Antidepressants
Past, Present, and Future

Offers a comprehensive review of the status of antidepressants. Suitable for practitioners who use antidepressants on a daily basis in their practice as well as for the students and researchers, this title provides a comprehensive and logical approach to this important group of medications.

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.

Preface.- Section 1. Basic Principles: Pharmacologic Science: 1. Biochemical and Physiological Processes in Brain Function and Drug Actions. 2. General Principles of Pharmacokinetics. 3. Therapeutic Drug Monitoring of Antidepressants.- Section 2. Basic Principles: Clinical Science: 4. Biological Markers of Depression. 5. The Importance of Quality of Life and Rating Scales of Depression.- Section 3. Current Pharmacotherapy of Major Depressive Disorder: 6. Overview of Currently Available Antidepressants. 7. Tricyclic Antidepressants. 8. Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors. 9. Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. 10. Atypical Antidepressants. 11. Current Role of Herbal Preparations.- Section 4. Use of Antidepressants in Special Populations: 12. Children and Adolescents. 13. Women. 14. Older Adults. 15. Bipolar Mood Disorders. 16. Treatment-Refractory Depression. 17. Personality Disorders.- Section 5. Future Directions in the Treatment of Major Depressive Disorder: 18. New Hypotheses to Guide Future Antidepressant Drug Development. 19. Promising New Directions in Antidepressant Development. 20.Role of Pharmacogenetics/Pharmacogenomics in the Development of New Antidepressants.