Depression Treatment Wanes Following FDA Warnings
Advisories led to 'unintended consequences,' researchers say
Reader Comments
Paxil
The fact that depression is not being treated so much with anti-depressants is a good thing. I myself was prescribed Paxil for depression, and It messed me up something terrible. It made my depression worse and took a long time to recover after withdrawal. The side effects from Paxil are horrific and the risk is not worth the so called "benefit". What the doctors don't tell people is, it is a proven fact that in 4 out of 5 cases of depression, the symptoms will clear up and the depression will lift on its own, without any intervention. The sad fact of the matter is, these drugs are not and never were the answer. Depression needs to be treated holistically. These SSRI's have made billions for the pharmaceutical industry, most of the positive studies are biased and written by psychiatrists who are on pharma-industry payroll. It's all marketing and propaganda and people are being severely damaged by these drugs every day.
If only my doctor prescribed me talk-therapy and not the "quick fix" Paxil, I could have saved myself years of pain and torment on that horrible drug. If you are considering taking anti-depressants , make sure you inform yourself of the dangers as most psychiatrists and doctors are still ignorant to the serious and life threatening side effects that these SSRI's induce. When I was prescribed Paxil, There were little warnings, and a lot of the side effects were suppressed by the manufacturers of Paxil (Seroxat) , GlaxoSmithKline. Inform yourself and take control of your own health, don't be taken for a mug.
Paxil
The fact that depression is not being treated so much with anti-depressants is a good thing. I myself was prescribed Paxil for depression, and It messed me up something terrible. It made my depression worse and took a long time to recover after withdrawal. The side effects from Paxil are horrific and the risk is not worth the so called "benefit". What the doctors don't tell people is, it is a proven fact that in 4 out of 5 cases of depression, the symptoms will clear up and the depression will lift on its own, without any intervention. The sad fact of the matter is, these drugs are not and never were the answer. Depression needs to be treated holistically. These SSRI's have made billions for the pharmaceutical industry, most of the positive studies are biased and written by psychiatrists who are on pharma-industry payroll. It's all marketing and propaganda and people are being severely damaged by these drugs every day.
If only my doctor prescribed me talk-therapy and not the "quick fix" Paxil, I could have saved myself years of pain and torment on that horrible drug. If you are considering taking anti-depressants , make sure you inform yourself of the dangers as most psychiatrists and doctors are still ignorant to the serious and life threatening side effects that these SSRI's induce. When I was prescribed Paxil, There were little warnings, and a lot of the side effects were suppressed by the manufacturers of Paxil (Seroxat) , GlaxoSmithKline. Inform yourself and take control of your own health, don't be taken for a mug.
BRAVO!!! BRAVO!! BRAVO!!! A few more lives spared antidepressant hell!!!
Initial studies (hidden for two decades) show antidepressants have no more benefit than placebo, yet LISTED side effects are as deadly as suicidal and homicidal ideation. The risk to benefit ratio should be classified as "down the toilet." So, technically these drugs should be off the market, not just have strong warnings. Drug manufacturers do not care though. Antidepressants have been the gateway drugs to their new high priced atypical antipsychotic medications that have brought in far more than the antidepressants did. Their only concern would be that they do not have enough patients taking antidepressants that would then lead them into psychosis so that they could sell more of these antipsychotics which are still under patent, while most antidepressants are not. Money is the name of the game here, not anyone's health and wellbeing.
After spending the past 20 years gathering the dead and damaged left behind in the wake of these deadly drugs I would tell Tami from CO to keep our web address (www.drugawareness.org) because she WILL need it, especially to learn how to get off the drug safely. Why other than that? Because as I have repeated over and over again and research is clear in supporting this - the hypothesis behind the antidepressants is backwards! They CAUSE depression and anxiety, they do not cure it! So is it any wonder that they produce a higher suicide rate even in those who took the drugs for something as simple as warts, or becoming nervous about taking a test? Yes, those are real cases. Check out a LONG list of more cases at www.ssristories.com
What this story is working to bury is the news out of Japanese Health Ministries days ago that antidepressants have a CAUSAL connection to violence. That is the bad press they would like to disappear. Antidepressants work by impairing one's ability to metabolize serotonin while research has shown for decades that impairing one's ability to metabolize serotonin produces impulsive murder and suicide. So why are we surprised to see such incredible violence in our society since the introduction of these SSRI antidepressants which are designed to selectively target serotonin metabolism?
