The consumption of antidepressant drugs has strongly doubled in the last 10 years. This is because now, depression is better recognized and therefore many more people decide to get help, to try to eradicate it.
There are many types of antidepressant drugs but the most used are mainly of two families, those of SSRIs such as paroxetine and sertraline and those of SNRIs such as duloxetine). Just in the last few years, new molecules with different mechanisms to combat depression have been added to therapies, such as esketamine and brexanolone.
New therapies for depression: here are the most effective ones
Antidepressants are used to treat depression, which is very complex and above all very frequent and can be disabling. There are many symptoms of this disease and they vary according to the severity of the latter. The causes are still not well known but we can say that there is a genetic component and one linked to the environment which determine the alterations of various neurotransmitters in the brain.
When starting a new treatment, to see the effects you have to wait at least 3/4 weeks to see the first results. It is in fact a very long process, which can discourage the patient. The most used antidepressants as we have already mentioned before, are the so-called SSRIs and SNRIs, i.e. selective drugs that act on the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Their advantage comes not from their effectiveness, similar to those of before, but they are more tolerated and have fewer side effects.
It is always useful to have new molecules because many depressed patients do not respond well to current treatments. This is because basically these drugs all act on the same neurotransmitter systems in the brain but depression has many facets. So with a different drug, it could be possible to intervene on several fronts, making the patient feel better. The latest arrival is esketamine, a molecule very similar to ketamine, an old drug used as an anesthetic.