Wallace B. Mendelson is a psychiatrist and author of Understanding Antidepressants and Understanding Medicines for Anxiety.

Second-tier, off-label treatments for anxiety

Medications
October 10, 2019

In previous posts, we have reviewed the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), as well as the off-label prescribing of gabapentinoids, for treating anxiety disorders. Anxiety is such a ubiquitous problem that it is not surprising that many other compounds have been used off-label as well.  In this posting, we will review some of the common ones: propranolol, mirtazapine, and quetiapine.  …

Read more…

Second-tier, off-label treatments for anxiety

Off-label use of gabapentin and pregabalin for anxiety

Medications
July 31, 2019

An excerpt from Understanding Medicines for Anxiety.

In addition to medicines with FDA indications for anxiety, such as benzodiazepines and some antidepressants, a number of drugs are frequently prescribed off-label. Among these are gabapentin and the related compound pregabalin, collectively known as gabapentinoids.  Their popularity is remarkable: gabapentin has been …

Read more…

Off-label use of gabapentin and pregabalin for anxiety

How and why to treat sleep disturbance from depression

Conditions and Diseases
September 9, 2018

One of the aspects of depression that’s particularly difficult is the sleep disturbance which accompanies it and often continues after the traditional symptoms of depression have finally gotten better. When studied in the laboratory, the sleep of depressed person is short, shallow (with less deep slow-wave sleep), and frequently interrupted by awakenings. Additionally, there are abnormalities of the timing of rapid eye movement sleep and intensity of eye movements during …

Read more…

How and why to treat sleep disturbance from depression

Not all depression is alike. Here are the differences.

Conditions and Diseases
July 20, 2018

Adapted from Understanding Antidepressants.

In his often-quoted beginning of Anna Karenina, Tolstoy wrote, “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”  If we stretch this notion a little — going from families to individuals, and from unhappiness to depression — we come up …

Read more…

Not all depression is alike. Here are the differences.