Antidepressants

Your doctor may prescribe an antidepressant to help prevent your headaches. Antidepressants work by altering the levels of certain neurotransmitters, chemicals that carry messages between neurons in the brain.

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Important: All antidepressants carry the risk of inducing hypomania in people with unrecognized bipolar disorder. Ungoverned treatment of an undiagnosed depression has resulted in rare cases of suicide.

This section contains more information on:

• Tricyclic antidepressants, the main treatment for depression in the 1960s through the 1980s. They are often prescribed for other conditions, including insomnia, bulimia, and headaches.
• Newer antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
• Other new antidepressants