Antidepressants are among the most prescribed medications in the United States. Many doctors prescribe SSRI and SNRI antidepressants as a safer alternative to benzodiazepines. Doctors consider antidepressants safer because the drugs have less potential for abuse. Despite this, some people abuse antidepressant medications. “A small but growing literature on the misuse and abuse of antidepressants consists largely of case reports. […] The most commonly reported motivation for abuse is to achieve a psychostimulant-like effect.” Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, Abuse and Misuse of Antidepressants, 2014 Antidepressants don’t have the euphoric effects other drugs have. In other words, antidepressants can’t get you high. That doesn’t
Introduction: For my research project I would like to explore the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs. Antidepressant drugs are used are used to treat major depression and other conditions, some of which include anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain and other disorders. Around the world antidepressants are used to cure these types of mental illnesses. It is argued by both medical professionals and other people whether or not they believe that antidepressants work. According to Mayo Clinic one in ten Americans take an antidepressant. Today, antidepressants have became the most common way around the world to treat major depression
Treating depressive and bipolar disorders with antidepressants remains a popular option in clinical practice. Most clinicians choose the drug or class of drugs, usually selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRI's, that is most effective and best tolerated with fewer severe side effects. These drugs are beneficial because they specifically target serotonin-based areas of the brain without affecting other neurotransmitter systems. SSRI's largely replaced tricyclic antidepressants which work by blocking the absorption (reuptake) of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, thereby increasing the levels of these two neurotransmitters in the brain. Tricyclic antidepressants present severe side effects and thus are usually only used when other treatments have failed. If SSRI's or tricyclics are not effective Monoamine oxidase inhibitors may be prescribed. MAOI's, enhance tyramine to increase norepinephrine and serotonin. While taking MAOI's you must abstain from foods and alcohol that contain tyramine such as, yogurt, aged cheese, and substances such as cold medications. This is because a potential toxic reaction could occur. Additionally, other antidepressants may be utilized such as Wellbutrin (bupropion) an NDRI-
...ossible adverse interactions between an antidepressant medication and the substances a patient is abusing (such as the potential for increased sedation or intoxication).” (p 29).
Jeremy Laurance’s article “Ketamine: a cure for depression?” published in The Independent in October 2012, sanctions the use of a drug of abuse called ketamine for the treatment of depression. The author supports this theory by stating a study completed by Robert Dunman, a professor of Psychiatry and Neurobiology at Yale University School of Medicine in Boston. The following paragraph will summarise the main points of the article and discuss the evidence used by the author.
Depression is becoming more common among adults due to the stresses that accompany everyday living. Along with the increasing numbers of adults suffering from depression, an ongoing rise in depression among the youth is also becoming a growing concern. Depression induced by peer pressure, bullying or other stresses can contribute to the growing numbers of adolescents taking antidepressants. According to Dr. Vincent Iannelli, there is an estimate that 3 percent of children and about 12 percent of teens suffer from depression. What most people are misinformed about is that they believe that antidepressants will prevent users from having depression or stop it completely. This is a misconception about antidepressants that can be misleading. The idea of taking a supplement to combat an internal emotional conflict should be severed out as a means of treatment unless ultimately necessar...
What determines a good' article from a bad' one? In the Des Moines Register on February 3, there was an article titled, More parents, doctors refuse to put kids on antidepressants," was written by Marilyn Elias. Elias is a well-known writer from USA Today, and has written on topics such as stress, marriage, and health. The article was about the effects on children, ages 18 and younger, taking depression pills. There are many elements that establish a good' article from a bad' one. Some of these elements would be the content, reader, and credibility.
FDA research has shown that tricyclic antidepressants such as Paxil can actually increase the severity of depression and suicidal behavior in teens and young adults. In the shocking expose “Treating the Mentally Ill,” medical journalist Rob Waters warns “Antidepressants including Paxil, Prozac, Zoloft, and Effexor have provoked hostile behavior and thoughts about suicide in a number of teenagers who have been prescribed the drugs. Some of th...
