Anti-depressant study results 'disturbing'

This isn't really news. The side effects were made known to me years ago, and it was still better for me to take them. I used to have a mental illness condition that messed up my life for over a decade. I've learned and relied on a whole host of tools.

If you or someone you know is in need of help because of anxiety, depression, mania, etc GET HELP! There is very, very good help out there.

Send me a message if you don't know who to talk to. I know all about how scary it is to seek help, to admit that maybe you have a problem that might need medication. You are not alone, and you're not the first person to go through this. I know it can feel that way, but it's not.

Seriously, send me a message. I might be a stranger, but I don't want anyone to have to endure what I had to.

2 years ago I was struck by a car which resulted in a TBI that I still deal with from time to time. Early on I was prescribed different anti-depressants (and anti-seizure meds) as a prophylaxis and they were beyond terrible. I've probably tried 1/2 dozen and each one made life a chore. Overall numbness, sleeplessness, insomnia, minor depression, etc. In the end I decided I'd rather deal with the occasional debilitating headache than be on that sort of medication.

My heart goes out to the people with MDD that deal with these side effects as part of their daily routine.

Sort of related-- wear a fucking helmet.

As is typical, I would like to complain about the poor coverage of scientific papers, and lack of good referencing to the original publication.

I believe I have find the actual paper at [1]. This is the only paper that google scholar reports the referenced researcher, Claire Cartwright, as having published in 2014, and seems to be on topic.

EDIT: Re-reading the article, did they mention a single fact from the study that is not part of the abstract?

[1] http://www.psy-journal.com/article/S0165-1781(14)00083-3/abs...

"In the United Kingdom, talk therapies or counselling in conjunction with medication are considered best practice. These therapies are not readily available through the health system in New Zealand, Dr Cartwright said"

Well, there you have it from the article. New Zealand's health care system doesn't provide best practice (as most health insurers in the United States have for years, and now must do under the Affordable Care Act). The best treatment plan for depression is some medicine that fits a particular patient hand-in-hand with talk therapy. There is a new review article in Annual Reviews of Psychology[1] that summarizes the research on best practices in treatment of depression, and that is the main conclusion: use medicines AND use talk therapy.

[1] http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.psych.1...

What I find worrying about anti-depressants and how used is the approach. Somebody has low levels of serotonin and the anti-depressants increase this. Soon as they stop taking them there body goes even lower than they were before as no artificial stimulus.

So why they don't use controlled environment drugs to lower levels of serotonin and when they stop taking them then they are naturally going to have higher levels.

See in the past many people would at weekends go for a drink, this was the norm, drink is a depressant, but in groups the effects balance out as your amongst friends and you associate any negative feeling to a hangover/the drink. Once you remove a logical reason for being down then people have no crutch to blame it on other than themselves and that begins the downward spiral.

Also many people who are depressed do not sleep well, be it pain of other reasons and sadly those reasons get ignored as easier to give them the new asprin known as anti-depressants.

Also serotonin is part of a cyclic system related to melatonin, which helps us sleep so can see a correlation right there. But do they prescribe melatonin, no. Why not - well because that is natural and hard to copyright, this means no drug company wants to invest in a low-profit easy copyable approach and on top of that nobody pays for medical trials so it does not get upon approved prescription lists.

Sadly many natural approaches medicine wise are ignored as they have not gone thru medical trials to get approval for prescription and that is all down to no drug company can make profit out of them and none of them want to pay for a trial that others can use as no copyright upon the drugs.

Rather sad situation when you step back and look into the details and very depressing.

The anti-depressants in general act as a safety net to stop you cratering while you go through the other therapy based treatments. They are just one part of the holistic solution to depression and anxiety (therapy, dietary changes, exercise and mindfulness being other parts).

Sadly too many doctor prescribe them as a cure without the additional steps needed to actually treat the underlying condition and help the patient make a recovery. Also insurance companies generally aren't willing to pay or will only pay for a certain number of sessions which doesn't help the situation.

That said there are a number of doctors that are starting to take a more holistic approach to the treatment of anxiety and depression so hopefully things will change.

While this may not be for everyone, I say skip these drugs. Instead talk about the crazy things that bother you with your family, friends, peers, etc.

9 out of 10 times they too will tell you they have suffered from something similar, which for me made me feel normal.

Overall this is what helped me deal with OCD, anxiety and depression. It wasn't some whiz bang drug - one you hear about on a PSA years later, saying "If you took this drug call us and we'll sue the pants off of the drug company for their negligence."

It's really hard with anti-depressants to know if the reason you're feeling better is because you think the drug is going to make you feel better or because the drug is actually doing things. Then you feel worse and don't want to cut out the depressant because you think it's propping you up. It screws with your mind.

I can say with certainty, however, that if you ever want to make your johnson have half the sensation, they absolutely do have an effect there.

> 39 percent reported thoughts of suicide. In the 18 to 25 age group, 56 percent reported suicidal thoughts.

