Tuesday 26 February 2008

Antidepressants

This morning, a report was publicised, claiming that anti-depressants like Seroxat and Prozac (amongst others) are little use in the treatment of depression. Apparently, only severe cases of depression benefit from the use of these medications.

If you are on antidepressants, do NOT, under any circumstance, stop taking the medicines without consulting your treating doctor. Sudden withdrawal of anti-depressants can bring on a severe relapse.

It should be born in mind that there has been a huge increase in prescriptions of anti-depressants, and whether they were really necessary in many cases is subject to discussion.

6 comments:

  1. Guido,Im still taking Sertraline ,and dont know how Id be without them, dread to think ..love Jan xx

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  2. seroxat was one of the ones linked to suiside and worse depression years ago,    to the extent that many GPs stopped perscribeing it,
    sue

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  3. I have tried several of the brands and found I could not take any of them.  They made me much worse, to the point of strong suicidal thoughts ~ which I had not had prior to taking them.  Needless to say, I steer clear of them now.  Interesting report.
    Lisa

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  4. Funny that I met up with someone I know who went off Lexapro in 2006  "because I really didn't need it."   She picked the lint off my shirt & straightened my papers .......she NEEDS IT!
    ~Mary

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  5. Wonderful advice about not going off any prescribed medications without contacting your physician. I know for many of them, depending on the dosage they need to be slowly weaned off with lower dosages till they are given consent to stop altogether. (Hugs) Indigo

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  6. Depression is a chemical imbalance.  Selective Seretonin Reuptake Inhibitors help balance your chemicals.  This report says "studies show", but if I read correctly doesn't state the sources.  Whose studies?  I believe SSRIs work for a lot of people.  In another part of one of the articles it says that depressed people need "talk therapy".  While they may need talk therapy, I believe many also need medicine to help brain chemicals.  If you have ever been in a state of depression you would know what I mean.  It's not about having "problems" and not knowing how to deal with them, as one of the articles describes.  It is about having a chemical imbalance, as I stated earlier.  You can be feeling great one moment, and then feel hopeless the next moment, for NO reason at all.  It's a mood thing, an affective disorder, which may not even have to do with any situations.  Not trying to be too personal, but God forbid, I hope any one reading this never suffers from depression.

    Krissy
    http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink

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