Psych antidepressants

Medication class detail with safety cues and nursing action focus.

Back to meds
Mental Healthneeds review

Psych antidepressants

Examples: sertraline, fluoxetine, venlafaxine, amitriptyline

Mechanism

Changes neurotransmitter availability to improve mood symptoms over time.

Used for

  • Depression
  • Anxiety disorders
  • Neuropathic pain for selected agents

Side effects

  • GI upset
  • Sexual dysfunction
  • Serotonin syndrome
  • Suicidality warning in young clients

Nursing actions

  • Assess suicide risk, especially early in therapy.
  • Teach that benefit can take several weeks.
  • Watch for serotonin syndrome with combinations.

Hold / question cues

  • Serotonin syndrome symptoms
  • New suicidal intent
  • Manic behavior after start

Antidote / reversal

  • No routine class-specific antidote or reversal agent is seeded for this class; hold/question unsafe doses, support ABCs, notify the provider, and use facility or poison-control guidance for toxicity.

NCLEX pearl

  • More energy may return before mood fully improves; safety planning matters.

Drive Pack cross references

AntidepressantsMed class