Quetiapine applications in young people: a Swiss Army knife in psychiatric practice

The prevalence of mental disorders in young adults is high: 15% of them currently meet the criteria for a diagnosis of at least one mental disorder. Many of them experience comorbidity of mental disorders and somatic diseases, which may affect the choice of an adequate, both effective and safe psychopharmacotherapy. Quetiapine is one of the most versatile psychotropic drugs – depending on the dose it shows hypnotic, anxiolytic, antidepressant and mood stabilizing effects, as well as antipsychotic effects.

The paper discusses areas of potential use of quetiapine in young adults, taking into account some of the most common psychiatric disorders in this group of patients: depressive and anxiety disorders, accompanied by sleep disorders. Attention is paid to quetiapine’s side effect profile, which may be more acceptable to young adults than the range of side effects associated with the use of other medications, more commonly chosen by psychiatrists. This drug may be an effective and well-tolerated choice in unipolar and bipolar depression, mania, generalized anxiety disorder, or schizophrenia.

We present a case report of a lactating patient with depressive symptoms and predominant symptoms of generalized anxiety who showed a good therapeutic response during combined treatment with sertraline and quetiapine.

The multidirectional mechanism of action of quetiapine, depending on the dose of the medication, influences its wide application in the treatment of psychiatric disorders in young adults.