Antidepressant Medications: A Summary

Many people experience side effects from taking medication that they are prescribed for mental illnesses. The article “Depression” it is announced that medication and psychotherapy can take 4 to 8 weeks to have an effect. The delay can actually increase depression and risk of suicide(par. 48). Three quarters of the benefit from antidepressants seems to be a placebo effect says scientists from “The Depressing New About Antidepressants.”(par. 4). Most common side effects are fatigue, nausea, anxiety, irritability, and dizziness. These side effects could impact how many who take the drugs live, such as molding the rest of their lives around those side effects to make sure they are out of

Americans should be more aware of the false validity of the Chemical Imbalance Myth in our society today because of the immense usage of Antidepressants and the negative consequences they have on our physical and emotional health. The writers goal in writing this paper is not to say that mental illnesses are not real, rather, to point out some of the myths and traditions that are related to depression. We as a people tend to confuse normal emotions with clinical depression, in which they are prescribed antidepressants to make them feel better. The myth focused on in this paper is the “Chemical Imbalance” theory, which has been adopted by our society for years. The number of people in America that are currently on antidepressant medications is alarming and this issue must be addressed. A mistake that many well-meaning American’s make is taking pills when those pills are not necessary. These pills are rather damaging to an individual’s physical, emotional, and family health. When individuals take responsibility for their emotions and meet their core needs as a human, the normal emotion of sadness can be resolved.

Many believe that brain chemistry cannot be solved with a chemical pill. “Mental illness is so much more complicated than any pill that any mortal could invent ” (Wurtzel). Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of Prozac Nation suffered from severe depression until she started taking the first rounds of the new pill prozac. “Sometimes it feels like we're all living in a Prozac nation. The United States of Depression. ” (Wurtzel).

While medication may be taken worldwide and is much more commonly used for depression, it isn’t always the best solution. Causing potential problems such as nausea, headaches, insomnia and even increased suicide rate. In comparison, therapy allows connection, interaction, someone to trust, and overall monitoring of the patient's progress. Which option is more beneficial to the patients? Medication or therapy? The research done will help determine that option. This option will be very beneficial to a growing community around the world. This research project aims to explore the risk of overdosing when treating depression with antidepressants. Taking medication while being diagnosed with depression although may be helpful, it can be dangerous and life threatening.

It’s a terrifying thing to be on a reliability of a drug that could be severely medicated inside their child’s own body. Due to that, many young adults or the parents have enforced their children to take different options than the antidepressant route. For example, a young adult woman ventured out and used talk therapy as a method. Sure, it didn’t totally dissolve her pain away, but she found it a useful thing, instead of what medication couldn’t have given her (Sharpe, Wall Street Journal, 2012). Pro: Although, the antidepressant route is still a valid and a reliant source to not be easily dismissed with narrowed fear. In truth, antidepressants have been in use for so many years, but there still is a doubtful question. With assurance, the benefits overthrow the risks. Animal studies have even revealed that taking the medication may prevent constant episodes of depression, but this is all a

At first it was the cure all people were looking for. Then it became the drug they were afraid to take. Somewhere between these two extremes lies the truth about the drug Flouxetine, better known as Prozac, the most widely prescribed drug on the globe. It is mainly prescribed to patients suffering from clinical depression. It was first brought to the market in 1988 by the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly co. Even though it was originally prescribed for depression, it has been prescribed for everything from eating disorders to insomnia. It was first considered the wonder drug of the new decade because of the way it helped depression patients when no other anti-depressant could

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) have been prescribed by physicians for many years now. One reason SSRIs are so popular is because of the many mental disorders they can be used for such as anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), phobias, and many more (Weitzel & Jiwanlal, 2001). The four major types of SSRIs that are most commonly used by people with mental disorders are fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil), sertraline (Zoloft), and citalopram hydrobromide (Celexa); SSRIs work on the brain by acting on the reuptake pathway of serotonin (Stone, 2010). There are some advantages for taking SSRIs. One advantage is that SSRIs have fewer side effects than most of the other antidepressant medications such as monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and tricyclics (Weitzel & Jiwanlal, 2001). Another advantage is that SSRIs have less of a risk of toxicity in overdose (Lane, Baldwin, & Preskorn, 1995). SSRIs are better tolerated than tricyclic antidepressant medication because they cause less sedation and problematic anticholinergic effects. There are also reports indicating that SSRIs have fewer negative effects on the cardiovascular system than tricyclic antidepressants (Edwards, 1992).

