antidepressants

Long overdue and sorely needed, research into chronic fatigue syndrome has picked up speed since the pandemic illuminated the lasting and debilitating effects of long COVID.The possible causes of chronic fatigue syndrome, otherwise known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or ME/CFS, remain elusive despite this new research effort, although they are slowly coming into focus. Past viral infections triggering an overactive immune system and malfunctioning mitochondria depleting cells of energy are possible explanations for…

For a place with a reputation for buttoned-up stoicism, Britain is remarkably open about mental health. The British are more likely than people in any other rich country to think that mental illness is a disease like any other. Only the Swedes are more accepting of the idea that a history of mental-health problems should not disqualify someone from public office. The importance of good mental health is a cause vigorously championed by everyone from the Princess of Wales to the opposition…

New research this week is the latest to find that ketamine can help people with difficult-to-treat depression. The study has found that people with treatment-resistant depression responded as well to ketamine therapy as those who were given electroconvulsive therapy, a commonly used intervention for these cases.Twitter Is Shifting Right | Future TechKetamine has been employed as an anesthetic in medicine for decades. It can also be used as a recreational drug with euphoric and dissociative effects. But more recently, it’s…

The larger spheres (two can be seen) are egg chambers. Each chamber contains a future egg and associated nurse cells (some of these can be seen as hazy out-of-focus outlines). The covering sheet is made of follicle cells (shown in blue). Fluoxetine (Prozac) increases division (in magenta) of follicle cells in flies. Credit: Ilya Ruvinsky/Northwestern UniversityA study finds that happy worms have healthy eggs.Worms might not be depressed, per se. However, this does not exclude the possibility that they could still benefit…

In people with advanced cancer, psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, LSD and MDMA may significantly reduce the severity of depression and anxiety symptoms.Roughly 10 percent of patients with cancer experience anxiety, while 20 percent report depression. However, current research suggests that available prescription antidepressants do not significantly decrease depressive symptoms in cancer patients compared with a placebo.My team and I recently completed a meta-analysis of five clinical trials examining anxiety and…

Almost 35 years ago American drug regulators approved Prozac, the first in a series of blockbuster antidepressants known as selective serotonin…

The emergence of disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is often attributed to the overuse of antibiotics in people and livestock. But researchers have homed in on another potential driver of resistance: antidepressants. By studying bacteria grown in the laboratory, a team has now tracked how antidepressants can trigger drug resistance. “Even after a few days exposure, bacteria develop drug resistance, not only against one but multiple antibiotics,” says senior author Jianhua Guo, who works at the…

A new study explains the reason behind the emotional “blunting” that affects around half of people who take SSRIs, a family of common antidepressant medications. The research shows that the drugs impact reinforcement learning, a crucial behavioral process that enables us to learn from our surroundings.Scientists have worked out why common anti-depressants cause around half of users to feel emotionally ‘blunted’. In a study published today, they show that the drugs affect reinforcement learning, an important behavioral…

Antidepressants are a type of medication used to treat symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.Brazilian scientists propose conducting experiments using lab-grown mini-brains to study the effects of drugs on fetal brain development.Depression affects a significant portion of pregnant women worldwide, with estimates ranging from 10% to 16%. While most women can improve with the help of antidepressant medication, the effects of these drugs on fetal brain development are not fully…

Mindfulness exercises can, in some cases, be as effective as antidepressant drugs when dealing with anxiety disorders, new research reveals.The findings highlight how mindfulness meditation could be a useful approach to treating these conditions.The study put a course of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques up against a course of escitalopram – a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class medication also known as Lexapro, considered to be a gold standard antidepressant – across eight…