Important clinical issues as the outcome of long term treatment with antidepressants, the time of onset of the antidepressant response and the limitations of the antidepressants currently available are covered in this monograph. Leading researchers in the area of clinical and experimental psychopharmacology critically assess the progress in their specialist fields. The mechanisms of action of antidepressants are considered, followed by clinical research into the role of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the immune system in the biology of depression and in response to treatment. The final chapter deals with the important chemical entities now undergoing development as antidepressants. The purpose of this monograph is not only to inform but also to stimulate research into the biology of depression and the mechanisms behind the action of effective antidepressants. This monograph is of interest to psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacologists, neuroscientists and endocrinologists.
A comprehensive review of the current status of antidepressants - how we arrived at this point in their evolution and where we are going in both the near and the long term. It employs both a scientific and historical approach to accomplish these goals. This volume is intended for practitioners who use antidepressants on a daily basis in their practice as well as for the student and researcher. Each will find that it provides a comprehensive and logical approach to this important group of medications. This book is being published as we mark the end of the first 50 years of the modern antidepressant era.
A Textbook of Biological Psychiatry integrates the basic science concerning brain mechanisms of psychiatric disorders alongside surveys of present standard clinical treatment. Organized in a coherent and easy to follow structure, chapters expand across different levels of analysis, from basic mechanisms to clinical practice. This comprehensive reference provides an integrative treatment of the biochemistry of neurotransmission, behavioral pharmacology, and clinical aspects of psychiatric problems including depression, manic-depression, and mood disorders. Other chapters address the biological mechanisms and treatment of depression, anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addictions. The editor concludes with a perspective on the future of the field and prospects for understanding and effectively treating mood and anxiety disorders.
Part memoir, part scientific inquiry, this spellbinding, uniquely empathetic, international bestseller from a world-class biologist mines the core of society's most quietly pervasive, misunderstood illness.
This third edition of Essentials of Psychopharmacology is, like its predecessors, based on the premier textbook in the field, The American Psychiatric Publishing Textbook of Psychopharmacology, now in its fourth edition. The Essentials format is designed to deliver core knowledge to the busy trainee or practitioner in a succinct and accessible manner. Essentials of Psychopharmacology provides a complete overview of clinically focused pharmacotherapeutic principles of vital interest to psychiatry residents, primary care physicians, and other health care professionals. Updated with the latest research findings since the publishing of the fourth edition, Essentials features new chapters on recently introduced medications and updated chapters on others. The book is divided into two parts: Classes of Psychiatric Treatments, which systematically reviews psychotropic medications within each drug class (e.g., antidepressants and anxiolytics, antipsychotics), and Psychopharmacological Treatment, which outlines current pharmacotherapeutic approaches in the major psychiatric disorders as well as in specific patient populations. Although the latter part has been streamlined in this new edition, coverage of critical information such as approved indications, drug interactions, side effects, and other prescribing factors remains comprehensive. Clinicians seeking a reliable reference and guide to the core knowledge base and practice of clinical psychopharmacology can do no better than this new edition of Essentials of Psychopharmacology.
From Chapter 1 "Depression, like many other mental disorders, is characterised by the presence of a number of symptoms which are changeable over time." Among these symptoms are a depressed mood and a loss of interest; physical and cognitive changes may also occur. Because of difficulties in diagnosis (and varied criteria) only estimates in the global number of cases of depression can be made. Some estimates put it in front of chronic heart disease as a health problem and cause of death. This revised edition covers developments in diagnosis, theraphy, prognosis, economic evaluation and quality improvement. * Provides accompanying commentaries by an outstanding line up of contributors * Covers developments in diagnosis, therapy, prognosis, economic evaluation and quality improvement * Provides an unbiased and reliable reference point
Norepinephrine is a chemical neurotransmitter. Drugs that directly manipulate central nervous system (CNS) norepinephrine are being developed targeting noradrenergic neurons to deliver therapeutic effects. Noradrenergic drugs have been proven effective for depression and ADHD, and new disease indications are being identified. A team of experts provides the reader with a thorough understanding of the anatomy, physiology, molecular biology, pharmacology and therapeutics of norepinephrine in the brain, including an extensive review of the role of norepinephrine in brain diseases. The book is divided into four sections: the basic biology of norepinephrine; the role that norepinephrine plays in behavior; evidence of norepinephrine's role in CNS diseases, and the pharmacology and therapeutics of noradrenergic drugs in the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders.
