Ssris are widely used today to treat depression and

SSRI’s are widely used today to treat depression and
anxiety disorders
 Two ways to deactivate a neurotransmitter in the synapse:
 Reuptake
 Chemical breakdown by enzymes
 Monoamineoxidase (MAO )
 Breaks down monoamines (such as norepinephrine,
serotonin, dopamine) chemically and renders them
inactive

 MAO inhibitors
 Inhibit the activity of the MAO enzyme, thus limiting
breakdown of monoamines, increasing their availability
in the brain
 3 rd class of medications used to treat depression
through different mechanism:
o Inhibit activity of the MAO enzyme, thus limiting
breakdown of monoamines, which increases
their availability in the brain
 REMEMBER: SSRI and Tricyclic antidepressants slow down
process of inactivation of monoamine neurotransmitters by
inhibiting reuptake
 Depression generally reflects deregulation of monoamines
in the brain
 Question: The tree types of medications currently used to treat
depression all work in one way or another to
 Interfere with the way that monoamines are regulated
in the brain, slow down a process of inactivation of
monoamine neurotransmitters, and allow monoamines
to be more available in the brain (D: all of the above)
 Treatments
 50% likelihood that symptoms of depression will
subside in either medication treatment or cognitive
behavioral treatment, comparing to control group
 Sometimes medication treatment and cognitive
behavioral treatment together lead to a faster decline of
symptoms than one treatment alone
 Most reliable finding is that medication and behavioral
treatment are about equivalent in treating symptoms of
depression
 Tells us that somehow biological and psychological
processes are interacting with one another
 Drug treatment for Bipolar disorder
 Lithium Carbonate (salt)
o Effective as mood stabilizer for people with
bipolar disorder
o Problem: aversive side effects for patients
taking it on a long term basis
 Include nausea, weight gain, memory
problems, sometimes impaired
coordination
 B/c of side effects, patients wish to stop
taking medication, especially if mood has
stabilized for a while

 The drug has to be taken over very long
period of time to work (unlike depression
medication)
 Anticonvulsant Medication
o Can be used to treat acute manic episodes
o Not usually long term like lithium
o Clear evidence that combination of medication
and psychotherapy is the best type of
treatment for bipolar disorder
 Medication alone is not as effective
o Neuroendocrine Factor
 Neuroendocrine systems: link the brain, hormones, and certain
organs
 Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis
 Functions as one of stress response systems
 When there is a stressor or a threat
 Stress  hypothalamus  Pituitary gland  Adrenal Glands
 cortisol
 Elevated cortisol levels and abnormal daily rhythms of cortisol
level
 Detection of stress translates through HPA axis to secretion of
hormone cortisol
 Greatest secretion of cortisol in the morning and
gradual decline over the rest of the day
 Abnormal daily rhythms of cortisol levels in