Variations in the genes that process drugs affect how much of the drug is absorbed in your body and eventually reaches your brain.
Response to antidepressants is determined by multiple factors: social circumstances, the environment such as changing seasons and exposure to natural light, prior psychological trauma and upbringing, as well as genetic factors that affect your personality, brain function and the way you process, or metabolize drugs. Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs) and another type of drug called atypical antipsychotics can be added for people with treatment resistant depression. When people fail to respond to several SSRIS, other drug types that are normally prescribed are called tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). Most prescribed antidepressants work to increase the level of serotonin and they’re called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or SSRIs for short. Medications for anxiety and depression fall into several different classes depending on the brain chemicals they target and how they work. Most antidepressants used to treat depression also work for anxiety – a benefit for the many people who experience these two problems simultaneously. An estimated 17 percent of North Americans will experience a serious bout of depression during their lifetime, and 20 percent will experience an anxiety disorder.Īntidepressant medications are typically prescribed to help with six broad categories: panic attacks obsessions and worries general anxiety social anxieties or phobias and any combination of depression, anxiety and/or panic.