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hi all while digging through the bbc news site i found a link to what looks to me like a very good site on clinical depression at: <http://www.depression.com> this is the choice of current section headings: | Quiz: Are You Depressed? | The Good News About Depression | Types of Depression | Living With a Depressed Person | Depression in Special Groups: Teens, Elderly, Chronically Ill | Sex & Depression | Sleep & Depression | Anxiety & Depression | Weight Gain & Depression | Suicide & Depression | Anti-Depressant Therapies in re bruce anderson's recent question on anti-depressants i thought i would post the following extract to the list and thus into the archives janet ------------------------------------------------------- Antidepressant Medications Antidepressants help 60 to 80 percent of those with moderate to severe depression. Antidepressants don't cause a "high," and none are addictive. However, cautions Dr. Stuart Yudofsky, antidepressants may cause significant side effects, so drugs and dosages must be monitored closely by a physician, ideally by a psychiatrist experienced in their use, though, increasing numbers of internists and family physicians also have broad experience supervising people who take antidepressants. It usually takes two to four weeks to feel any benefit. Drug treatment typically lasts six to 12 months. The first antidepressants, monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, were discovered accidentally during the 1960's by researchers who were trying to develop new drugs to treat tuberculosis. MAO inhibitors didn't help TB, but they elevated mood. Since then, many other types of antidepressants have been developed. They are all about equally effective. But the newer drugs are safer and for most people, have fewer side effects. In order of their development, here are today's antidepressants: * MAO inhibitors * Tricyclic medications * Tetracyclic medications * Wellbutrin * Desyrel * Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors * Effexor * Serzone While all these medications are equally effective, some work better for different combinations of symptoms than others. It's important to tell your doctor about your symptoms in detail so that your symptom cluster can be matched to the medication that works best for it. But if the first antidepressant you try does not provide sufficient relief, don't despair. Another probably will. Many depression sufferers must try several different medications before they find the one that works best for them. Antidepressants are usually prescribed by themselves, but some psychiatrists combine them with other drugs to increase their effectiveness. For more detailed informaton about antidepressant medications, visit the Antidepressant Therapies section of Depression.com. Selected Sources: * Yudofsky, Stuart, M.D., Robert Hales, M.D., and Tom Ferguson, M.D. What You Need to Know About Psychiatric Drugs. Grove Widenfield, NY, 1991. * Drug Facts and Comparisons, 1998. Facts and Comparisons, St. Louis. http://www.depression.com/good/good_07_medications.htm ------------------------------------------------------- janet paterson - 51 now /41 dx /37 onset - almonte/ontario/canada http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm [log in to unmask]