GC: n
S: NHS – https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/talking-therapies-medicine-treatments/medicines-and-psychiatry/antidepressants/overview/ (last access: 8 March 2025); MEDLP – https://medlineplus.gov/antidepressants.html (last access: 8 March 2025).
N: 1. “chemical used to treat symptoms of depression,” 1876, from “anti-” + “depressant”.
2. Also known as: antidepressant drug, psychic energizer.
antidepressant, any member of a class of drugs prescribed to relieve depression. There are several major classes of antidepressant drugs, the best known of which include the tricyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Other important groups include the norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (NRIs), the serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and the atypical antidepressants, a disparate group of agents that possess unique structural features and mechanisms of action.
Chemically speaking, depression is apparently caused by reduced quantities or reduced activity of the monoamine neurotransmitters (e.g., serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) within the brain. This etiology is supported by evidence that drugs that restore chemical imbalances in the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain effectively mitigate symptoms of depression. All antidepressants, in fact, achieve their effects by inhibiting the body’s reabsorption or inactivation of monoamine neurotransmitters, thus allowing the neurotransmitters to accumulate and remain in contact with their receptors for prolonged periods of time; these changes seem to be important in elevating mood and relieving depression.
One of the first antidepressants to demonstrate success clinically was iproniazid, a drug developed originally for the treatment of tuberculosis. In the 1950s scientists discovered that the extreme euphoria and hyperactivity experienced by some patients who were taking iproniazid was caused by the drug’s inhibition of monoamine oxidase, an enzyme in the liver and brain that normally breaks down the monoamine neurotransmitters. Drugs that were better at blocking the activity of this enzyme were even more effective in evoking euphoria. As a group, these drugs came to be known as MAOIs.
3. As a noun:
– Medication: antidepressant, antidepressant drug, psychic energizer, antidepressant agent, anti-depressive agent.
- A drug which relieves depression by a direct antagonizing action on the depression.
- … serotonin, the neurotransmitter that has achieved fame for its role in the antidepressant Prozac.
- depression: … a clinical syndrome consisting of lowering of mood-tone (feelings of painful dejection), difficulty in thinking, and psychomotor retardation.
4. As an adjective:
– Medication: antidepressant, euphoriant
- Tending to counteract the effects of depression; alleviating or inhibiting depression.
5. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the movie Side Effects (2013) directed by Steven Soderbergh.
S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=antidepressant (last access: 8 March 2025). 2. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/science/antidepressant (last access: 8 March 2025). 3 & 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-fra.html?lang=fra&i=1&srchtxt=ANTIDEPRESSANT&index=alt&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 8 March 2025). 5. FA – https://www.filmaffinity.com/us/film325319.html (last access: 8 March 2025).
SYN: antidepressant agent, antidepressant drug, antidepressive agent, antidepressive drug.
S: GDT – https://vitrinelinguistique.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/fiche-gdt/fiche/8873458/antidepresseur (last access: 8 March 2025)
CR: fluoxetine
