ABSTRACT
Antidepressants can be more complicated to prescribe than other types of medications. Prescribers need to respect mothers’ beliefs and concerns about them, or they will refuse to take them. Antidepressants are most helpful for vegetative symptoms. Antidepressants can be grouped into typical, atypical, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). This chapter describes typical antidepressants and MAOIs. The atypical antidepressants are described in Chapter 21. Typical antidepressants include several classes: tricyclics, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and norepinephrine–dopamine inhibitors. Phases of management of depression with medications are also described.
