[Serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors in psychiatry and neurology].

Antidepressants are one of the most important classes of psychotropic drugs and they are widely used in clinical practice, mainly in psychiatry and neurology. The main indications for the use of antidepressants are depression and anxiety disorders. First-line antidepressants are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, as well as serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors which due to their dual pharmacological action have an additional effect on pain syndromes that determines their use in the treatment of neuropathic pain and fibromyalgia.

[Dual diagnosis: depression and alcohol use disorder].

A combination of depression and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a typical and most common example of a dual diagnosis at the intersection of general psychiatry and addiction psychiatry. A comorbidity of depression and AUD is more common than it can be brought about by mere coincidence, which might be explained to some extent by the synergetic effect of both diseases, with each of them complicating the course and worsening the prognosis of the other. Treatment protocols for patients with depression and comorbid AUD include antidepressants, specific medications for alcohol dependence, and psychotherapy.

[Treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome].

Alcohol withdrawal arises in result of long-lasting or short, but massive, alcohol abuse, manifests itself with oppressive symptoms and in some cases is complicated by seizures, hallucinosis and delirium tremens that may be life-threatening for patients. The leading neurochemical factors underlying alcohol withdrawal syndrome and its complications are lack of GABA and excessive glutamate activity, which is important for therapy choice. The first-line drugs in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndrome and alcoholic delirium are benzodiazepines, which have the maximum pharmacological similarity with ethanol.

[Systematics and treatment of anxiety disorders].

Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental disorders and include such core forms as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, and social anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and the diagnosis and treatment of these disorders is of great social and economic importance. Current approaches to the treatment of anxiety disorders involve the use of cognitive behavioral therapy, antidepressants, benzodiazepines, antipsychotics, few anticonvulsants, and some other medications.

[Anxiety in neurological practice].

Anxiety and related disorders are the most common type of mental disorders in both the general population and the neurological clinic. A current typology of anxiety disorders includes panic disorder, agoraphobia, simple (specific) phobias, social anxiety disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders often accompany diseases of the nervous system, worsen their course and impede treatment, and the degree of anxiety usually corresponds to the severity of neurological symptoms.