Treatment with SSRIs rather than placebo was associated with clinical improvement by the end of the first week of use .
CONCLUSIONS Treatment with SSRIs is associated with symptomatic improvement in depression by the end of the first week of use , and the improvement continues at a decreasing rate for at least 6 weeks
CONTEXT Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) are often described as having a delayed onset of effect in the treatment of depression .
However , some trials have reported clinical improvement as early as the first week of treatment .
OBJECTIVE To test the alternative hypotheses of delayed vs early onset of antidepressant action with SSRIs in patients with unipolar depression .
Increased brain GABA concentrations following acute administration of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor.
OBJECTIVE The authors used magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( MRS ) to assess the effect of acute administration of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ( SSRI ) citalopram on cortical levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid ( GABA ) . METHOD Ten healthy volunteers received either intravenous citalopram ( 10 mg ) or saline in a r and omized , double-blind , crossover design . The occipital GABA/creatine ratio was measured with a proton MR spectral editing technique . RESULTS In comparison with saline , citalopram produced a mean increase of 35 % in relative brain GABA concentration in the occipital cortex . CONCLUSIONS These findings extend previous work showing that SSRI treatment increases cortical GABA in depressed patients and suggest that this results from an action of SSRIs on GABA neurons rather than as a secondary consequence of mood improvement
Treatment with SSRIs rather than placebo was associated with clinical improvement by the end of the first week of use .
CONCLUSIONS Treatment with SSRIs is associated with symptomatic improvement in depression by the end of the first week of use , and the improvement continues at a decreasing rate for at least 6 weeks
CONTEXT Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors ( SSRIs ) are often described as having a delayed onset of effect in the treatment of depression .
However , some trials have reported clinical improvement as early as the first week of treatment .
OBJECTIVE To test the alternative hypotheses of delayed vs early onset of antidepressant action with SSRIs in patients with unipolar depression .