Antidepressants

ANTIDEPRESSANTS

·              Major depression is one of the affective disorders, and is perhaps the commonest mental illness worldwide. It is char-acterised by feelings of intense sadness and despair, slowing of thought process, impaired concentration, constant worry, agitation, and self-deprecation.

·      Norepinephrine (or noradrenaline) reuptake inhibitors

Tertiary amine tricyclics: amitryptiline, clomipramine,doxepin, imipramine, trimipramine.

Secondary amine tricyclics: amoxapine,* desipramine,maprotiline,* nortriptyline, protriptyline.

·      Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Citalopram, duloxetine, fluoxetine, fluvoxamine, milnacipran, oxaflozane, paroxetine, pizotifen, sertraline, venlafaxine.

·      Monoamine oxidase inhibitors Isocarboxacid, iproniazid, moclobemide, pargyline, phen-elzine, pimozide, selegiline, toloxatone, tranylcypromine.

·      Atypical antidepressants Bupropion, mirtazepine, nefazodone, trazodone.

·              The toxicity of the important antidepressants among these groups will be discussed in the following sections.