Carbonhalo wrote:
While generally used as an adjunct to antidepressants,
Quote:
Off-labeled buspirone is used for the augmentation of unipolar depression....NLM
It's affinities for 5HT receptors certainly wouldn't preclude antidepressant effects on it's own.
Ah... I see it is generally used thus in a geriatric setting where it's dopaminic effects are offset by anti Parkinson's meds
Yeah, it is used to augment first line anti-depressant medications, although I think that happens less commonly in the UK than in the US, from what I have read.
I don't think it would be strong enough to be a standalone anti-depressant though. I read many years ago that as a standalone treatment for unipolar depression, buspirone failed to beat placebo in a clinical trial that explored the clinical effectiveness of the drug in treating unipolar depression.
P.S, I'm sure there are more clinical trials out there that have found different things, but that seems to be the gist of the drug usage of buspirone if I am understanding what I have read, correctly.