Via practica 5/2024

Therapeutic menu in the labyrinth of depression

Depression is not defined as being in bad mood. Around the world, around 280 million people suffer from this mental disorder. Out of this number, 700 000 people committed suicide last year. With all of its subtypes, depressive disorder is classified as civilization disease as it lowers socioeconomic functioning of the individuals at non-negligible extent. Within antidepressants, we have a number of substances that have a clearly defined specific effect. However, only two of them, namely trazodone and vortioxetine, can boast a multimodal and multifunctional effect. As with any medication, side effects may occur when trazodone is added to the treatment. The are presented case studies of two patients where the hypotensive effect of trazodone was used as an advantage in the possibility of reducing polypharmacy and contributed to the stabilization of cardiovascular comorbidity.

Keywords: depression, trazodone, multimodal and multifunction efficacy, ortostatic hypotension