Your guide to mental health medications

Our mental health is as important as our physical health to our overall well-being. Mental health involves our psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Several mental health conditions may affect you over the course of your life.

Several factors can affect mental health, such as our environment, stress, genetics, and diet. But sometimes, you may not know the reason behind your mental illness, which is just as valid as if it had a diagnosable root cause.

Treatment for mental health conditions can include therapy and lifestyle strategies, but there are also several different medications that doctors prescribe for different conditions.

Antidepressants 

Doctors use antidepressant medications to treat depression and other mental health conditions, such as anxiety. In general, antidepressants help manage the brain chemicals that regulate mood and stress. Some of the main antidepressants include:

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are prescription medications that help increase serotonin levels in your brain. 

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in mood and emotion. SSRIs increase the level of serotonin in your brain by blocking the reabsorption of the substance, meaning it stays available in your brain for longer. 

Besides depression, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved SSRIs to treat generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bulimia, and panic disorder, among other conditions.

It also has some off-label uses, including fibromyalgia and binge eating disorder. This means the FDA hasn’t approved SSRIs for these purposes, but doctors still prescribe them.

Some SSRIs include: 

• citalopram (Celexa) 
• escitalopram (Lexapro)
• fluoxetine (Prozac)
• paroxetine (Paxil)
• sertraline (Zoloft)

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Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors 

Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) work by blocking the reabsorption of serotonin and norepinephrine. Serotonin and norepinephrine play a role in mood, emotion, and stress. SNRIs increase the level of both of these substances in the brain.

Some SNRIs include:

• desvenlafaxine (Pristiq)
• duloxetine (Cymbalta
• milnacipran (Savella)
• venlafaxine (Effexor)

Tricyclic antidepressants 

Tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) are medications approved to treat major depressive disorder. They’re an older type of antidepressant, and doctors no longer recommend them as a first-line treatment for depression. But doctors do prescribe them when other types of antidepressants don’t work. 

TCAs work by blocking the reuptake or reabsorption of chemicals that regulate mood, such as norepinephrine and serotonin. 

Some TCAs include: 

• amitriptyline (Elavil)
• desipramine (Norpramin)
• doxepin (Sinequan)
• imipramine (Tofranil)
• nortriptyline (Pamelor)
• protriptyline (Vivactil)

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) prevent an enzyme from removing norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine from the brain. Doctors use MAOIs to treat depression, panic disorders, and social phobias. Due to the risk of side effects and food interactions, doctors do not commonly recommend these.

Some MAOIs include:

• phenelzine (Nardil)
• isocarboxazid (Marplan)
• selegiline (Emsam)

Anxiety medications 

Several medications that doctors use to treat depression are also used to treat anxiety. These include SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOIs, and TCAs. But some other options to treat anxiety include:

Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines can help reduce seizure activity, promote relaxation, and ease the tense muscles of your eyes. These symptoms have an association with anxiety as well as other conditions like insomnia and delirium.

Some benzodiazepines include alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), and lorazepam (Ativan).

Unlike antidepressants, doctors use benzodiazepines for the short-term management of physical anxiety symptoms. This is because they get to work very quickly, but they also have a risk of dependence, potentially leading to substance use disorder. With dependence, your body needs the drug to function as usual.

Beta-blockers

Doctors typically prescribe beta-blockers to help treat high blood pressure and heart disease. But some healthcare professionals may prescribe beta-blockers to ease symptoms of anxiety. This is another off-label use.

Doctors use some beta-blockers to treat anxiety, including propranolol (Inderal) and atenolol (Tenormin). 

Antipsychotics

Doctors prescribe antipsychotics to treat people with schizophrenia. Antipsychotics can help reduce symptoms of psychosis, like hallucinations and delusions. Healthcare professionals use these medications to treat other mental health conditions, such as bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Experts classify antipsychotics into typical and atypical:

• Typical antipsychotics: Also known as first-generation antipsychotics, these medications are older and are known as dopamine receptor antagonists that help block the activation of certain neurotransmitters to reduce symptoms of psychosis. Examples include chlorpromazine (Thorazine), loxapine (Loxitane), and thioridazine (Mellaril).
• Atypical antipsychotics: Also known as second- or third-generation antipsychotics, these medications regulate serotonin and dopamine. They include aripiprazole (Abilify), asenapine (Saphris), lurasidone (Latuda), and olanzapine (Zyprexa).

Mood stabilizers

Mood stabilizers are prescription medications that doctors use to help treat conditions that cause changes in mood, such as bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia.

Mood stabilizers include antipsychotics, some minerals, and anticonvulsants. These include:

• minerals like lithium (Eskalith, Lithobid, Lithonate)
• anticonvulsants like carbamazepine (Carbatrol), lamotrigine (Lamictal), and valproic acid (Depakote)

Side effects

It’s important to note that mental health medications all come with the risk of a range of side effects. The prescribing doctor will be able to inform you about these.

Many side effects are likely to be mild, but if you notice any side effects that are difficult to live with, reach out to a healthcare professional immediately.

Some mental health medications come with an increased risk of experiencing suicidal ideation. If this happens to you, seek help straight away. A doctor can try a different medication that will not have this side effect.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, please seek support:

• Call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24 hours a day at 988.
• Text “HOME” to the Crisis Textline at 741741.
• Not in the U.S.? Find a helpline in your country with Befrienders Worldwide.
• Call 911 or your local emergency number if you feel it’s an emergency.

While you wait for help to arrive, stay with someone and remove any weapons or substances that can cause harm. You are not alone.

Other strategies

Alongside medications, doctors and mental health professionals are likely to recommend other strategies to help manage your condition.

Talk therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy are a common strategy to help with many mental health conditions, including depression and anxiety. These can help you with strategies to manage your symptoms in your day-to-day life.

Doctors are also likely to recommend lifestyle strategies like exercise to help manage your mental health. Research on different forms of exercise states that they help reduce symptoms of anxiety in people with anxiety disorders. You may also try mindfulness strategies like yoga or meditation.

It’s important to note that lifestyle strategies alone may not work for every condition. While they can help reduce stress and manage symptoms, you may still need a prescribed medication for your mental health condition.

Speaking with a professional can help you work out a treatment plan that works for you.

Summary

Mental health includes our psychological, emotional, and social well-being. Many factors can affect our mental health, such as stress, diet, and genetics.

Treatment for mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and panic disorders, includes medications, therapy, as well as lifestyle measures. Medications include prescription drugs like antidepressants, antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers.

The list of medications provided in this article isn’t exhaustive but is an overview of some of the medications doctors use to treat common mental health conditions. You can talk with a mental health professional if you feel symptoms of a mental health condition or if you have specific questions about mental health medications.

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