A stressful or traumatic event often hampers the learning ability of depressed women. But a study conducted by researchers from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, shows Prozac can help women overcome that problem.

   "Depression is a devastating illness that is often accompanied in females by an inability to concentrate and learn," said Tracey Shors, associate professor of psychology. "Our data show that while Prozac is an effective drug for treating depression, it also protects females from the adverse effects of stress on learning."

   Shors reported her findings at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. In rat studies, Shors and team found that after a stressful event, learning was impaired in the control group that did not receive Prozac but not in the group treated with the drug.

   "Importantly," Shors pointed out, "unstressed females treated with Prozac did not differ from unstressed, untreated females, indicating that Prozac itself did not affect learning."
--
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.