Wow. Depressed people who were prescribed antidepressants for their depression are depressed? What a shocking revelation.

Those side effects are well-covered in the prescription information. There's a reason so many mentally ill people choose to stop taking medication.

Long time depression and PTSD sufferer here. Drugs help but are not the only answer which seems to be how they are seen in New Zealand. Talking about my problems (not just with professionals but also other sufferers) and my history helps more than the medication. I am on Sertraline (Zoloft) and some other meds and it certainly does help me however it is more of a "it makes things not so difficult" than "it makes me better". For example it makes me not get so upset/angry about things that I would do before. I used to go from 0 to 10 in a second, now it is very, very difficult to get me above an 8 in the anger scales. I am much calmer and that makes me happier.

Obviously these medications are still hugely unknown though and everyone does react differently. My personal advice for those suffering with depression (and any other mental health issue) is to get some talking therapy where you can. As I said it doesn't have to be a professional, often just somebody who kind-of-understands is a huge help!

This is not new news, but thankfully it is finally getting more attention. I highly recommend a book to anybody who's interested in the topic of mental illness: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker. A very well-researched and interesting read. Lays out the evidence that research actually supports that antidepressants and antipsychotics (neuroleptics) actually cause worse long term outcomes for patients, and almost in all cases cause what could be a one-time episode to become a chronic problem for the patient. They change the brain in such a way as to cause a dependency and increase the chance of relapse if the drug is withdrawn. Its the reason patients are often told they have to be on the drug for life, and why quitting the drugs is difficult.

He about efficacy? How about they just don't work? How about the worst kind of data/study manipulation in the history of allopathical medicine?

Yes--I trusted drug companies to provide MD's with honest forthright studies. Instead, they "cherry picked" studies, and did horrid research. I don't let doctors off the hook either; what about .5% better than control was impressive( I made that number up, but I don't think I'm that far off.

I took tri, heterocyclic drugs over the years and nothing even remotely worked for my condition.(A panic attack that morphed into general anxiety--which after years of failed treatments turned into Depression.

At this point--I am just livid over the deception. These drugs were expensive, and so were the doctors visits. I am now on drugs that control anxiety, but are extremely addictive. I am embarrassed to mention what I'm addicted too.

My point, beyond venting if you are clinicall depressed, these drugs might work. I have never really been that depressed--or I was told.

I do know one thing though that most MD's won't tell you. If you have a breakdown(very common in the twenties). Time will help your condition. Oh yea, if you think you are Superman(physically and mentally) you probally have a breaking point. I thought I could handle anything better than my peers; I was wrong. Of yea, try to take it easy on the alcohol--it works, but you will become addicted.

And honestly, I'm not sure I would step foot in a Psychiatrists office if I could go back in time; at least a for profit Doctor. They will drag you back in order to get you prescription filled(It should be illegial).

Remember though--The adage "Time cures all ill's" worked, at least for me. Aging is a strong medicine. I didn't accomplish what I set out for, but my interests changed as I got older. If you feel bad, like someone literally yanked the rug from your feet--I understand completely. Your friends will have just a vague notion of what you are going through, but there are people out there who know just how difficult you life has become. Again--If you are reading this, you will get better with time. I have no reason to lie.

This is an online survey so there is also the huge problem of selection bias. This is news how?

Study of depressed people indicates depressed people give negative answers. Someone stop the presses.

A single survey of depressed people taking pills doesn't prove anything. Note they did not do before/after. This is pseudo-science.

The side effect of sexual dysfunction is sometimes used therapeutically - for example, citalopram (an SSRI) is also prescribed to treat premature ejaculation.

Never liked SSRI's (escitalopram especially), I prefer sex, drugs and systems programming.

In my personal experience this is so true but people don't realize that every medication is different and psychiatrists are relying on very little information for your first prescription.

What worked for me was 2 weeks on a medication, gauge the symptoms (some were absolutely terrible) and decide to move on to another one. After maybe 3 anti-depressants I found the correct one.

I don't really think we know much about how some of these medications work which can be unsettling but we do know they help some people. To me at least it was worth it.

"60 percent complained of feeling emotionally numb" ... which is essentially what major depression is, interestingly enough.

It isn't surprising that these drugs would cause depression and suicidal thoughts / actions. What is surprising (or was at least) is the rate at which doctors prescribe these drugs (SSRI, SSNRI, Wellbutrin) after barely knowing someone for 15 to 20 minutes. Their insistence that they have an answer when they have no idea what these drugs do or how they work is literally driving people insane. These drugs should come with a warning (along with many other "mental health" drugs like benzodiazepines) not only on the label, but from every doctor who prescribes them.

But doctors and pharmaceutical companies make too much money to worry about ineffective, unstudied drugs such as these killing people and ruining lives. So forget that. Let's lie to people and tell them that help exists, it's in a pill, and that's all they need to feel better.

If you want help, talk to a friend, not a doctor (psychiatrist usually) whose main interest is to keep you hooked and coming back for more. After all, in this case too, you are the product.