How Do Antidepressants Work?

The main aim of treatment with antidepressants is to relieve the symptoms of severe depression, such as feeling very down and exhausted, and prevent them from coming back.

They are meant to make you feel emotionally stable again and help you to follow a normal daily routine.

They are also taken to relieve symptoms such as restlessness, anxiety and sleep problems, and to prevent suicidal thoughts.

The nerve cells in our brain use various chemicals to pass on signals.

Even though not all details are known, experts believe that depression is caused by an imbalance of certain chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) like serotonin, which means that signals can’t be passed along the nerves properly. Antidepressants aim to increase the availability of these chemicals.

The various drugs do that in different ways.