Antidepressants Work.
Since they were developed, antidepressants have been under controversy, called placebos and sugar pills, and ineffective. I’d struggled with anxiety, depression, and insomnia for 45 years before I took medication because the research said it did not work that well. Five to seven of my closest friends had had life-altering experiences with the antidepressants which were what convinced me to try it.
A 2018 Guardian article came out after The Lancet’s extensive review of earlier studies. The Lancet is” the authoritative voice in global medicine”. The Lancet research studies show antidepressants work.
Things Doctors Think About When Prescribing Meds
- Your symptoms
- Side effects
- If the medication has worked for anyone else in your family.
- Whether you are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Other medications your are taking
- Other conditions you have that might be made worse by this medication.
- Cost and health insurance coverage-which should not be a condition but is.
Professor Carmine Pariante, spokesperson for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said the analysis “finally puts to bed the controversy on antidepressants, clearly showing that these drugs do work in lifting mood and helping most people with depression. Importantly, the paper analyses unpublished data held by pharmaceutical companies, and shows that the funding of studies by these companies does not influence the result, thus confirming that the clinical usefulness of these drugs is not affected by pharma-sponsored spin.”
Even though there were so many people with anecdotal stories about it changing people’s lives. It has made people myself included not take medications because I had read they weren’t effective
My mom suffered from anxiety/depression all her life but because my extended family thought these types of mental health conditions were character weaknesses rather than real medical problems. Her anxiety made her distracted and unable to focus on me. She was not able to get medication until she was 50. I was 30-already grown and flown. As happy I was to get a mom it was too late for me. One little pill made her focused and interested.
Dr. James Warner, a reader in psychiatry at Imperial College London, said: “This rigorous study confirms that antidepressants have an important place in the treatment of depression. Depression causes misery to countless thousands every year and this study adds to the existing evidence that effective treatments are available.”
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, chair of the Royal College of GPs, said taking antidepressants was frequently portrayed as a negative thing “but this in itself can add to the unfortunate stigma that sometimes exists around people with mental health conditions”.
When I hear people describe antidepressants as “happy pills” that does not ring true. I have my emotions an edge off the anxiety and depression. I don’t feel flattened out. The anxiety and depression are there in a more manageable form.
Until you try medications it can be hard to see how many negative thoughts you have and how much is a normal amount when you know what like to be yourself. The medication for me quieted down those negative thoughts.
Categories of Antidepressants
Tricyclics
SSRIs
MAOIs
Atypical Antidepressants
TCAs can have more serious side effects than other antidepressants. Tricyclic antidepressants — such as imipramine (Tofranil), nortriptyline (Pamelor), amitriptyline, doxepin and desipramine (Norpramin)
Doctors usually start by prescribing an SSRI. These medications generally cause less side effects include fluoxetine (Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil, Pexeva), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa) and escitalopram (Lexapro).
Should only be prescribed when other meds have not worked. They have serious sometimes fatal side effects. MAOIs include: tranylcypromine (Parnate), phenelzine (Nardil) and isocarboxazid (Marplan) . Using an MAOI requires a strict diet because of dangerous (or even deadly) interactions with foods — such as certain cheeses, pickles and wines — and some medications, including pain medications, decongestants and certain herbal supplements. Selegiline (Emsam), an MAOI that you stick on your skin as a patch, may cause fewer side effects than other MAOIs.
These work different than the SSRIs,Tricyclics, and MAOIs. medications. More commonly prescribed antidepressants in this category include trazodone, mirtazapine (Remeron), vortioxetine (Trintellix), vilazodone (Viibryd) and bupropion (Wellbutrin SR, Wellbutrin XL, others). Bupropion is one of the few antidepressants not frequently associated with sexual side effects.
New Medications
Ketamine
Ketamine is finding new use as an effective medication for treatment resistant depression.
CBD/Psychedelics/MDMA
These are all potential new treatments being researched for anxiety and depression.
