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Published on: January 7, 2019
[Antidepressant drugs in the treatment of tension-type headache]
Oscar Medina Ortiz1, Celso Arango, David Ezpeleta
1Unidad de Adolescentes. Departamento de Psiquiatría. Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón. Madrid. España. omedina@hggm.es
Abstract:
Tension-type headache is the most common form of headache. Eighty percent of cases occur before 40 years of age. A wide variety of antidepressants have been used to treat it. Tricyclics are the only antidepressants that have demonstrated their effectiveness in treating chronic tension-type headache, amitriptyline being the drug of choice. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and other families of antidepressants have not shown conclusive results yet. The present study is a review of the scientific evidence available on antidepressants for treatment of this kind of headache.
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