Topics: Antidepressants

While it’s certainly interesting to theorize about neurotransmitters and antidepressants, the recent STAR*D findings bring up a difficult topic: Does mechanism matter?

Topics: ADHD

Dopamine is the new serotonin: everyone is talking about it. Depending on what authority you read, dopamine is central to schizophrenia, ADHD, depression, sexuality, and cognition.

Anticholinergic-speak is endemic in psychiatry. Since it’s unlikely to go away, we invite you to buff up your knowledge of acetylcholine (ACh) and to review the many ways in which it makes an appearance in clinical practice.

Topics: Neuroscience in Psychiatry

Dr. Barondes, you were a researcher at the NIH during the period when the earliest research on neurotransmitters and antidepressants was conducted. What happened while you were there?

Julius Axelrod, who won the Nobel Prize for his work in neuroscience, spent much of his career as a lab tech. Born in 1912 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he got most of his education at the tuition-free City College of New York, which he described as a “proletarian Harvard.”