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Treatment of Mood Disorders: Psychostimulants
Psychostimulants have been used effectively in the treatment of depression in patients with illnesses that vary from stroke to HIV. Psychostimulants exert their effect in rapid…

Treatment of Mood Disorders: Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors
Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are another class of antidepressant that is effective, but they possess other properties limiting their use in…

Treatment of Mood Disorders: Tricyclic Antidepressants
Although no longer considered as first-line therapy, TCAs are still commonly used as initial treatment because of their familiarity. This heterocyclic class includes…

Treatment of Mood Disorders: Newer and Atypical Antidepressant Agents and the Cytochrome System
Newer antidepressants including venlafaxine (a phenylpiperazine), nefazodone (a phenylethylamine), and mirtazapine (a piperazino-azepine) have…

Pharmacological Selection for Medically Ill Patients
Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and the Cytochrome P450 System

In recent years the antidepressant class of choice in medically ill patients has been…

Patient Preference
Patients are becoming more informed about depressive disorders and their treatment. Still, some patients are adamantly opposed to medication, whereas others are equally…

Maintenance-Phase Treatment
Maintenance treatment aims at preventing new episodes (recurrences) and thus is appropriate for recurrent or chronic depression but not for single-episode major depressive disorder. Maintenance medication is effective in virtually all studies…

Continuation treatment typically lasts 4-9 months. The length of the continuation period, in theory, depends on the length of the prior episode. Continuation treatment aims at preventing the return of the most recent episode until…

Treatment With Medication and Formal Psychotherapy (Combined Treatment)
It is often common practice to combine medication and formal psychotherapy at the outset. However, for many patients, the efficacy…

Treatment strategies involve the selection of the initial treatment and, for those who do not respond, subsequent treatments to be used. Tactics are the ways these…

Making the Diagnosis and Choosing the Treatment
The initial choice of psychotherapy, medication, the combination of psychotherapy and medication, or ECT depends in part on the…

A history of anxiety disorders or depression, particularly at a young age, may put women at greater risk of obesity, researchers reported Monday.

In a study that followed 820…

Genetic factors account for 56 percent of the risk of developing anorexia nervosa, according to a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry. This information should provide some reassurance to patients…

Patients with coronary artery disease may be at increased risk of death while using antidepressant drugs, according to the results of an observational study reported at the American Psychosomatic…

An analysis of data from 24 clinical trials suggests that antidepressant medications may be linked to a modest increase in the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors in…

The fear of public speaking might cause some people to do more than just break out in a cold sweat and battle stomach-churning butterflies - it could prove to have…

The small number of suicide attempts across the trials make the results of the meta-analysis difficult for physicians and policymakers to use, write Ross J. Baldessarini, M.D., of McLean Hospital, Belmont,…

Most severely depressed patients who are given electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) - commonly known is electroshock therapy - experience improved health-related quality of life that lasts for at least 6…

The likelihood of suffering major depression seems to be increased among smokers, especially those who smoke heavily, study findings suggest.

Researchers in Norway who followed a population-based group of adults for…

Young adults with asthma appear to be at greater risk of becoming obese later in life - and childhood depression may play a role in the connection, according to researchers.

Depression is one of the most common health disorders in the US, and heart disease is a leading cause of death. “Although they can and do occur separately, research…

Nearly one in 10 American soldiers who served in Iraq were diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, most after witnessing death or participating in combat, a study said on Tuesday.

Mental…

According to British researchers, being born very premature can affect a child’s personality into adulthood.

Researchers from the Institute of Psychiatry looked at babies born before 33 weeks and…

A new study reinforces the growing body of evidence on health disparities between men and women and may possibly shed light on why socially isolated men are more vulnerable…