insurance coverage at a time when he was suffering from overpowering feelings of hopelessness and depression - and not for the first time in his life.

4 Aug 2005

Riluzole appears to have significant antiobsessional, antidepressant, and antianxiety properties

A medication used to ease symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, also is helpful in treating people with treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), according to a pilot study at Yale School of Medicine.

31 Jul 2005

Multiple rare mutations within a single gene may increase risk for autism

While debate still rages over the 'cause' of autism, mounting evidence suggests that genetic factors play a major role in the disease.

25 Jul 2005

Older-style antidepressants, as well as anticonvulsant drugs, can help ease the disabling pain caused by nerve tissue damage

For many years antidepressants, which are believed to work by dampening pain signals, have been the first-line drugs for neuropathic pain. "It is usual to start with an antidepressant like amitriptyline, and if this fails then try an anticonvulsant," says Phil Wiffen, a researcher at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England. "The results of these meta-analyses suggest this is probably still the best approach to take."

19 Jul 2005

Current recommendations for prescribing antidepressants should be reconsidered

Most people with depression are initially treated with antidepressants, and prescribing has risen by 253% in 10 years. Yet recent studies show that SSRIs have no clinically meaningful advantage over placebo, write Joanna Moncrieff and Irving Kirsch.

14 Jul 2005

Abnormal heart rate variability is partially responsible for depression's effects in heart patients

Scientists have known for years that depression increases the risk of dying in the months after a heart attack, but they haven't understood how depression raises that risk.

13 Jul 2005