How do antidepressents?

how do antidepressents work and why do they take so long to be effective
Answer:
The current most popular group are called SSRIs, selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors.

Serotonin is a brain chemical responsible in part for mood elevation. In many types of impression its levels in the brain fall, a good example is in SAD. Serotonin is stimulated by sunlight, in the winter levels fall and some people become seasonally depressed. Serotonin is manufactured from the amino acid tryptophan which is why tryptophan containing foods and drugs are also said to help mood. A classic example of this is chocolate.

SSRIs like Prozac reduce the break down of serotonin so levels rise, it takes about 3 weeks for this to come about, hence the time delay.

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SSRI's (most commonly used) work by delaying the reuptake of seratonin (a neurotransmitter) in your brain, which makes the neurotransmitter "sit" in the synapse longer in a usable form. MAOIs work by inhibiting an enzyme that breaks down seratonin. Both take some time to get to levels at which you will notice a difference.

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http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/organization...

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A lot of them work by relaxing the muscles in the body.Like most drugs they take long because you need to get a build up of them into your system.

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Anti depressants work by balancing the seretonin levels in the brain. They act as a re uptake inhibitor

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This link answers you question. If you take any yourself, I hope they work for you in the long run.

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they put back into your body what it is you've lost and so the build up takes time to be effective

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Use this link to the Mind website,

http://www.mind.org.uk/information/bookl...

it should be able to answer these questions for you.

Also see the link below about depression

http://www.mind.org.uk/information/bookl...

Remember that there are other ways and alternative therapies that can also help with depression.

There isn't a magic wand or miracle cure, sorry to say.

I know, I've suffered with clinical depression for over 20 years.

But there is good help and support available.

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