"Special K" Reduces Depression

Do you suffer from depression? Have you had to try multiple anti-depressants to treat your depression? Have you found an anti-depressant that is effective to treat your depression yet? If you haven't, you're not alone. Many individuals have to try multiple medications for depression, and some people do not find any current anti-depressants effective at treating their depression. Of course, this adds to the feelings of hopelessness a depressed person feels. However, the results of a new study indicate a new kind of drug is effective for treating depression.

The results of this new study, which has been published in the Archives of General Psychiatry discovered that a night club drug known as "Special K" (ketamine) reduces depression. Thirty-three male participants were given ketamine, which is used as a horse tranquilizer, intravenously. The researchers also took minute-by-minute brain scans of the participants brains during the administration of the drug.

They discovered that ketamine restored a part of the brain that is overactive in individuals with depression back to normal, reducing depression in participants.

Certainly doctors and psychiatrists are not going to give depressed people ketamine for their symptoms, but this study does provide new information that can guide future research in creating new drugs to treat people with depression.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24428510/

FDA Approves New Anti-Depressant, Prestiq

On February 29th the Food and Drug Administration approved a new anti-depressant, Prestiq, made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Prestiq is a serotonin-norepinepherine re-uptake inhibitor (SNRI). According to Wyeth, the new anti-depressant takes a different pathway in the brain than Effexor does (which is also manufactured by Wyeth).

The FDA required Wyeth to conduct clinical trials with the new drug before they approved it. Wyeth conducted four eight-week clinical, double-blind studies where some participants received Prestiq and others received a placebo. Prestiq was shown to effectively treat the symptoms of Major Depressive Disorder.

According to Wyeth, the most common side-effects of Prestiq in clinical trials were sleepiness, dizziness, hyperhidosis, insomnia, nausea, male sexual dysfunction disorders, anxiety, decreased appetite, constipation, and anxiety.

The FDA has approved Prestiq for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder in adults only.

Prestiq will be available on the United States' market later this year.

For more information, you may visit Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

Erasing memories

Scientists Find Drug to Banish Bad Memories

This is very interesting. I wonder in what cases it would actually be better to forget that something happened? Aren't we, as humans, supposed to remember things, even bad ones, so that we can learn from them?