Discontinuing Antidepressants – what you need to know
Are antidepressants addictive?
Antidepressants do not cause an addiction as with opioid drugs (such as heroin), barbiturates, amphetamines (speed), alcohol and nicotine. This means that taking your medicine regularly should not cause tolerance or craving.
• Tolerance: This occurs when the body gets used to the drug or medicine when it is taken regularly, so that you need to take higher doses to have the same effect.
• Craving: This is a physical urge, where the body needs the drug or medicine to maintain a …

Tricyclic antidepresants
What are tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) used for?
Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are a group of medicines usually used to help treat people with depression. Medicines are often used to treat more than one condition, so if you are not sure why you have been prescribed a TCA, you should discuss this with your doctor. Types of TCAs are amitryptyline, clomipramine, dosulepin (dothiepin), imipramine, lofepramine, nortriptyline and trimipramine. Your medicine may also have a trade or brand name. This is the name that the manufacturer gives to the medicine, for example …

The Side Effects Of Common Psychiatric Drugs: Older Antidepressants
(Including Tricyclics, Tetracyclics and MAOIs)
Brand Names (Generic Names):
Tricyclics
Adapin (doxepin)
Anafranil (clomipramine)
Asendin (amoxapine)
Aventyl (nortriptyline)
Elavil (amitriptyline)
Endep (amitriptyline)
Etrafon (amitriptyline and perphenazine)
Janimine (imipramine)
Maneon (amitriptyline)
Norpramin (desipramine hydrochloride)
Nortilen (nortriptyline)
Pamelor (nortriptyline)
Pertofrane (norpramin)
Saroten (amitriptyline)
Sinequan (doxepin hydrochloride)

LUSTRAL
How does it work?
Lustral tablets contain the active ingredient sertraline hydrochloride, which is a type of antidepressant known as a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). (NB. Sertraline tablets are also available without a brand name, ie as the generic medicine.)
Antidepressant medicines act on nerve cells in the brain. In the brain there are numerous different chemical compounds called neurotransmitters. These act as chemical messengers between the nerve cells. Serotonin is one such neurotransmitter and has various functions that we know of.
When serotonin is released from nerve cells in the …