I know what you're thinking, "This is going to be a Cymbalta vs. Effexor article, and Cymbalta will get another TCR drubbing as it did last year." Not quite. In fact, there are two major battles to be reviewed: Effexor vs. Cymbalta, but probably more relevant, Effexor vs. Lexapro.

The notion that passing magnets over people's heads could make them happier has been around for a very, very long time, at least since the 1770s. The Viennese physician Franz Anton Mesmer used the technique in front of large 18th century audiences, and was so successful that Louis XVI funded the establishment of a "Magnetic Institute" in France to work on the technique further.

Very quietly, under our very noses, most of the newer antidepressants have gone generic, the latest being Celexa (citalopram). Before more details, here is a little generics review for those of you who have not been keeping up with this ferociously litigious area of psychopharmacology.

Dr. Gitlin, to begin with, my readers would be interested in your impressions of the new kid on the block, Cymbalta (duloxetine).

Eight or nine years ago I had a couple of young adults become highly agitated and violent in the week after I started an SSRI (paroxetine in both cases). One beat up his girlfriend badly despite the lack of any history of violence previously.

When Prozac first appeared, it was a wonder drug--effective, well-tolerated, and safe in overdose. And, said Eli Lilly, only 1.9% of patients in the clinical trials suffered sexual dysfunction as a side effect. Clinicians weren't so sure about that figure.