‘U.S. health officials have issued a warning about possible birth defects in infants born to women who take the antidepressant Paxil during the first trimester of pregnancy.
A study sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline, the drug’s maker, suggested that infants born to women taking Paxil were at about double the risk of birth defects compared with women taking […]
‘Medication should not be readily dished out to children and young people with depression, say experts.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has ruled drugs should be considered only in moderate or severe cases.
The NHS drug watchdog said young people should first be offered a course of psychological therapy lasting for at least […]
‘Drugs should not be given to depressed children as the initial treatment, the Government’s medicine watchdog says today. The advice from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) follows safety fears about antidepressants which have been linked with an increased risk of suicide.
At least 40,000 children and young people, aged from five to […]
‘Antipsychotic medications used to treat psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are in the headlines this week. That’s because of a research study just published in the New England Journal of Medicine that examined the long-term effectiveness and tolerability of certain antipsychotic medications in about 1400 people diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The drugs studied included […]
‘Widely prescribed second-generation antidepressants all work equally well, a new study finds.
Side effects — including nausea, dizziness, weight gain, insomnia and sexual-performance issues — also do not appear to differ significantly among this group of drugs, which includes such brand names as Prozac, Paxil, Wellbutrin and Zoloft.
In the Sept. 20 issue of the Annals of […]
‘Babies born to women taking common anti-depressants during pregnancy are substantially more likely to suffer birth defects and to be born prematurely, according to research.
A study of more than 1,000 expectant mothers found use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including Prozac and Seroxat, during the first three months of pregnancy was associated with a […]
‘Last February the Food and Drug Administration added stricter warnings to the labels of anti-depressant medications, as the debate grows about their safety. The warning now states major depressive disorders may worsen and lead to suicide, whether or not a patient is taking anti-depressants, but “there has been a long-standing concern that anti-depressants may have […]
‘Antidepressants may do more than improve the symptoms of depression. According to a new study, these drugs may actually protect the brain in individuals who have repeated bouts of major depression.
Previously, investigators have reported that the size of the hippocampus, the brain area involved in learning and memory, is smaller in people who have experienced […]
‘Researchers from Harvard Medical School have found a molecule that is unexpectedly involved in dopamine signaling, and in a manner that supports the potential of dopamine as an alternative target for treating depression. The results provide evidence that there is a molecular link between impaired dopamine signaling and depression, which affects 16 percent of the […]
‘A group of patients who once took the antidepressant drug Prozac accuse the Food and Drug Administration of covering up the drug’s dangerous side effects for 14 years. As a result, they say hundreds of people have become victims of murder and suicide.
Bonnie Leitsch, founder of “Prozac Survivors Support Group,” and Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, […]