Anti-Depressants: Cures or Cold Comfort?

Did you know that 25-50% of  college students, 23% of middle-aged women, and 11% of Americans take anti-depressants like Lexapro, Celexa, Prozac, Effexor, Paxil and Zoloft, otherwise known as Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s)? This is despite some disturbing facts. First, the self-same drugs have been banned for use in children in the UK because they increase the risk of suicide and the FDA has issued a black box warning that they may have the same effect in young adults. Second, although these medications may help those who are very severely depressed, the data suggest that they only help 30% of others, which is the same as placebo–in other words, they don’t work. Third, up to 38% of people taking SSRI’s experience a serious side effect, the most common being sexual dysfunction, drowsiness, or weight gain–all rather depressing in themselves. Finally, even though 14% of the people taking antidepressants take more than one type, less than half of them have seen a mental health professional in the last year.

Patient information sheets also raise questions-if indeed a person bothers to read them. Take this, quoted directly from a Mayo Clinic publication, “Precisely how SSRIs affect depression isn’t clear. Some research suggests that abnormalities in…. SSRIs seem to relieve symptoms of depression … SSRIs are called selective because they seem to affect only serotonin.” Despite this fact, SSRI’s are the third most commonly prescribed drug type, even being given to infants and small children.

Now, we are not ruling out the possibility that many pharmaceutical company researchers and executives may have good intentions. But, it is also very possible that, in some cases, the pressures inherent in the system might result in bowing to an underlying financial motive that outweighs possible risk to patients. After all, as editor Boseley observes, the “data which suggests the drugs could be causing children to feel murderous and suicidal [were] in drug company hands for several years” before being published. Recommended for further reading, Psychology Today‘s Five Reasons not to take SSRIs.