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Concept
Antidepressant
Summary
Antidepressants are a class of medications used to treat major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and addiction.
Common side effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, sexual dysfunction, and emotional blunting. There is an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior when taken by children, adolescents, and young adults. Discontinuation syndrome, which resembles recurrent depression in the case of the SSRI class, may occur after stopping the intake of any antidepressant, the effects of which may be permanent and irreversible.
Research regarding the effectiveness of antidepressants for depression in adults is controversial and has found both benefits and drawbacks. Meanwhile, evidence of benefit in children and adolescents is attested and inconclusive, even though antidepressant use has considerably increased in children and adolescents since the 2000s due to increased prescriptions by psychiatrists. While a 2018 study found that the 21 most commonly prescribed antidepressant medications were slightly more effective than placebos for the short-term (acute) treatments of adults with major depressive disorder, other research has found that the placebo effect may account for most or all of the drugs' observed efficacy.
In addition, other researchers also conclude that anti-depressants ultimately do more harm than good, indicating that they cause permanent neuronal damage, apoptosis and disrupt numerous adaptive processes regulated by serotonin. Research on the effectiveness of antidepressants is generally done on people who have severe symptoms, a population that exhibits much weaker placebo responses, meaning that the results may not be extrapolated to the general population that has not (or has not yet) been diagnosed with anxiety or depression.
Antidepressants are prescribed to treat major depressive disorder (MDD), anxiety disorders, chronic pain, and some addictions. Antidepressants are often used in combination with one another.
Official source
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