Jennifer Garam started taking antidepressants in hope that they would work on her depression. In 2010 Jennifer went to the psychiatric for the first time because she was sick and tired of constantly getting knocked down by depression and anxiety, on top of that she had “a few small OCD tendencies” that turned into an everyday ritual. The psychiatric recommended for her to be on a medication. That night she swallowed the pill. She woke up in the morning, she felt 10 times better, she couldn’t believe it. Day 2 it got worse, she couldn’t sleep, she didn’t have an appetite. Day 3 she wasn’t her normal self. Day 4 she felt like she was trapped in a bubble, she was spaced-out and numb. Day 5 she called the psychiatric, she told her she wanted to be taken off of the medication. Off the medication she felt better then when she was taking it, as the medication left her body she felt better then ever. Research has confirmed that antidepressant drugs are no more effective than sugar pills. In some studies sugar pills may have better results than antidepressants. The best known psychological side effect of SSRIs is “amotivational syndrome”, that syndrome is a condition in where your inspiration diminishes to do anything. When Yale University's Department of Psychiatry analyzed the admissions to their hospital’s psychiatric unit, they found out that 8.1% of their patients were “found to have been admitted owing the antidepressant mania or

Depression, also known as Major Depressive Disorder, as defined by Mayo Clinic, is a mood disorder characterized by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life. The most common symptoms include (but are not limited to): feelings of sadness, emptiness, worthlessness, or hopelessness; anxiety, agitation, or restlessness; loss of interest in pleasurable activities; disturbances in sleep or appetite; trouble thinking, concentrating, or remembering things; thoughts of death, suicide, or suicide attempts/suicide. [1] Fluoxetine, also known as Prozac, is a medication used to treat certain mental issues such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders, and panic attacks.

People who experience depression can often find relief in taking antidepressants. An antidepressant affects the way the brain passes neurotransmitters, which include, serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, to the different nerve cells in the brain. A study published in Current Biology found that antidepressants change the way the brain cells communicate with one another in as little as a day. It's common, however, for it to take weeks before patients notice a difference in their depression symptoms. Understanding the different ways that antidepressants affect the neurotransmitters can help patients get the relief they need.

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) are currently one of the most controversial groups of medicines, with fluoxetine, more commonly known by its brand name Prozac, at the head of the controversy. Opponents of the use of SSRI medications as a successful and safe method for treating depression and related disorders assert that the actions of the drug are an unnatural and a dangerous form of tampering with our neurochemistry. Not only are these medications incredibly safe in almost all cases, they are actually an unnatural method of modifying an already disordered, natural sequence of chemicals in the brain, and therefore are not a form of tampering, but are a method for fixing

In general, depression can be effectively treated, even in some of the most severe cases. However, the earlier depression treatments begin, the more effective they are.

Book Summary Peter Kramer’s book, “Listening to Prozac” investigates the use of the medication fluoxetine, or better known as Prozac. Prozac is a selective serotonin inhibitor (SSRI) which means that it affects chemicals in the brain believed to responsible for depression, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Prozac is prescribed to treat these mental illnesses and is currently one of the most widely-used antidepressants used in the United States. According to Kramer’s book, not only does Prozac treat depression but it make people feel better than well. It was explained in this book that Prozac can transform the client’s behavior.

Psychotropic medication may help mask symptoms, but it also has side effects. Evidence that has been presented above shows how recreational therapy has the ability to take away unneeded psychotropic medications. There are still skeptics who would say that medicine is the most precise way to relieve psychological symptoms in patients. It is a good argument that often sways doctors to choose medication over natural healing. Medication has a downside that they forget about, such as side effects and dependency. Side effects are silent killers, as they can take away coherency and cause medical problems. According to a survey done by Whitney Allen, a health researcher, found that over 80% of antidepressant medicine takers stopped taking the pills

This report will focus on the effects and memory of therapeutic and off label drugs. A study shown by Star*D gives insight to the first exposure to a patient taking antidepressant, that only 28% to 33% will go into complete remission. Total remission of depressive symptoms is now the aim of current modern antidepressant psychopharmacology (Rosse, Richard MD 2007). Research has shown that mostly all the market available antidepressant users are very effective in treating depression. It has been proven to in fact elevate the patient’s mood and help retake interest in everyday life. Aside other frustrations such as poor sleep and concentration and loss of care for sleep this drug has been effective. Antidepressants have also been successfully