Currently, one of the best new antidepressant medications is Venlafaxine (brand name Effexor XR). Effexor is SSNRI class medication. It does not only inhibit serotonin re-uptake, like SSRI's do, it also inhibits re-uptake of norepinephrine; hence the "N". It is sometimes listed under "other cyclic antidepressant.

Effexor XR was one of the new antidepressant medications approved by Food and Drug Administration in March 2003.

Study(published in the February 10. 2003 issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders) shows Venlafaxine is more effective than Prozac in treating depression and achieving remission.

Venlafaxine hydrochloride (Effexor XR Extended-Release Capsules) has been shown to relieve the symptoms of depression and produce full remission of the disease in more patients than fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac), according to data from an 8-week trial.

This study demonstrates that the benefits of one antidepressant exceed that of another in treating an outpatient population with major depression. The data clearly indicates that Effexor XR has improved efficacy over one of the more commonly prescribed antidepressants in the short-term treatment of major depression. Results showed that at the end of the 8-week trial, approximately twice as many patients treated with Effexor XR experienced full remission, compared with those treated with Prozac or placebo. Therefore, Effexor XR should be considered one of the first-line treatments in patients with depression.

Some other relatively new antidepressant medications include Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline) and Paxil (paroxetine).

 

After exploring the list of new antidepressant medications above, you should click further to learn more about the antidepressants.