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Antidepressant Drugs

  • Chapter
Mechanisms of Drug Action

Abstract

The Oxford Dictionary defines depression as a state of ‘low spirits or vitality’. Clearly, this state has been experienced by most people who have been subject to a major emotional crisis of disappointment at some stage during their lives. However, the psychiatrist is seldom concerned with such a mood change unless it persists for such a long time that it severely incapacitates the individual. Should the depressed mood be associated with feelings of guilt, suicidal tendencies and disturbed bodily functions (such as loss of weight, anorexia and abnormal sleep patterns) that may persist for weeks or even months and often with no obvious initiatory cause, then psychiatric assistance is usually required. It is not proposed to discuss the different types of psychiatric depression other than to emphasise that depression is frequently associated with anxiety or less frequently with mania. For these reasons, it is often desirable to select drugs which can ameliorate the additional symptoms as well as the underlying depression. A detailed account of the classification of depression and clinical aspects of this condition which are of relevance to the clinical neuropharmacologist has been given by Andreasen and Spitzer (1981).

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  1. Department of Pharmacology, University College, Galway, Republic of Ireland

    B. E. Leonard

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  1. Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, Neurosciences Research Centre, Essex CM20 2QR, Harlow, UK

    G. N. Woodruff

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Leonard, B.E. (1986). Antidepressant Drugs. In: Woodruff, G.N. (eds) Mechanisms of Drug Action. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08026-7_6

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