A new study has found that nortriptyline, a popular antidepressant, causes a ten-fold increase in suicidal thoughts in men when compared to its competitor escitalopram.
Published in the open access journal BMC Medicine, the research was carried out by Dr. Nader Perroud from the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, who headed up GENDEP, an international team.
Depression - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.
Depression is one of the most common mental disorders affecting approximately 340 million people in the world. No one is immune from depression - it occurs in people of all social classes, all countries and all cultural settings.
He continued: "the aim of our study was to investigate the emergence and worsening of suicidal thoughts during treatment with two different types of antidepressant."
Both escitalopram and nortriptyline have their effect through the mood modulating neurotransmitter systems. The former is a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), preventing serotonin from re-entering the cell and thereby prolonging its effect on nerve synapses. The latter is a tricyclic antidepressant that inhibits the reuptake of noradrenaline, and to a lesser extent, that of serotonin.
Overview Suicide
Suicide is an act of ending one's own life and it usually results from emotional isolations and inability to adjust and cope with one's environment.
Suicide is an act of ending one's own life and it usually results from emotional isolations and inability to adjust and cope with one's environment.
Perroud concludes, "Our findings that treatment-emerging and worsening suicidal thoughts may also be associated with psychomotor activation triggered by antidepressants needs to be investigated in future studies.
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Online Depression Screening Test tells if you have mild or chronic depression based on your depression symptoms. Learn how to deal with depression by using this self-assessment calculator.
Online Depression Screening Test tells if you have mild or chronic depression based on your depression symptoms. Learn how to deal with depression by using this self-assessment calculator.
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Depression Calculator
A quick, simple and anonymous self-assessment health tool to assess the level of depression using the famous Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
A quick, simple and anonymous self-assessment health tool to assess the level of depression using the famous Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.
