Abstract
The original antidepressants, tricyclics and MAO inhibitors, increase the availability in the brain of both 5-HT and NA. Prompted by clinical findings suggestive of 5-HT disturbances in depression, drugs were developed that increase 5-HT selectively. Data are presented that suggest that broad-spectrum compounds may provide better conditions for antidepressant effects than the 5-HT-selective ones. The hypothesis is proposed that 5-HT potentiators (1) are partial antidepressants, in that they predominantly reduce the anxiety/aggressive component of the depressive syndrome, and (2) deserve to be tested in conditions with heightened anxiety and/or aggression irrespective of the nosological diagnosis. Tentative evidence relates diminished 5-HT metabolism to disordered impulse control. Based on these data, trials of 5-HT potentiators in impulse control disorders unrelated to aggressive drives seem warranted.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 205-212 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Biological Psychiatry |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1987 |
| Externally published | Yes |