每年出版 4 期
ISSN 打印: 2160-2468
ISSN 在线: 2160-2476
Antidepressants in Oncology: Reason and Choice
摘要
The medications known as antidepressants are the group of psychotropic drugs used most often in psycho-oncology for their wide spectrum of action, ranging from mood improvement to the control of anxiety and pain. Antidepressants are drugs that act on the whole body rather than just the central nervous system. They also modulate the hormonal and immune systems, particularly normalizing stress-induced alterations. In oncology, the choice of an antidepressant must involve consideration of the symptoms and the dimensional aspects more than strict diagnostic criteria. A careful evaluation of the balance between effectiveness and safety, considering the possibility of interactions between antidepressants and oncological treatments, is crucial. In that context, this paper discusses each class of antidepressant relative to the present research literature concerning the specific use of each drug in oncological patients, noting that criteria of effectiveness and safety can differ from those established for the general psychiatric population without organic comorbidity. Finally, some aspects of the use of antidepressants in the treatment of patients with pain will be discussed, as these drugs exert an intrinsic antalgic activity even when depressed mood is not present. Indeed, antidepressants act not only on the somatic modulation of pain, but are also effective on the emotional and cognitive aspects of pain, therefore intensifying the analgesic activity of traditional painkillers.
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