Antidepressants

How antidepressants work

It's thought that antidepressants work by increasing levels of a group of chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and noradrenaline, can improve mood and emotion, although this process isn't fully understood.
Increasing levels of neurotransmitters can also disrupt pain signals sent by nerves, which may explain why some antidepressants can help relieve long-term pain.
While antidepressants can treat the symptoms of depression, they don't always address its causes. This is why they're usually used in combination with therapy to treat more severe depression or other mental health conditions caused by emotional distress.

How effective are antidepressants?

Most people benefit from taking antidepressants to some degree, but research suggests antidepressants may not be as effective as previously thought in cases of mild depression.
However, they're the most effective treatment in relieving symptoms quickly, particularly in cases of severe depression.
The Royal College of Psychiatrists estimates that 50-65% of people treated with an antidepressant for depression will see an improvement, compared to 25-30% of those taking inactive "dummy" pills (placebo). This means that most people do benefit from antidepressants, even if it's sometimes a result of the placebo effect.

Doses and duration of treatment

Antidepressants are usually taken in tablet form. When they're prescribed, you'll start on the lowest possible dose thought necessary to improve your symptoms.
Antidepressants usually need to be taken for around seven days (without missing a dose) before the benefit is felt. It's important not to stop taking them if you get some mild side effects early on, as these effects usually wear off quickly.
If you take an antidepressant for four weeks without feeling any benefit, speak to your GP or mental health specialist. They may recommend increasing your dose or trying an alternative medication.
A course of treatment usually lasts for six months, although a two-year course may be recommended for people with a previous history of depression. Some people with recurrent depression may be advised to take them indefinitely.

Side effects

Different antidepressants can have a range of different side effects. Always check the information leaflet that comes with your medication to see what the possible side effects are.
In general, the most common side effects of antidepressants are usually mild. Side effects should improve within a few days or weeks of treatment, as the body gets used to the medication.

Different types of antidepressants

There are different types of antidepressants. Some of the most widely used types are discussed below.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

SSRIs are the most widely prescribed type of antidepressants. They're usually preferred over other antidepressants, as they cause fewer side effects. An overdose is also less likely to be serious.
Fluoxetine is probably the best known SSRI (sold under the brand name Prozac). Other SSRIs include citalopram (Cipramil), paroxetine (Seroxat) and sertraline (Lustral).

Serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)

SNRIs are similar to SSRIs. They were designed to be a more effective antidepressant than SSRIs. However, the evidence that SNRIs are more effective in treating depression is uncertain. It seems that some people respond better to SSRIs, while others respond better to SNRIs.
Examples of SNRIs include duloxetine (Cymbalta and Yentreve) and venlafaxine (Efexor).

Noradrenaline and specific serotonergic antidepressants (NASSAs)

NASSAs may be effective for some people who are unable to take SSRIs. The side effects of NASSAs are similar to those of SSRIs, but they're thought to cause fewer sexual problems. However, they may also cause more drowsiness at first.
The main NASSA prescribed in the UK is mirtazapine (Zispin).

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)

TCAs are an older type of antidepressant. They're no longer usually recommended as a first-line treatment for depression because they can be more dangerous if an overdose is taken. They also cause more unpleasant side effects than SSRIs and SNRIs.
Exceptions are sometimes made for people with severe depression that fail to respond to other treatments. TCAs may also be recommended for other mental health conditions, such as OCD and bipolar disorder.
Examples of TCAs include amitriptyline (Tryptizol), clomipramine (Anafranil), imipramine (Tofranil), lofepramine (Gamanil) and nortriptyline (Allegron).
Some types of TCAs, such as amitriptyline, can also be used to treat chronic nerve pain.

Alternatives to antidepressants

Alternative treatments for depression include talking therapies such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
Increasingly, people with moderate to severe depression are treated using a combination of antidepressants and CBT. Antidepressants work quickly in reducing symptoms, whereas CBT takes time to deal with causes of depression and ways of overcoming it.
Regular exercise has also been shown to be useful for those with mild depression.

Yellow Card Scheme

The Yellow Card Scheme allows you to report suspected side effects from any type of medicine you're taking. It's run by a medicines safety watchdog called the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). See the Yellow Card Scheme website for more information.

Source:http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Antidepressant-drugs/Pages/Introduction.aspx 

Antidepressants. What are they?

What are antidepressants?

Antidepressants are psychiatric drugs which are available on prescription, and are licensed to treat depression. Some are also licensed to treat other conditions, such as:

• anxiety
• phobias
• bulimia (an eating disorder)
• some physical conditions

I took medication for six months. It helped lift the fog and gave me the energy I needed to tackle the root cause of my depression. There is no shame in taking medication to treat an illness.

