Depressive symptoms and depressive symptoms can be treated through different intervention strategies. One of them, perhaps the best known, is drug therapy, based primarily on antidepressant psychotropic drugs.
Currently we can find several types of antidepressants, among which the doctor or psychiatrist will choose the most appropriate for the case. The prescription of the drug will be accompanied by indications and explanations for its consumption that the patient must comply with in order for the treatment to achieve the highest possible efficacy.
If you want to know a little more about antidepressant psychotropic drugs, continue reading this Psychology-Online article, in which we talk about types of antidepressants and what they are for.
Antidepressants are a type of psychotropic drug. Next, we will see how they work, what they are used for, their side effects and their types.
How Antidepressants Work
Based on the monoaminergic hypothesis of depression, antidepressant psychotropic drugs act precisely by alleviating the deficit in serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine
What are antidepressants used for?
Antidepressants are used especially to treat depression. When talking about depression we can refer to:
- Depression like a diagnostic picture just like him major depressive disorder wave dysthymia, which carry a series of symptoms that make up the disorder (depressive symptoms such as insomnia, psychomotor retardation, anhedonia, etc.).
- We can popularly refer to as "being depressed" to experience a low mood. This low mood would not only be a symptom of depressive disorders, we can also find them in other diagnostic pictures.
There are several explanatory theories about the origin of depression. Without detracting from the others, the monoaminergic hypothesis of depression establishes that depressed people suffer from a deficiency of some of the biogenic monoamines: norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. The treatment of depressive disorders includes and combines, in many cases, psychological therapy and pharmacological therapy. Within the latter, the drugs of choice are antidepressants. Next, we will see what antidepressants consist of and what they are for.
The treatment must be supervised at all times by a doctor. We must neither self-administer these types of drugs nor stop their use voluntarily. Abrupt discontinuation of treatment can lead to symptoms such as vertigo, anxiety and agitation, insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, low mood, etc. In this article, we explain How to stop antidepressants.
Antidepressants are indicated, in addition to treating depressive diagnostic pictures such as dysthymia or major depressive disorder, others such as obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, post traumatic stress disorder, impulse control disorders, etc.
Side effects of antidepressants
Finally, drugs can cause side effects in patients. This is also the case with antidepressants, especially the more classic ones. The patient must take into account that these side effects can appear and that, in addition, the therapeutic effects of antidepressants take between two and four weeks. Therefore, you should not be alarmed if you do not notice improvement and further side effects appear during the first weeks. Here we explain why antidepressants take time to work.
How many types of antidepressants are there? Next, we will see the 7 types of antidepressants with their names and characteristics.
This type of antidepressant acts on the serotonin, norepinephrine and on muscarinic histamine and acetylcholine receptors. Examples of these drugs are:
- Amitriptyline
- Impramine (Tofranil)
- Nortriptyline (Pamelo)
- Desipramine (Norpramin)
It is a type of classic antidepressant that has a great therapeutic effect that is only observed in depressed patients and would have no effect in a non-depressed population.
As a negative characteristic, we indicate that tricyclic antidepressants can cause numerous side effects such as drowsiness, bitterness, dry mouth, constipation, vision problems, tachycardia, decreased libido, etc.
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors can be:
- Irreversible (MAOI): like the phenelzine (Nardil) or meclobamide. Perhaps the most negative aspect of the irreversible type is that it presents numerous interactions both at the dietary level (for example with cheese or red wine) as well as on a pharmacological level (even with antipyretic drugs or flu). In addition, it can also cause side effects such as dry mouth, dizziness, constipation, headache, etc.
- Reversible (RIMA). The reversible type (RIMA) at high doses should follow the same restrictive guidelines as the irreversible ones (MAOI).
These act by inhibiting the enzyme monoamine oxidase, responsible for metabolizing biogenic amines (remember that these are norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine).
This type of antidepressant acts specifically on serotonin deficiency. Its mood stabilizing effect usually occurs after 2-4 weeks of treatment. Unlike tricyclic antidepressants, this type of drug presents few side effects which also disappear in a few weeks, the most common being nausea, restlessness and headaches. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants are:
- Fluoxetine (Prozac)
- Paroxetine (Paxil or Pexeva)
- Sertraline (Zoloft)
- Citalopram (Celexa)
- Escitalopram (Lexapro)
ISRNs act on serotonin and norepinephrine. They work little faster than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The most important side effect to consider is the hypertension, which can appear along with other side effects such as dry mouth or insomnia, in addition to alterations in the Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor antidepressants are:
- VEnphaxine (Effexor XR)
- Duloxetine (Cymbalta)
- Levomilnacipran (Fetzyme)
- Desvenlafexin (Pristiq)
These antidepressants have an effect on norepinephrine. The side effects of these drugs can be dry mouth, constipation, insomnia, and sweating.
- The main antidepressant of this type is reboxetine.
So far, we have seen drugs that act selectively on norepinephrine and serotonin. In the case of ISRDs, the effect is on the dopamine.
- The main antidepressant of this type is bupropion.
These are drugs that have been used in the treatment of other psychological conditions such as smoking. Its use is discouraged when there is a history of bulimia, mania or epilepsy.
Finally, you can watch an explanatory video about the types of antidepressants.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
