INTRODUCTION Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most common anxiety disorder, usually with no remission, and is commonly associated with significant functional and psychosocial impairment. The Brazilian Medical Association (BMA), with the project named Diretrizes (Guidelines, in English), seeks to develop consensus for the diagnosis and treatment of common diseases. The aim of this article is...

BACKGROUND Fibromyalgia is a clinically well-defined chronic condition with a biopsychosocial aetiology. Fibromyalgia is characterized by chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain, sleep problems, cognitive dysfunction, and fatigue. Patients often report high disability levels and poor quality of life. Since there is no specific treatment that alters the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia, drug therapy...

Background—Depression is an independent risk factor for myocardial infarction (MI). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) may reduce this risk through attenuation of serotonin-mediated platelet activation in addition to treatment of depression itself. Methods and Results—A case-control study of first MI in smokers 30 to 65 years of age was conducted among all 68 hospitals in an 8-coun...

BACKGROUND The neurobiological changes underlying depression resistant to treatments remain poorly understood, and failure to respond to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors may result from abnormalities of neurotransmitter systems that excite serotonergic neurons, such as histamine. METHODS Using behavioral (tail suspension test) and neurochemical (in vivo microdialysis, Western-blot anal...

In recent years, prescriptions for antidepressant agents have increased substantially. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have gradually supervened tricyclic agents as drugs of choice because of their lower toxicity and generally better tolerability. They cause less sedation with fewer anticholinergic effects and are now widely used for the treatment of many conditions including de...

BACKGROUND Pharmacological and postmortem investigations suggest that patients with major depressive disorder have alterations in function or density of brain serotonin1A (5-HT1A) receptors. The aim of the present study was to use positron emission tomography with the selective 5-HT1A receptor antagonist [11C]WAY-100635 to measure 5-HT1A receptor binding in depressed patients before and during ...

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders. There is a high comorbidity between anxiety (especially generalized anxiety disorders or panic disorders) and depressive disorders or between anxiety disorders, which renders treatment more complex. Current guidelines do not recommend benzodiazepines as first-line treatments due to their potential side effects. Selective serotonin ...

OVERVIEW Many changes and therapeutic advances have occurred in the treatment of depression in recent years, most notably the availability of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of agents, followed by the introduction of escitalopram oxalate (LexaproTM, Forest), the first agent in what is known as the “second generation” of SSRIs. However, because of the higher acquisition c...