Olanzapine and fluoxetine curb resistance. The combined administration of olanzapine (Zyprexa) and fluoxetine (Prozac) significantly reduced the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression and depression with psychotic features, compared to either agent as monotherapy. Treatment-resistant depression, defined as the failure of two or more adequate trials of two different classes of antidepressant treatments, is a significant public health concern.
[ Continue Reading... ]Category: Antidepressants
Duloxetine reduces symptoms of depression. Duloxetine, an investi-gational antidepressant agent, called a dual reuptake inhibitor, was shown to be superior to placebo in reducing the severity of depressive symptoms. The Phase II data came from a multisite trial of 173 patients with major depression who randomly received either duloxetine, fluoxetine or placebo for eight weeks. The drug was well-tolerated.
[ Continue Reading... ]Antidepressants, such as Paxil, Prozac, and Zoloft, are referred to as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) because researchers think they work by keeping more of the brain chemical serotonin active. But scientists at the University of California San Francisco think they’ve found evidence that these antidepressants work in more than one way to help regulate moods. Over the past 10 to 15 years, scientists have found and studied an unusual kind of steroid, which is similar to sex hormones, but unusual in that it’s produced in the brain, rather than in sex glands. Researchers found that a hormone, called allopregnanolone, is related to mood changes in premenstrual dysphoric disorder, a form …
[ Continue Reading... ]Although antidepressant medications are popular for treating depression, many patients prefer some form of psychological therapy. A recent study compared medication and training in problem solving, and reports that the two are equally effective in helping patients with depression. Researchers at Oxford University in Oxford, England, studied 151 patients who enrolled in a 12-week treatment program for depression. All patients were referred by their primary physician, and none required hospitalization. The 116 women and 35 men had an average age of 35 years. About half reported having been treated for depression in the past, and about half reported a family history of the illness. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups. …
[ Continue Reading... ]A new drug that’s been approved in Europe and South America for treating depression may provide a potent new weapon in combating this debilitating condition, researchers announced this week at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Chicago. Like the currently popular antidepressants — Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft, the new drug, called reboxetine, affects pathways in the brain involving brain chemicals called neurotransmitters. But while the leading drugs work on a neurotransmitter called serotonin, the new medication takes a different approach, targeting a transmitter called norepinephrine. Research results from a number of countries suggest that this approach is at least as effective, and for some patients, more so. According …
[ Continue Reading... ]