Depression medication

By now, I hope that I have convinced you that much of what has passed for common wisdom about depression and antidepressants is simply wrong. Depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is not cured by medication. Depression may not even be an illness at all. Often, it can be a normal reaction to abnormal situations. Poverty, unemployment, and the loss of loved ones can make people depressed, and these social and situational causes of depression cannot be changed by drugs. 

Haynes PL, McQuaid JR, Kelsoe J, Rapaport M, Gillin JC (2004) Affective state and EEG sleep profile in response to rapid tryptophan depletion in recently recovered non-medicated depressed individuals. J Affect Disord 83 253-262... 

It is useful to conceptualize drug treatment of depressive illness as occurring in phases. This approach is based on observations made in the natural course of the disorder and on the knowledge gained during the first decades after the introduction of antidepressant medications. Depression is a chronic, episodic, remitting, and relapsing disease. 

In some respects, whether simple possession or use of ti should be an offense is a more difficult question to answer than similar question posed with respect to the commonly used met(iti depressant and stimulant drugs. The possible effects of use may deemed by some more undesirable than the effects of addiction barbiturates or nonbarbiturate sedatives or habituation amphetamines. Upon this question the author does not pass judgm Unlike the medically depressant and stimulant drugs, which havii date been controlled, LSD does not have widespread legitimate uiij... 

The client s respiration rate is low, indicating a potential overdose of narcotic medication depressing the respiratory drive. This situation requires immediate intervention. 

The effect of central nervous system depressants depends more on the dose than on the particular drug. The sequence proceeds from sedation, or relaxation, to sleep, to general anesthesia, to coma and death. Medically, depressants are used to treat anxiety and insomnia. 

Anxiety disorders and insomnia represent relatively common medical problems within the general population. These problems typically recur over a person s lifetime (3,4). Epidemiological studies in the United States indicate that the lifetime prevalence for significant anxiety disorders is about 15%. Anxiety disorders are serious medical problems affecting not only quaUty of life, but additionally may indirecdy result in considerable morbidity owing to association with depression, cardiovascular disease, suicidal behavior, and substance-related disorders. 

The most widely known aleohol is ethyl aleohol, simply beeause it is the aleohol in aleoholie drinks. It is also known as grain aleohol, or by its proper name, ethanol. Ethyl aleohol is a eolorless, volatile liquid with a eharaeteristie odor and a pungent taste. It has a flash point of 55°F, is classified as a depressant drug, and is toxic when ingested in large quantities. Its molecular formula is CjHjOH. In addition to its presence in alcoholic beverages, ethyl alcohol has many industrial and medical uses, such as a solvent in many manufacturing processes, as antifreeze, antiseptics, and cosmetics. 

Ethanol is classified for medical purposes as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant. Its effects—that is, being drunk—resemble the human response to anesthetics. There is an initial excitability and increase in sociable behavior, but this results from depression of inhibition rather than from stimulation. At a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1% to 0.3%, motor coordination is affected, accompanied by loss of balance, slurred speech, and amnesia. When blood alcohol concentration rises to 0.3% to 0.4%, nausea and loss of consciousness occur. Above 0.6%, spontaneous respiration and cardiovascular regulation are affected, ultimately leading to death. The LD50 of ethanol is 10.6 g/kg (Chapter 1 Focus On). 

Antipsychotic medications are indicated in the treatment of acute and chronic psychotic disorders. These include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and manic states occurring as part of a bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder. The co-adminstration of antipsychotic medication with antidepressants has also been shown to increase the remission rate of severe depressive episodes that are accompanied by psychotic symptoms. Antipsychotic medications are frequently used in the management of agitation associated with delirium, dementia, and toxic effects of both prescribed medications (e.g. L-dopa used in Parkinson s disease) and illicit dtugs (e.g. cocaine, amphetamines, andPCP). They are also indicated in the management of tics that result from Gilles de la Tourette s syndrome, and widely used to control the motor and behavioural manifestations of Huntington s disease. 

Opiate overdose is a medical emergency that can result in respiratory and CNS depression. The opioid receptor antagonist naloxone immediately reverses cardiorespiratory depression. However, repeated naloxone administration is required, since the effects of naloxone last for 30 min, while opioid agonists can remain at potentially lethal blood levels for several hours. 

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