It is long past time to wake up America because the warnings from the FDA have not even begun to touch the surface yet when it comes to warning of the dangers of these so called "antidepressants" that should be classed as dissociative anesthetics little different than PCP or ketamine and also produce LSD flashbacks. None of which should be a surprise since those drugs produce their hallucinogic effects via serotonin as well.
Ann Blake-Tracy, PhD, Executive Director,
International Coalition for Drug Awareness
www.drugawareness.org & www.ssristories.com
Success with SSRIs
To all those who have come out against taking/prescribing anti-depressants, have you ever tried them yourselves? A few months ago, I started on Zoloft and I have seen a lot of improvement. (And I am almost certain it's NOT the placebo effect.) By the way, before I started taking meds, I questioned whether this was the "easy way out." It's not. The medication needs to be used in combination with psychotherapy and ACTIVE behavior changes on my part in order for me to fully recover. However, I have made MUCH more progress now than I have in the past with just therapy/behavior modification. The side effects at the beginning were not fun, but they go away eventually and it's well worth it. I have a lot fewer suicidal feelings than I did without medication. Personally, I think there is still too much of a stigma attached to psych meds - more people who need them should be taking them. Please don't discourage people from taking meds or doctors from prescribing them!
This is good news
This is really good news, in that, antidepressants are too easily prescribed. It's the easy way out for a Dr. This way they don't have to use their head to try to help their patients." Just give them more drugs, because their problems are too complex for me to solve." Some drugs are just too dangerous. The typical scenario is that, these drugs are prescribed and the patient then takes them without much supervision. The problem with antidepressants is that there are many, many side effects that the patient doesn't like, or they start to feel better and make the judgement that they don't need them any more and they just stop taking them. A very dangerous thing to do. Although I have never taken any myself, the results for people I do know who have taken them, are not all that stellar. Several have ended in suicide (adults). This has been devastating to their families. The people I know who do take them are not so well off either. They are still depressed. The drugs have put them in a stupor, their reasons for being depressed really have not been addressed. These drugs have to build up in the system before they can be effective, so if not taken exactly right, they can make matters much worse. Administration and supervision of these drugs is totally lax and is absolutely critical in the success of these drugs. Parents of depressed children don't always see the signs of suicide, depressed children are not always upfront with their parents and/or their Dr. These drugs are notorious for interrupting normal sleep patterns. Hell, if I have 3 nights in a row without a good nights sleep, I have hard time coping. I can only imagine what weeks or months of poor sleep could do to me. I'd want to kill myself too, just to get some rest.
The bottom line is that this is way over due. The FDA allows drugs on the market way too fast in some instances.
there goes the biggest placebo effect in history
if you look at the data from any of this class of drugs you'll see that in the best of the trials (most clinical trial data on SSRIs never published presumably because they failed to show efficacy or worse, showed safety problems) these drugs barely beat placebo. From which one can surmise that these drugs only work if the people taking them BELIEVE they will work. It looks to me like the pharmas behind these drugs are trying desperately to preserve any placebo effect that may remain. I completely agree with the gentleman above. Let's bid fairwell to these phony pills and let's start actually treating people.
RE: Depression treatment wanes following FDA warnings
Instead of physicians writing fewer SSRI prescriptions and supplementing with NOTHING, how about physicians writing fewer SSRI prescriptions and supplementing with psychotherapy or alternative treatments? Maybe the solution isn't for the FDA to worry about the "unintended consequences" of clearly presenting risks, but rather for physicians to prescribe the other available treatments!
More propaganda from Big Pharm
How is this a bad thing? The government begins warning people about the risks of a drug, so people stop rushing in droves to buy the newest Prozac. Then, the drug companies cry that they're receiving fewer orders for their products. That was the intention: curb the unnecessary use (and prescription) of these drugs. Patients deserve to be fully informed of the risks of their medications. Suicide is no small risk. People are now making more informed decisions about their medical treatments. Depression is pretty blatantly over-diagnosed in this country anyway, and it's a shame to hear psychiatrists continue to extol the values of drugs in treating depression. If medical schools are only training future prescription-writers, what is the point of having medical schools?
