ANTIDEPRESSANTS FIGHT COMPULSIVE GAMBLING, SHOPPING.Byline: Jacqueline Stenson Medical Tribune News Service A class of anti-depressant drugs can help treat people who have impulse-control disorders such as pathological gambling and compulsive shopping, according to a New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of psychiatrist. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors Definition Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are medicines that relieve symptoms of depression. Purpose (SSRIs), such as Prozac and fluvoxamine fluvoxamine /flu·vox·amine/ (floo-vok´sah-men) a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, used as the maleate salt to relieve the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. , currently are used to treat people with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, a condition in which a person cannot control impulses to constantly wash his hands, count things or engage in other repetitive behavior. These drugs also show promise in treating impulse-control disorders, which share characteristics with obsessive-compulsive disorder, said Dr. Eric Hollander, director of the Compulsive, Impulsive and Anxiety Disorders Program at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is a medical school found in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. in New York. "For the most part, impulse-control disorders have been under-recognized, and thus haven't been appropriately treated," said Hollander, who spoke Tuesday at a conference on obsessive-compulsive disorders in Madrid, Spain. In a new study of 11 people diagnosed with pathological gambling, Hollander found that two-thirds of those given fluvoxamine, sold under the brand names Floxyfral, Faverin and Luvox, were "much or very much" improved after eight weeks of therapy, compared with those not given the drug. Serotonin is a substance released from nerve endings in the brain that is thought to be involved in the ability to delay or prevent acting on impulses, Hollander said. Because SSRIs block the clearance of serotonin from between nerves, they help people delay acting on their impulses - something behavioral therapy has not been successful in doing, the New York expert said. Recent research also has shown SSRIs to be effective in treating compulsive shopping, Hollander said. And they may help those with other impulse-control disorders, such as trichotillomania trichotillomania /tricho·til·lo·ma·nia/ (-til?o-ma´ne-ah) compulsive pulling out of one's hair. trich·o·til·lo·ma·ni·a n. A compulsion to pull out one's own hair. (compulsive hair-pulling), kleptomania kleptomania (klĕp'təmā`nēə) [Gr.,=craze for stealing], irresistible compulsion to steal, motivated by neurotic impulse rather than material need. No specific cause is known. , pyromania pyromania /py·ro·ma·nia/ (-ma´ne-ah) the compulsion to set or watch fires in the absence of monetary or other gain, the act being preceded by tension or arousal and resulting in pleasure or relief. and sexual compulsions, he said. The use of SSRIs to treat impulse-control disorders is a "a promising lead that makes a lot of sense," said Dr. James C. Ballenger, chairman of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina “MUSC” redirects here. For Abel Santa María airport in Santa Clara, Cuba (ICAO code MUSC), see Abel Santa María Airport. The Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. New ways to treat people with these disorders are needed, and research so far shows that SSRIs can help, he said. Studies also have shown that SSRIs can help people with depression who have suicidal tendencies, he said. That is because these people have low brain serotonin levels, which the SSRIs alter, Ballenger said. |
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