Which are the tricyclic antidepressants?
The effect of tricyclic antidepressants usually sets in 2-3 weeks after starting treatment. They have achieved improvement in many psychiatric pictures which in previous years remained untreated.
Which are the tricyclic antidepressants?
Tricyclic antidepressant started to be used from the 1950’s onwards, mainly in cases of depression but also in many other psychiatric disorders like anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (obsession disorder), posttraumatic stress disorder. Their discovery is one of the developments which started a new era in psychiatry.
The effect of tricyclic antidepressants usually sets in 2-3 weeks after starting treatment. They have achieved improvement in many psychiatric pictures which in previous years remained untreated.
They are named after their chemical structure, which contains three rings of atoms. Tricyclic drugs available in Turkey are amitriptyline, clomipramine, imipramine. Each of these drugs works better in a particular disorder, therefore with regards to treatment they are not regarded as equivalent to each other.
Although tricyclic drugs are extremely effective in treatment, they may produce certain side effects like dryness of mouth, hypotension, constipation, difficulty in passing urine, and palpitations. Therefore they are usually not preferred for elderly patients or patients with a heart disease.
Because of these side effects, from the 1980’s onwards they made way to the newly developed SSRI type drugs and the next age antidepressants that were developed lateron. However, in cases where the tricyclic antidepressants are regarded as being more effective than the newer drugs (like obsessive compulsive disorder) they are still being used with success.
