Helmut Buschmann – Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and Anxiolytics

Автор: Helmut Buschmann
Название книги: Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, and Anxiolytics
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Психология
Страницы: 1258
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

Antidepressants and related psychiatric drugs are the most important prescription drugs worldwide, accounting for a market volume of 20 billion US$ per year. This handbook provides a complete and detailed overview of all currently available psychiatric drugs, covering more than 250 different compounds. Particular features include:* the most important information on the chemistry, pharmacology and therapeutic use of a given drug* a special layout with margin notes and compound structures allowing for quick and easy access to the desired information Written by drug developers from the pharmaceutical industry, novel drugs currently under development and new methods of treatment are listed side by side with classical drugs, allowing a direct comparison of traditional and innovative therapeutic approaches.

Preface
Psychopharmacology is a recent discipline only initiated fifty years ago that has
achieved important advances in the last years. Indeed, the finding of the possible
antimaniatic effects of lithium salts in 1949, and the discovery of the sedative effects
of chlorpromazine in psychotic patients in 1952 have opened the guidelines of
modern psychopharmacology. Since the discovery of these first groups of
psychoactive drugs, a huge effort has been devoted to identify new compounds in
order to improve their effectiveness and security profile. In spite of this effort, the
psychoactive drugs available at the present moment still induce their therapeutic
effects based on similar mechanisms of action to those proposed for the first
generations of antipsychotic, antidepressant and anxiolytic compounds. Thus, the
therapeutic effects of the present antidepressant drugs are yet explained based on
the monoaminergic theory of depression. In the same way, antipsychotic drugs
available at this moment have the dopamine and the serotonin receptors as
therapeutic target, and most of the current anxiolytic compounds primary act by
facilitating the activity of the GABAergic system. However, recent studies have
started to elucidate new neurobiological mechanisms directly related to the
etiopathogenesis of depression, anxiety and psychotic disorders that involve
different neurochemical systems, including several neuropeptides, transcription and
growth factors. Indeed, the pathophysiological processes underlying these disorders
are not limited to the selective changes previously reported on some specific
monoaminergic systems. Complex long term changes in neural plasticity and
neurogenesis that could even modify the neural morphology seem to play a crucial
role in the development of these psychiatric diseases, and represent promising new
therapeutic targets. These mechanisms open interesting perspectives for the design
of new generations of psychotropic drugs. The modern techniques available in
neurobiology from the last decade, such as the different models of genetically
modified mice and the leading neuroimaging approaches have provided definitive
steps for the advancement in the understanding of these neurobiological disorders.
Psychopharmacology, as well as other medical disciplines, still requires a great
research effort for the achievement of new therapeutic strategies for the management
of psychiatric diseases. The recent advances in the knowledge of the
neurobiological mechanisms underlying the physiopathology of these disorders are
providing attractive indications for the design of these new strategies. The possible
development of novel generations of psychoactive drugs selectively targeting key
components of these emergent mechanisms can probably identify in a near future
more effective compounds and with less side effects than the drugs now available in
the pharmaceutical market.
This book provides an update of the current state of knowledge on the psychopharmacology
field and offers a comprehensive picture of the recent advances made on
this exciting discipline. The book is divided in four different chapters devoted to the
main psychiatric disorders currently treated with psychotropic drugs: depressive
disorders, psychoses and schizophrenia, anxiety, and attention deficit and
hyperactive disorders. Each chapter includes a similar strategy to describe the
pharmacological approaches to treat these psychiatric disorders. First, an
introductory section is included in the different chapters with an exhaustive
description of the neurobiological mechanisms and etiopathogenesis of each
disorder. A detailed explanation of the main clinical aspects of the psychiatric
disorders is also incorporated with a description of the epidemiology, classification
and the clinical manifestations of these disorders. The pharmacological aspects
include an exhaustive explanation of the different groups of compounds available for
the treatment of these diseases as well as the research strategies currently on
development for the identification of new therapeutic agents. A comprehensive
explanation of the main animal models now available to investigate depression,
psychoses and anxiety disorders is also provided. These models are essential tools
to further elucidate the physiopathological mechanisms underlying psychiatric
disorders and to validate new treatments. However, at the present moment animal
models of attention deficit and hyperactive disorders have not been yet well
recognized by the scientific community. Finally, a particular emphasis is devoted to
the chemical characteristics of the psychotropic drugs with a detailed description of
the different groups of compounds including both marketed drugs and drugs under
development.
January 2007
Rafael Maldonado, Barcelona