Serotonin-Dopamine Antagonists in the Treatment of Stuttering

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Re: Long term affects of the use and correlation of stutterin...

From: Nathan Lavid, M.D.
Date: 22 Oct 2005
Time: 19:43:40 -0500
Remote Name: 71.107.205.117

Comments

Hello Tammy, There is no correlation with depression and SDAs. Some antidepressant medications work by increasing the amount of serotonin in the synapse, and it would seem possible that SDAs could induce depression by antagonizing synaptic receptors and limiting the effects of serotonergic transmission. Thankfully, SDAs do not induce depression, and depression is much more complicated than quantification of serotonin levels. For example, antidepressant medications that modulate serotonergic communication within the brain immediately increase serotonin in the synapse. This action induces a change in these neurons, and this change – which is not well understood – takes about 3 to 8 weeks to take place. This is the current understanding why the alleviation of depression with antidepressant medication is not immediate, but delayed about 3 to 8 weeks. As for anxiety, I am sure that many of the patients in the study had anticipatory anxiety, but those with a specific anxiety disorder, such as panic disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder were excluded.


Last changed: 10/24/05