Antidepressant treatments in the 21st century

Abstract

The goal of this review is to provide a provocative discussion of the status of antidepressant treatments in the next century. The first part of the review evaluates the progress (or lack of progress) made in antidepressant medications since the 1950s, when the first chemical antidepressants were discovered by serendipity. The second part then attempts to predict what may be needed to accomplish greater progress in the future, and outlines the types of approaches that could be used to develop truly novel, and more effective, treatments of depression.