Posted by SLS on July 2, 2012, at 5:23:33
In reply to Re: Depression that worsens with age?, posted by bleauberry on July 1, 2012, at 17:55:47
> I think depression does get worse with age. Scanning hundreds of articles on pubmed over the years, the general trend looks to me the older the age the better response to norepinephrine/dopamine strategies rather than ssri strategies
That's a great observation.
Do you think that it is possible that as one ages with depression, the number of prior exposures to SSRIs accumulates fastest, leading to one's treatment resistence to them? After all, poop-out with SSRIs is more common than with any other type of AD. Yet, they are used first, and their subsequent effectiveness greatly reduced.
Alternatively...
It would be informative to investigate a cohort of older people who are suffering their first episode of depression. Perhaps there is a difference in the psychobiology and treatment response of late life onset depression. Unfortunately, the risk of developing Alzheimers Dementia increases greatly in such cases.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1020589
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120630/msgs/1020663.html