How do they work?

All antidepressants work by boosting or prolonging the activity of particular brain chemicals, such as noradrenaline and serotonin, which are both thought to be involved with regulating mood.
Noradrenaline and serotonin are neurotransmitters. This means that they pass messages between nerve cells in your brain and also between nerves and other target organs in the rest of your body.

What different types of antidepressant are there?

There are several different types of antidepressants, which were developed at different times. They all tend to act on the same brain chemicals and cause similar effects, but the different types have different chemical structures, and may have different side effects.
The different types are:

• serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
• tricyclics and tricyclic-related drugs
• monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) 
• other antidepressants

(For a list of all antidepressants grouped by type see our page on comparing antidepressants, or for detailed information on an individual antidepressant see our antidepressants A–Z.)

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)

About SSRIs:

• They were first developed in the late 1980s, so they have been in use for about 30 years.
• They work by blocking the re-uptake of serotonin into the nerve cell that released it, which prolongs its action in the brain.
• The side effects SSRIs can cause are generally easier to cope with than those of other types of antidepressants.
• They're the most commonly prescribed type of antidepressant in the UK.

Serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)

About SNRIs:

• The first of these was developed in the early 1990s, so they're one of the newer types of antidepressant.
• The're very similar in action to SSRIs, but they act on noradrenaline as well as serotonin.
• They have a more selective action than tricyclics, which means they're better at targeting the brain chemicals which affect your mood without causing unwanted side effects by affecting other chemicals and other parts of the body as well.
• They're sometimes preferred for treating more severe depression and anxiety.

Tricyclic and tricyclic-related drugs

About tricyclics:

• They're the oldest type of antidepressant, first developed in the 1950s.
• They work by prolonging the action of noradrenaline and serotonin in the brain.
• They're called ‘tricyclic’ because of their chemical structure, which has 3 rings.
• They tend to cause more unpleasant side effects compared with other types of antidepressants.

About tricyclic-related drugs:

• They act in a very similar way to tricyclics, but they have slightly different chemical structure.
• They tend to cause more unpleasant side effects compared with other types of antidepressants, but they're less likely to cause antimuscarinic effects than tricyclics.

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs)

About MAOIs:

• They work by making it harder for an enzyme (monoamine oxidase) that breaks down noradrenaline and serotonin to do its job, causing these chemicals to stay active in the body for longer.
• They can have dangerous interactions with some kinds of food, so when taking MAOIs you need to follow a careful diet.
• Because of these interactions, you're not likely to be prescribed an MAOI unless you've tried all other types of antidepressant and none of them have worked for you.
• They should only be prescribed by specialists.

Source:  http://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/antidepressants/about-antidepressants/?o=7247#.VdMeyH2jJpU

Early exposure to antidepressants affects adult anxiety, serotonin transmission

About 15 percent of women in the United States suffer from anxiety disorders and depression during their pregnancies, and many are prescribed antidepressants. However little is known about how early exposure to these medications might affect their offspring as they mature into adults.

Related Articles

---

• Antidepressant
• Mental illness
• Panic attack
• Mouse
• Postpartum depression
• House mouse

