Antidepressant Use Depresses Me06 Jan
A couple of related research studies caught my eye this week. A study in the Annuals of General Psychiatry (as described here by NPR) details that more
Americans, including children, than ever are being prescribed multiple psychiatric medications. The authors found that patients are commonly prescribed untested combinations of drugs, where the efficacy and possible side effects of the combos are unknown. The study did not find an increase in the number of people with severe mental illness, rather more Drs are writing more presciptions.
The problems with this are obvious. As well all know, the more medications you take the more chance of side effects, this is especially the case for psychiatric meds in which you are attempting to change the chemistry of the brain – something that we admittedly know very little about.
The article attributes the change to “changes in psychiatric practice”. Why is practice changing? What is influencing these doctors to write more precriptions? Is it under drug company pressure? This is something that must be examined.
Especially in light of the findings of the second article, published in JAMA. The authors found that for people with mild to moderate depression, medications was no better in treating these symptoms than placebo. You’re better off taking a sugar pill than Paxil, you’ll get the same benefits without the risk of serious side effects including suicide.
For me, these articles serve to reinforce my believe that better living through chemistry is not the answer. You must address your health through lifestyle, diet, exercise, and a healthy nervous system. That is the way to be happy and healthy.
4 Responses to “Antidepressant Use Depresses Me”
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I admire the valuable information you offer in your articles.I enjoying reading your post. You make great points in a concise and pertinent fashion, This is a really good read for me, thank you for your time.
I absolutely agree that true solutions come through lifestyle changes, such as adopting better eating habits and incorporating exercise into our routines, but I don’t think it is fair to discount the important role anti-depressants can play in getting someone to a place where s/he is capable of making those types of permanent changes.
Julie,
Thank you for your comment. I agree and don’t want to discount the importance of anti-depressants for some people. I do think the JAMA study I linked illustrates that for many people anti-depressants should not be the first choice for treatment (ie the fact that they are not more effective than placebo), safer more conservative approaches should be. I think that the usage rates for these drugs show that medicine is not taking that approach.
Thank you again for your comments and for reading our blog, we really appreciate it.
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