Trazodone

Trazodone is another antidepressant introduced in the early 80's. Once again, its use was fashionable for a time, gradually faded, and at this point it is mainly used adjunctively to treat insomnia.

It is notable among antidepressant choices in not causing sexual side effects (other than the rare incidence of priapism, which is a medically dangerous, painful, abnormally sustained penile erection, which occurs in probably less than 1 in 1000).

The trouble with trazodone is that for many people, it causes too much daytime sedation. However, it can be worth a try, to treat insomnia associated with depression or antidepressant therapy, or possibly as an augmentation to treat depression or OCD.

In my experience, about 50% of people find trazodone a helpful adjuct, but the other 50% find it causes too much tiredness or dizziness the next day to be worth continuing.

Here is a literature review:


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19112384
{in this 2008 study from a minor journal, trazodone was shown to increase the amount of slow-wave sleep in treating chronic insomnia}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12930437
{a 2003 urology article showing evidence that trazodone may help treat erectile dysfunction, especially at higher doses}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18978492
{a small 2008 study showing that 50-100 mg of trazodone may reduce SSRI-induced sexual dysfunction}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16968574
{a small 2006 study showing equivalence between trazodone and sertraline in treating depression over 6 weeks}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10507215
{a small 1999 study from a podiatry journal, showing that trazodone can help with painful diabetic neuropathy symptoms}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8010365
{a 1994 American Journal of Psychiatry article showing that trazodone can help with antidepressant-induced insomnia, particularly helping with overall subjective sleep quality, reducing waking in the middle of the night, and reducing early morning waking}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8988452
{this awkardly-designed 1996 study suggests that combination treatment including 100 mg of trazodone may help in treatment-resistant depression}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11518472
{this quite weak 2001 study nevertheless suggests that trazodone helps to reduce nightmares in PTSD patients}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6337131
{an early, 1983 study, of trazodone vs. imipramine for treating moderately to severely depressed outpatients. Despite the weaknesses of the study design, it did have some follow-up over 3 years, showing that trazodone works well for some people, and worked as well as imipramine overall}

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18311107
{an example of a small study suggesting that adjunctive trazodone could help improve OCD symptoms. Some studies have shown no anti-OCD effect with trazodone alone, but others have shown trazodone alone to be beneficial in refractory OCD. In any case, I think the evidence base suggests that trazodone could at least be worth a try, either together with an SSRI, or even on its own.}