THE DEBATE OVER ANTIDEPRESSANT MEDICATIONS

People often ask me as a provider of alternatives to antidepressant medications, if I am against then?  My reply is "No, they save lives.  They are often band-aids, however, and to remove them, the cause has to be addressed.  This may include examining the emotional causes of depression by talking to a therapist or addressing the physical causes by making sure that the client is getting enough of the right nutrients to make neurotransmitters."

I also like to point out that part of the reason that antidepressants are not a very predictable medication is that the definition of depression is not a physiological definition.  It is a behavioral definition.  There is often some shame around using an antidepressant medication.  This I feel is unfortunate.  By way of comparison, there is little shame associated with taking hypertension medications.  There is often more one can do to affect hypertension such as reduce salt, increase exercise and learn to meditate.  All of which seem a lot easier than changing a challenging childhood.

NATION-WIDE CONVERSATION: USE of POPULAR DRUGS in the TREATMENT of DEPRESSION
On February 8, 2010, Newsweek Magazine's cover story featured an article by Sharon Begley entitled "The Depressing News About Antidepressants".  Ms Begley's banner following the article title reads: "Studies suggest that the popular drugs are no more effective than a placebo.  In fact, they may be worse."

Sharon Begley Factoid:  "The number of Americans taking antidepressants doubled in a decade from 13.3 million in 1996 to 27 million in 2005."

Much of Begley's article is a re-cap of landmark research studies and reports.  For example, early studies state that "antidepressants (tricyclics to the newer selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors--SSRIs--that target serotonin such as Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac and their generic descendants plus newer drugs that also target nor epinephrine) help about three-quarters of people with depression who take them,"

The Journal of the American Medical Association recently underscored the "Yes, but" findings: "Yes, the drugs are effective, in that they lift depression in most patients, but the benefit is hardly more than what patients get when they, unknowingly and as part of a study, take a dummy pill-a placebo."  For some scientists who study depression and its treatments, the previously named antidepressants are "basically expensive Tic Tacs".  Belief appears to be very good medicine.

Irving Kirsch and Guy Sapirstein, psychology researchers from the University of Connecticut, through their study did prove that patients improved by taking the drugs AND with the dummy pills.  "The majority of the drugs' effect came from the fact that patients expected to be helped by them, and not from any direct chemical action on the brain, especially for anything short of very severe depression."  By no means, does Kirsch advocate that patients suffering from depression who are presently taking the drugs stop.  However, he does suggest that prescribing drugs is "not the best first choice in dealing with depression."

You may read the complete article at this link: http://www.newsweek.com.