Tsipramil (C), being selective ...

These drugs have been officially registered in Russia in 1997. While in a foreign psychiatric and substance abuse in practice they are used by more than one year. The use of antidepressants in the treatment of alcoholism antidepressants with different structures traditionally widely used in drug treatment practice, particularly in the treatment of alcoholism. This is primarily due to higher comorbidity (ie coexistence) Alcoholism and depressive disorders. This long-known empirical fact has been confirmed in several large population studies. Thus, surveys 42,862 adults in the U.S. at 32.5% of patients diagnosed with major depression also established diagnosis of alcohol dependence [6]. Similar figures - 30.5% of comorbidity of major depression and alcohol dependence were obtained in Canada [7]. In another population-based study diagnosis of comorbid affective disorders has been set 28.1% of patients diagnosed with alcohol dependence [8]. Among the antidepressants used in the treatment of alcoholism, the most often prescribed drugs belonging to the group of tricyclic (TCA) and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs, introduced in 1980, immediately began to be actively used in drug treatment practice, probably due to the fact that under comparable to tricyclics antidepressant activity, they had less severe side effects and potential of Interaction [14], as well as found in some studies, directly reduces craving for alcohol and its consumption [12,15,16]. Potential mechanisms of action of SSRIs on alcohol craving can be explained by the hypothesis of central serotonin deficiency in alcoholism [17,18]. Tsipramil (C), as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, is of great interest as a drug effective at depressive disorders, and as a means of diminishing the craving for alcohol. C is taken once a day, its daily dose usually does not exceed 20 mg, only in cases of severe depression recommended dosage increase to 40 - 60 mg [13]. C primarily characterized by high antidepressant activity. The percentage of responders (ie patients with marked improvement) to citalopram therapy in general practice up to 75 - 81% [19, 20]. In this case, the rapidity onset of effect (in C it is manifested through 7 - 10 days after initiation of therapy) drug than some other SSRIs. So, in a comparative study found that after 2 weeks of treatment in 27% of patients treated with C were recorded marked improvement, while among the receiving fluoxetine improvement was noted only 16% of cases (p = 0.034) [19 ]. Treating depression in alcoholism due to a combination of pathology makes special demands of tolerability and safety of antidepressant used.