Posted by med_empowered on March 14, 2006, at 4:03:18
In reply to Re: What's a mood brightner? » Phillipa, posted by Maxime on March 13, 2006, at 22:27:01
I think the idea of a "mood brightener" is that its a (safe, well-tolerated) pharmaceutical product that can lift the spirits w/o producing euphoria per se (or drug-induced mania, psychosis, etc.) and can help normal as well as depressed people...think of it kind of like "Soma" in Brave New World. Anyway...various drugs have been "mood-brighteners" at different times. Actresses in 1930s Hollywood were pumped full of amphetamines to "perk them up" (and help with weight control). Later, Ritalin was considered a mild mood brightener (its now a schedule II substance, just like amphetamine).
Prozac was at one point thought of as a mood brightener--like in "Listening To Prozac" where peter kramer talks about patients getting "better than well" on prozac. I don't know what kind of patients he had, but they must have been extraordinary...personally, I find the SSRIs utterly unimpressive.
The latest "mood-brightener" is the anti-narcoleptic agent, Provigil (Modafanil). Its related to an earlier drug, but its a little cleaner and much more expensive, so its the one flooding the market. Anyway, no one really knows how it works per se, except that it helps with narcolepsy, might help ADD/ADHD, could help w/ the negative symptoms of schizophrenia (like low-dose ritalin back in the day), and is useful in some cases of depression (like dexedrine back in the day). Also, it apparently helps some people with anxiety disorders, particularly social phobia; adding it to a benzo like clonazepam apparently helps a number of patients.
Anyway...the "mood brightener" concept is essentially equal parts hype and hope. Even modafanil has its downsides, and it will probably lose its "mood brightener" status in about 10 years or so (my guess would be it will lose its special appeal about the same time it goes off-patent and a new "it" drug hits the scene).
poster:med_empowered
thread:620015
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060310/msgs/620103.html