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| | PPT Slide |
 | | The antidepressants are analgesic through a number of mechanisms that include antidepressant activity (France, 1987), potentiation or enhancement of opioid analgesia (Botney and Fields, 1983; Malseed and Goldstein, 1979; Ventafridda et al., 1990) and direct analgesic effects (Spiegel et al., 1983). |
| | The leading hypothesis suggests that both serotonergic and noradrenergic properties of the antidepressants are probably important and that variations amongst individuals in pain (as to the status of their own neurotransmitter systems) is an important variable (Watson et al., 1992). |
| | Other tricyclics that have been shown to have efficacy as analgesics include imipramine (Kvindesal et al., 1984; Young and Clarke, 1985; Sindrup et al., 1989), desipramine (Kisbore-Kumare et al., 1990; Max et al., 1991), nortriptyline (Gomez-Perez et al., 1985), clomipramine (Langohr et al., 1982; Tiegno et al., 1987), and doxepin (Hammeroff et al., 1982). |
| www.psych.org /aids/modules/pain/sld073.htm (500 words) |
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