Aripiprazole is a partial dopamine agonist of the second generation class of antipsychotics that is primarily used in the treatment of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, tic disorders, and irritability associated with autism. Aripiprazole is an effective adjunct treatment for major depressive disorder. However, there is a greater rate of side effects as an adjunctive therapy. Aripiprazole is the most efficacious antipsychotic to alleviate symptoms of treatment-resistant major depressive disorder. Likewise, in a few earlier meta-analyses, similar results were obtained. Aripiprazole may pharmacokinetically interact with some antidepressants, especially SSRIs. There are significant interactions with fluoxetine and paroxetine and lesser interactions with sertraline, escitalopram, citalopram and fluvoxamine, which inhibit CYP2D6, for which aripiprazole is a substrate.
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