Quote:
Originally Posted by cool09
Not anti-depressants or anti-psychotics. Downers (aka depressant, or central depressant) can be administered intravenously (and get into the bloodstream quicker than taken orally). In emergency situations if a person is agitated or in pain they might be given a depressant intravenously to calm them down asap.
Psychotropic meds like anti-depressants and other meds that work in the brain take longer to have an effect because it takes longer for them to get into the brain. These meds have to get through the blood-brain barrier which can take a long time (weeks, etc.)
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A lot, if not most of the time it takes for AP's and AD's to work is because the actual effects are caused by structural changes in the nervous tissue, and not by increased levels of any neurotransmitter. The medications sometimes need to be "in the brain" for weeks before these changes occur, but it does not take the psychotropic substances weeks to reach the brain.
AP injections are sometimes used for acute psychosis in in-patient care here where I live, and the patient is generally involuntarily committed.