Antidepressants are usually a type of drug called SSRIs. SSRI stands for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. The most popular antidepressants such as Zoloft, Paxil, Celexa, Lexapro and Luvox are all SSRIs (Antidepressant Medications for Children and Adolescents). Many newer antidepressants are SSRIs due to less side effects and more safe for adults compared to other older generations of antidepressants. Children and teens on the other hand are not. In fact, the FDA put a black box warning on SSRIs which “is the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling” ( Antidepressant Medications for Children and Adolescents). There’s actually only one SSRI that can be prescribed for depressed children (who must be eight and older) which is Prozac and That hasn’t prevented SSRIs ...
Antidepressant usage has increased all around the world and is used by all ages. Doctors are prescribing more prescriptions, even if the patient does not need the medication. “Antidepressants prescriptions in the UK have increased by 9.6% in 2011, to 46 million prescriptions” (Are Antidepressants overused?). This study took place in the United Kingdom; however, a lot more prescriptions are being prescribed all around the world. The use of antidepressants is increasing to an all time high because doctors do not want to waste time talking about feelings. The psychologist’s just want the patients to feel better quickly so they prescribe antidepressants. Human beings as well as doctors think that prescribing medicat...
...ents from sleeping, patients may be prescribed anti-anxiety medications. As a last resort, doctors may use antidepressants in conjunction with mood stabilizers because using antidepressants solely could potentially make the manic moods more extreme.
...ceutical productions which define the pathology itself. In support of the idea that depression expresses a reduced capacity to interact with the environment rather than an abnormality based around an unidentifiable measurement of “chemical balance,” I will argue that the way in which pharmaceutical drugs standardize chemical deviance and treat mental illness like a biological disease disregards the normative component of depressive illnesses which must be considered as a response in one way or another to the environment in which they are experienced by each patient. By thinking about antidepressants not as correctional of a biological pathology but as a form of adaptation, I hope to show how their use must be considered in relation to values which combine scientific, social and experiential components that cannot be explained by scientific means alone.
I am quite fascinated by generalized control mechanisms and the role they play in the nervous system. I am also quite curious about the relationship between different generalized control mechanisms. The concept of mood and depression in particular have always interested me. I have always wondered what actually causes depression. Why can some people be in a perfectly good mood one day and then less than a week later start exhibiting the signs of clinical depression? I have always been curious about the role that experience and chemical imbalances play in depression and other mood disorders. I donUt totally understand how chemical depression can originate as the result of severe outside stressors in a personUs life. How can this stress go from simply stress in the experiences and environment of a person to a chemical imbalance? I have also wondered why certain people are more susceptible to depression than others. I am curious about whether genetics play a role in depression and whether certain people are more susceptible to depression because of the environment they live in or because of pharmacological reasons and genes. Throughout our class this year, I have wondered about the role that the I-function plays in depression. I find it interesting that it is possible to wake up one morning and be in a nasty mood even if I want to be in a good mood and my I-function is thinking RhappyS thoughts. Through my research for this paper I wanted to find out more about the different kinds of depression and exactly what goes on chemically in the brain when a person is depressed. I also wanted to do a little research on how depression can be treated. I wanted to try and determine how and when the line of simp...
St. John’s Wort is becoming increasingly popular mostly due to the lack of side effects. Other prescription antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil often produce effects like weight loss, sexual dysfunction, and insomnia. In a controlled study of St. John’s Wort, only 2.
Some of the most abused prescription medications are those for mental issues such as, antidepressants, anxiety and sleep disorder. In Britain mixed anxiety & depression is the most common mental disorder, with almost 9% of the people meeting the criteria for the dia...
I would like to talk about the short and long term effects of prescribed and recreational depressants. In order to understand the effects of depressants I think it is important to understand why someone may need depressants. Depressants also referred to as “downers,” are prescribed to treat mental illness. Prescriptions for depressants may treat various mental illnesses such as anxiety and insomnia. A depressant is classified as a psychoactive drug and slows normal brain and central nervous system performance. When used correctly with strict supervision, they are effective in helping with the mental illnesses they are prescribed for. When used incorrectly in improper doses, they can be harmful to the individual taking them. Some people take