Antidepressants are medications used to treat major depressive disorder, some anxiety disorders, some chronic pain conditions, and to help manage some addictions. Common side-effects of antidepressants include dry mouth, weight gain, dizziness, headaches, and sexual dysfunction.Most types of antidepressants are typically safe to take, but may cause increased thoughts of suicide when taken by children, adolescents, and young adults. A discontinuation syndrome can occur after stopping any antidepressant which resembles recurrent depression.

Some reviews of antidepressants for depression in adults find benefit while others do not.Evidence of benefit in children and adolescents is unclear. There is debate in the medical community about how much of the observed effects of antidepressants

 can be attributed to the placebo effect

Antidepressants are used to treat major depressive disorder and of other conditions, including some anxiety disorders, some chronic pain conditions, and to help manage some addictions. Antidepressants are often used in combinations with one another. The proponents of the monoamine hypothesis of depression recommend choosing the antidepressant with the mechanism of action impacting the most prominent symptoms—for example, they advocate that people with MDD who are also anxious or irritable should be treated with SSRIs or norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and the ones with the loss of energy and enjoyment of life—with norepinephrine and dopamine enhancing drugs.