This is where google info gets a bit confusing, some websites I looked at listed it as an anti-hypertensive, and others like drugs.com list it as Antiadrenergic.
But, in either case, you're right. It's not an anti-depressant. It just has properties that treat things like anxiety and the other things I mentioned in a previous post.
Yeah it can be. Anti-hypertensive is the class. Antiadrenergic is the term for the type of agents in the drug, and there can be many agent combinations in a pill to treat different things. For example, BETA blockers, ACE inhibitors, even cholesterol medicine is considered an anti-hypertensive...but are made with different agents for those purposes. One reason Clonidine is a popular multi purpose drug is it because it helps with physical symptoms of anxiety or drug withdrawal like racing heart, shortness of breath, etc. Those are also the symptoms of hypertension...so presto...it slows your racing heart, slows the blood flow ,lowers your BP and eases those symptoms. In Abbies case it is perfect, because it is an anti-hypertensive not an anti-psychotic. Her Ziprasdone is the anti-psychotic which is a common drug but does cause high BP. So in this case the Clonidine assists the anti-psychotic by keeping the blood pressure low, and relieving the physical symptoms of her anxiety, but technically that is not supposed to be the purpose of Clonidine. But many drugs are used for different purposes. For example, I take Amitriptyline which is an anti-depressant, but I take it for neuropathy. Not its intended purpose, but it works.
Sorry. Been hen-pecking this out on my tablet. Nightmare. It autocorrects every stinkin' word LOL
ETA...slow typing...Broken beat me to it!