Psychopharmacology of chronic pain: a focus on antidepressants and atypical antipsychotics

ABSTRACT

Chronic pain is considered one of the most prevalent causes of costly and disabling medical conditions. This review will define chronic pain and its categories and then will summarize the effectiveness and side effects associated with the use of various antidepressants, including the tricyclics, the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, the serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, other miscellaneous antidepressants and the atypical antipsychotics in the treatment of chronic pain.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic pain
• pharmacology
• antidepressants
• atypical antipsychotics
• treatment
• management

Acknowledgments

To my wife Lynn and my children Andrea, Andrew and Adam, my sisters Hoda and Héla, my brother Hadi for their support and encouragement.

To Drs. William C. Torrey and Alan I. Green at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine, for their commitment to excellence.

To Drs. Robert W. Hierholzer,Avak A. Howsepian, and Andrew W. Goddard at the University of California,San Francisco School of Medicine, Fresno Medical Education Program, for their inspiration.

Financial and competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.