The answer to that question is vital, as 5 percent of all babies born in the U.S. -- more than 200,000 a year -- are exposed to antidepressants during gestation via transmission from their mothers.
Now, a UCLA team has studied early developmental exposure to two different antidepressants, Prozac and Lexapro, in a mouse model that mimics human third trimester medication exposure. They found that, although these serotonin-selective reuptake inhibiting antidepressants (SSRIs) were thought to work the same way, they did not produce the same long-term changes in anxiety behavior in the adult mice.
The mice exposed to Lexapro had permanent changes in serotonin neurotransmission and were less anxious as adults than the mice exposed to Prozac, said study senior author Anne M. Andrews, professor of psychiatry and chemistry and biochemistry and the Richard Metzner Endowed Chair in Clinical Neuropharmacology at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and California NanoSystems Institute.
"This was quite surprising, since these medications belong to the same drug class and are believed to work by the same mechanism. The implications of these findings are that with additional investigation, it may be possible to identify specific antidepressants that are safer for pregnant women," Andrews said. "It's important to recognize that major depressive disorders and anxiety disorders are serious medical conditions that often require therapeutic intervention. Prescribing the safest medication for mother and child is paramount."
The results of the six-year study appear early online Dec. 19, 2014 in the peer-reviewed journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
SSRIs like Prozac and Lexapro act by blocking the actions of a protein called the serotonin transporter, which removes the neurotransmitter serotonin from the signaling space between neurons. Andrews and her team also studied mice that had been genetically engineered to have a reduction or absence of serotonin transporters in the brain. They were able to compare early antidepressant exposure to permanent reductions in serotonin transporter function.
Genetic reductions in serotonin transporters are thought to be a risk factor, particularly when combined with stressful life experiences, for developing anxiety and mood disorders. And in fact, the genetically engineered mice Andrews studied showed more anxiety as adults.
"It might be possible that when mothers are treated for depression or anxiety during pregnancy that certain SSRIs may promote resilience to developing these disorders in children later in life," Andrews said. "However, it will take much more research for us to understand whether this is true and whether certain SSRIs may be better at promoting these effects."
Going forward, Andrews and her team plan to investigate the effects of early exposure to antidepressants on the architectures of serotonin neurons. Based on the current findings, they suspect that early exposure to Lexapro may alter the way serotonin neurons innervate brain regions involved in mood and anxiety behavior. They also plan to investigate other SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft.
"Current antidepressant therapies are ineffective in treating anxiety and depression in large numbers of patients, and advances in predicting individual responses are hindered by difficulties associated with characterizing complex influences of genetic and environmental factors on serotonergic transmission in humans," the study states. "Highly controlled animal models, such as those studied here, represent avenues by which to identify factors potentially influencing behavioral domains associated with emotion-related disorders."
Source:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/12/141219160606.htm

Fish Oil , Depression – Please take A Moment To Read The Article To Find Out If It Could Help You.

It is now no secret that people all over the western world are turning to high grade ethyl EPA omega 3 fish oil to treat a number of conditions, but can it really work against a problem that knows no boundaries of age, race or gender. It is a condition that affects millions of people at some time in there lives, it’s called depression.
Depression
So can high grade ethyl EPA fish oil help with depression and low moods, lets take a look at the evidence. In one study involving 20 people with recurrent depression, researchers studied the effects of the specific omega 3 fatty acid known as pure EPA.
Patients involved in this study randomly received either the ethyl EPA fish oil capsule or a sugar pill in addition to the anti depressant medication they were taking. After only four weeks, six out of ten patients receiving EPA had significantly reduced symptoms of depression.
Fact 1. 90% of our current customer base take the oil alongside their anti-depressant medication to start with.
The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said “ the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week two of treatment” he also noted that “ the symptoms of depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all improved by week three.”
The leading researcher in this study Boris Nements said “ the effect of the fatty acid EPA was significant from week two of treatment” he also noted that “ the symptoms of depressed mood, guilt feelings, worthlessness and insomnia had all improved by week three.”
fact 2. We send out thousands of bottles per month to people all over the world who have been customers for the 10 years we have been supplying Pure EPA.
This particular study was carried out at the University of the Negev in Israel and was published in the American journal of psychiatry 2002.
Another very high profile study using the essential fatty acid pure EPA was carried out in Scotland by doctors Peet and horribin. This study involved seventy patients who were suffering from depression that was persisting despite ongoing treatment with standard antidepressant drugs.
The study lasted twelve weeks, and the background anti depressant drugs the patients were receiving was not altered during the trial. The results showed that the patients taking EPA showed significant improvement after only four weeks in all symptoms of depression, when compared to the group who were administered a dummy pill.
This study was published in the Archives of general Psychiatry.
Omega 3 fish oil is high in two key compounds DHA and EPA. In both studies mentioned above they used ultra pure ethyl EPA that contained zero DHA. The reason for this was that they found that the purer the compound of EPA then the more effective it seemed to be.
The brain has much more DHA than EPA but the studies found that EPA is much more important when it comes to responses to nerve stimulation. It appeared that the DHA maybe more important for structure and the EPA for function.
Blood samples taken from people in the USA, Europe, Australia and Japan showed that depressed people have especially low levels of EPA, when compared to blood samples of people who were not suffering from low moods or depression.
The lead researches from the study in Scotland both concluded that EPA is the most important essential fatty acid in the treatment of depression.
These findings are backed up with two randomised controlled trials from Sheffield and Baylor universities involving DHA only, which showed no improvements in the symptoms of depression. In fact the results were significant and showed the DHA controlled groups to be slightly worse than the placebo controlled groups.
Source: http://www.mind1st.co.uk/fish-oil-depression/?gclid=CKaXh6SA97wCFQkUwwodX0UAyA