How Do Antidepressants Work in the Brain?
Antidepressants are believed to work by helping the brain’s neurotransmitters, which are needed for normal brain function and help control the mood and functions in thinking, sleeping, eating, response to pain and other actions. Because they have to work at various tasks within the body, antidepressant medication slows down their removal or helps to increase the levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain. This restores the brain’s chemical balance to help relieve symptoms of depression. Chemicals in the brain can return normal function to people suffering from extreme sadness, hopelessness and lack of interest in life, ill effects experienced by people with depression. The work of antidepressants has also been successful in the treatment of people with eating disorders, chronic pain and other disorders that often carry depression with them. But scientists are continuing to study the actions of antidepressants.
