[Antidepressive agents of recent generation]

In the last decade, progress in psychopharmacology had led to the synthesis of newer antidepressant compounds. Known as "new generation antidepressants", they belong either to classical families of anti-depressants (tricyclics or MAOIs) or to new pharmacological groups. The first ones differ from classical tricyclics or classical MAOIs for the absence of major contraindications for their use (mostly few or no anticholinergic properties for new tricyclics and no dietary restriction rules for new MAOIs). The nontricyclics-non MAOIs antidepressants are, for most of them, particularly well tolerated and safe. The clinical potency of such compounds seems to reach conditions beyond depressive states and they have indeed some specific effects in obsessive-compulsive disorders or other anxiety disorders. In this group, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors seem to represent a major progress in antidepressive therapy. All these advantages invite now the practitioners to use these "new generation antidepressants" as the first choice medication, when treating uncomplicated depressive disorders.