Search PubMed⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 12000200

Does depression hurt?

Stephen M Stahl
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Depression is an illness that causes symptoms in both the body and the brain, i.e., painful physical as well as emotional and vegetative symptoms. Ascending serotonergic and noradrenergic pathways may mediate the emotional and vegetative symptoms of depression and can potentially be targets of serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors to obtain relief of these symptoms. Descending serotonergic and noradrenergic pathways may regulate the painful physical symptoms of depression, and when targeted by serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, relieve these symptoms as well. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors have a remission rate of 35%, and dual-action reuptake inhibitors have a 45% remission rate. Despite these results, the best treatment of depression currently recognizes the 3 types of symptoms and targets them all for complete remission no matter which drug is used.

Explore related subjects

Affective SymptomsAntidepressive AgentsDepressive DisorderHumansNorepinephrinePainSerotoninSelective Serotonin Reuptake InhibitorsJournal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Stephen M Stahl. 2002. Does depression hurt?. https://doi.org/10.4088/jcp.v63n0401

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2003

The Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale.

There is a need to assess the contribution of mood disorder, especially anxiety and depression, in order to understand the experience of suffering in the setting of medical practice. Most physicians are aware of this aspect of the illness of their patients but many feel incompetent to provide the patient with reliable information. The Hospital Anxiety And Depression Scale, or HADS, was designed to provide a simple yet reliable tool for use in medical practice. The term 'hospital' in its title suggests that it is only valid in such a setting but many studies conducted throughout the world have confirmed that it is valid when used in community settings and primary care medical practice. It should be emphasised that self-assessment scales are only valid for screening purposes; definitive diagnosis must rest on the process of clinical examination.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed2003

Disruption of early event-related theta synchronization of human EEG in alexithymics viewing affective pictures.

The 62-channel EEG was recorded while control non-alexithymic (n=21) and alexithymic (n=20) participants viewed sequentially presented neutral, pleasant and unpleasant pictures and subjectively rated them after each presentation. The event-related synchronization (ERS) to these stimuli was assessed in the theta-1 (4-6 Hz) and theta-2 (6-8 Hz) frequency bands. The obtained findings indicate that alexithymia influences perception of only emotional stimuli. Over anterior cortical regions alexithymia vs. control individuals in response to both pleasant and unpleasant stimuli manifested decreased left hemisphere ERS in the early test period of 0-200 ms along with enhanced ERS in response to negative vs. positive and neutral stimuli in the right hemisphere at 200-600 ms after stimulus onset. The findings provide the first EEG evidence that alexithymia construct, associated with a cognitive deficit in initial evaluation of emotion, is indexed by disrupted early frontal synchronization in the upper theta band that can be best interpreted to reflect disregulation during appraisal of emotional stimuli.

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed2003

Atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Over the last few years atypical antipsychotics have been used increasingly in the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia. This review provides an overview of the pharmacological and clinical characteristics of atypical antipsychotics. In particular we discuss their efficacy in treating psychotic and negative symptoms as well as treatment-refractory patients. The most important side effects as well as their possible interactions are reviewed in detail. Recommendations for the clinical use are given.

Affective Symptoms↗