It is now widely recognised that biological psychiatry is rapidly coming into its own. For over the last three decades dramatic advances in this young discipline have been made, all of which attest to the staying power of the experimental method. Those who made this revolution in knowledge happen are a breed of investigators availing themselves of the tools of molecular biology, pharmacology, genetics, and perhaps, above all, the technology of neuroimaging. The introduction of the interdisciplinary method of approach to the study of psychopathology had made it very clear that neuroimaging, as a set of techniques, is unique in that it is gradually providing us with evidence supporting Kraepelin's original view that mental illness is closely associated with abnormal changes in the brain.Broadly speaking, there are presently two structural techniques in neuroimaging - computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) - and three functional techniques - single photon emission tomography (SPECT), positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Through PET technology, for example, we have learned that, in early brain development, the primitive areas, mostly the brain stem and thalamus, are the first to show high activity in an infant. This is followed by the development of cortical areas by year one. Between the ages of four to 10, the cortex is almost twice as active in the child as in the adult. This information alerts us to what might happen in the way of trauma in abused children, especially those under the age of three. Child abuse increases the risk of physical changes, not only in the stress systems, but also in brain development (Glaser and Weissman). In addition to the difficult problem of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), we have to take into account the possibility of other types of mental illness as the consequences of child abuse. These include depression, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol problems.The combination of PET and fMRI represents a more remarkable example of the power of neuroimaging since the two have made it feasible to map accurately in vitro identifiable cortical fields, or networks. In a landmark NIH investigation of human cortical reorganization (plasticity), persuasive evidence was brought forward showing that the process of learning as a motor task involves a specific network of neurons. These neurons occur in the cortical field that is responsible for that particular task. Such findings are important partly because they provide evidence supporting the current notion that labor in the cortex is divided among ensembles of specialized neurons that cooperate in the performance of complex tasks. Cooperation, then, in this, sense implies crosstalk among ensembles and that signals are both processed and retransmitted to neighbouring ensembles. To understand the workings of these ensembles, much better spatial and temporal resolution in functional brain mapping is required. This can be achieved with an NMR instrument whose magnet is 4.1 Tesla or more.
Critical reading for parents, educators, and anyone wanting to understand the tragic epidemic of suicide—”a powerful book [that] will change people's lives—and, doubtless, save a few" (Newsday). The first major book in a quarter century on suicide—and its terrible pull on the young in particular—Night Falls Fast is tragically timely: suicide has become one of the most common killers of Americans between the ages of fifteen and forty-five. From the author of the best-selling memoir, An Unquiet Mind—and an internationally acknowledged authority on depression—Dr. Jamison has also known suicide firsthand: after years of struggling with manic-depression, she tried at age twenty-eight to kill herself. Weaving together a historical and scientific exploration of the subject with personal essays on individual suicides, she brings not only her remarkable compassion and literary skill but also all of her knowledge and research to bear on this devastating problem. This is a book that helps us to understand the suicidal mind, to recognize and come to the aid of those at risk, and to comprehend the profound effects on those left behind.
The Psychopharmacologists 3 completes a trio of interview-based books about the process of therapeutic innovation in clinical psychiatry. David Healy's method is to interview key individuals involved in the discovery and deployment of drugs that have proved useful to psychiatry, and to draw them together within a model of the mechanism and clinical discovery that he uses as an overall framework. These are historical accounts but highly relevant to the clinical psychiatrist of today, emphasising the importance of research, and of the marketing strategies of pharmaceutical companies in formulating disease entities as well as treatments for them.
