Page "Antidepressant" Paragraph 4

Many drugs produce an antidepressant effect, but restrictions on their use have caused controversy and off-label prescription is a risk, despite claims of superior efficacy.

Opioids were used to treat major depression until the late 1950s.

Amphetamines were used until the mid 1960s.

Prescribing opioids or amphetamines for depression falls into a legal grey area.

Research has only rarely been conducted into the therapeutic potential of opioid derivatives for depression in the past sixty years, whereas amphetamines have found a thriving market for conditions as widely arrayed as attention deficit disorder, narcolepsy, and obesity, and continue to be studied for myriad applications.

Both opioids and amphetamines induce a therapeutic response very quickly, showing results within twenty-four to forty-eight hours ; the therapeutic ratios for both opioids and amphetamines are greater than those of the tricyclic anti-depressants.

In a small study published in 1995, the opioid buprenorphine was shown to have potential for treating severe, treatment-resistant depression.