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Essay about the over use of antidepressants
Essay about the over use of antidepressants
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Prozac -- the Toxic Miracle Drug
America's society has turned to an aggressive means to treat the overwhelming numbers of people who suffer from depression -- antidepressant medication. "The National Institute of Mental Health... has estimated that almost 10 million Americans are seriously depressed and that a total of 14 million will suffer from it during their lifetimes" (7). Taking psychiatric drugs such as Prozac has become trendy. People no longer covertly take antidepressants, but discuss their medications openly as if there were nothing wrong with chemically altering one's brain. This is partly due to how psychiatrists propose the necessity of Prozac and other such drugs. Psychiatrists explain that Prozac will counteract the low levels of serotonin by inhibiting the loss of this neurotransmitter. The low levels of serotonin are said to be the cause of the depression, thus Prozac remedies this disease for certain people. Supposedly, with only a few side effects exhibited in a mere fraction of the patients taking Prozac, happiness can be in one's grasp. Prozac is idealized in this fashion as a euphoric drug. In reality, Prozac harmfully changes one's brain chemistry with no guarantees of reducing one's depression. Society has ignorantly euphemized this toxic drug as the cure of depression because of faulty trial studies, the understatement of the potential adverse reactions, and the neglect of patients prescribed Prozac.
Although Prozac has been on the market since 1988, the initial trial studies that were done on Prozac in order to prove its efficacy were manipulated in order to make the drug pass FDA approval. The drug studies themselves were considerably shady. First of all,
"all FDA drug studies are constructed...
... middle of paper ...
...ood reasons to be having a large percentage of the American society on drugs such as Prozac. There are many natural means to change one's mood such as eating well, taking one's vitamins, getting sufficient sleep, and exercising. It seems today people are more willing to putting themselves at risk by taking antidepressants than they are willing to take care of themselves naturally.
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The Americans started out as a bunch of uncivilized colonies, but after the revolutionary war, they become a strong country that beat Britain for freedom. On Christmas night General George Washington makes a bold decision to cross the Delaware and ambushed the Hessians. Although risky, Washington brought new life to his rag tag army. General Burgoyne decides that in order to win this war, he needs to cut off New England from the rest of the colonies. Burgoyne’s plan sounded like a good idea to the British, but this action could be argued to be the reason why Britain did not win this war. Nearing the end of the war, the British were scarce on man and supplies. Washington took his army and his French allies to Yorktown and finished the British off ending the war. The most pivotal battles in determining the outcome of the American Revolution were battle of Trenton, Battle of Saratoga, and battle of Yorktown.
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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...
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As the majority of people in this world, I suffer from mild depression from time to time. Although this has never been serious enough to cause any changes in my ability to function, it is enough of an interference in my life to cause me to seek some sort of therapy. Most of the time a good healthy cry or some exercise will take care of any mild depression but there are times when more is needed. Many people in this sort of situation are reluctant to try any sort of "personality altering" drug such as Prozac. There is little doubt that these drugs do wonders for people with cases of severe depression but they are a little extreme for the minor depression found in most everyday life. A natural alternative to these synthetic drugs seems greatly appealing to me. Many vitamin and pharmaceutical companies are now offering such a drug: St John's Wort.
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...
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Emotion is a beautiful thing; the sad times let us appreciate the good, and the good times keep us wanting more of life. We are all a little addicted to emotion in some way, whether we like the rush of a horror film, the sad depth of a tragic book, or the endorphin rush of a comedian doing standup. The United States is said to be one of the top in the arts and film, and we clearly have a love for the ups and downs of the world, the nasty, the gritty, and the raw. We are also in the top for depression. Passion is the driving force behind beauty and we are starting to hand over our passion for a little pill. A little dramatic, I’ll give you that, but I’m a dramatic kind of girl and I would hate if that changed because I was talked into taking
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