Treatments

| Reasons | New Approach |

What About Antidepressants?

Over 130 million prescriptions for antidepressants were given in 1999 in the U.S. alone. Drug companies and medical personnel usually say that people who feel depressed have a "chemical imbalance" in their brains. The explanation is widely used and accepted as true, accurate and scientifically valid by most people. The implied message about this phrase is that depression is the result of biochemical causes or genetics and thus taking chemicals, in the form of pills, is the biological and only way to correct the imbalance. This idea is at the least misleading and at the most dangerous for several reasons.

• Your body and brain produce chemical changes with every significant thought or feeling you have, food you eat or behavior you act on.
• The phrase "chemical imbalance" is a marketing term that comes from drug companies in an attempt to explain a complex experience in simple terms.
• No objective lab tests are actually preformed on most patients to establish any facts about the chemistry of a person's brain. Instead, it is assumed that depression is biochemical in nature, in spite of research that clearly shows that multiple factors contribute to depression.
• The longer an antidepressant is taken, the greater the chance of symptoms of brain damage, not chemical balance.

At the center of the claims for antidepressants is the neurotransmitter serotonin. A neurotransmitter is a substance that carries messages from one nerve cell to another. Serotonin is the most widespread of over 100 known neurotransmitters. Serotonin is known to play a role in the experience of emotion, but it also affects numerous organs, chemical processes and other body functions. Drug companies claim that their antidepressants work by singling out serotonin and blocking it in ways so that more of it accumulates between nerve cells, thus changing the experience of "bad" emotions. Thus the name Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor or SSRI is used when referring to these new antidepressants. Unfortunately serotonin does not operate in a vacuum, so when serotonin is disrupted, another neurotransmitter, dopamine is also disrupted resulting in numerous serious side-effects. Some of the side-effects include the following:

• Sexual dysfunction is the most often reported complaint. While drug companies state that only 2 to 5% of users report sexual dysfunction, recent studies consistently report from 54 to 75% sexual dysfunction.
• Insomnia is common with the newer antidepressants.
• Disfiguring facial or whole body tics and shaking tends to occur the longer the medication is taken. About 50% of the time these symptoms are permanent.
• Diarrhea occurs more often with the newer antidepressants.
• Suicide/homicide occurs most often as a side-effect of Prozac. It is estimated that about 50,000 people have died due to the direct effect of Prozac since it was introduced in the 1980's.
• Studies now show that women taking Paxil have a 70% chance of having breast cancer while other SSRI's double the chances of breast cancer.

Most people would rather take a costly pill than face painful emotions, talk about their problems or change their lifestyle. It is understandable that people do not want to experience emotional pain. This denial, if left uncontested, can lead to procrastination or other avoidance strategies that can make problems much worse. Drug companies play into the quick-fix desire of the public by offering a chemical explanation. Then, when other crises occur, the user is often less able to cope because he/she may not have learned problem-solving skills from experiences that were avoided by the use of pills.

One of the greatest dangers of all antidepressants are the long-term side-effects. It is now known for many people the effects of antidepressants wear off. This results in needing ever-increasing doses in order to get the same effects. Eventually, antidepressants may loose their effectiveness altogether.

More recently, antidepressants have been used with children in spite of research that shows the drugs are not effective with children. In addition, there is concern that they may cause even more serious damage in children because the developing brain is more vulnerable. Before the antidepressants were put on the market no long-term studies were required, and none were done; therefore, no one knows what the effects will be!

The research industry is laden with political favors, big money influences and vested interests. According to Dr. Glenmullen in his book Prozac Backlash:

"Researchers say one reason for the lack of adequate studies on popularly prescribed medications like the Prozac group is the control pharmaceutical companies exercise over research on drugs as long as they are covered by their patent. For animal research, the pure form of a drug is needed from the manufacturer, as the pill form contains too many additives. But in order to obtain the pure drug, researchers can be required to sign onerous contracts, which, among other things, grant the company the right to veto publication of the results. The careers of scientists depend on publishing their work. Few can invest the time, energy, and money in studies a pharmaceutical company may not allow to be published. All of the serotonin boosters are still covered by their patents. Even when the patent on a drug runs out, obtaining funding for costly animal research can be difficult. Funding for research is typically granted by review boards. Most of the people who sit on review boards are researchers with ties to the pharmaceutical companies that fund at least some of their research. Just one reviewer opposed to a study can easily raise objections that block it."

Taking medications yields both benefits and side-effects. It is recommended that people should consider whether the benefits are worth the side effects and whether there are equally beneficial non-drug alternatives with little or no side-effects? Virtually all antidepressants have strong tendencies to reduce sexual desire and/or performance. This side-effect is not just about sex. When marriages are fragile, it is usually not in the best interest of the relationship to take medications that foster a loss of interest in the opposite sex. Sometimes we are so desperate for relief of depression that we believe it is necessary to take antidepressants because we are told that there are no other good options.

Substance Abuse

Regardless of the type of pill or drug used, some people are prone to abuse chemicals, resulting in the form of dependency known as addiction. While some drugs are more prone to be addicting, some people are also more prone to addictive behavior, regardless of the nature of the substance. Consider the following:

• Severely depressed people are prone to overdose on almost any drug and to be inconsistent in their usage of medication.
• If the features of suicidal thinking and an inability to think clearly are strongly present, the risk of substance abuse exists.
• The message is inadvertently given that taking drugs is the way to solve their problems.
• There are viable alternatives available.

Most women who commit suicide use pills to do so. It is questionable logic to give large quantities of pills to a suicidal patient when pills are the most likely means of self-destruction. It is also highly questionable reasoning to give pills to people who are trying to get over drug abuse because they are likely to abuse the antidepressants. In fact, cocaine is also a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, thus having the same mechanism of action as the new antidepressants. In this case one drug is legal, the other isn't but they operate very similar, a comparison drug companies do not want you to know.

All antidepressants have the potential to be addictive and may have severe withdrawal effects. Studies have shown that only 30% of primary care doctors were aware that patients can experience withdrawal symptoms, and fewer (20%) warn patients about withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawal effects from serotonin boosters can develop within two months. These side-effects are estimated to occur in 86% of patients on Luvox and are particularly likely with Paxil, Effexor and Wellbutrin.

St. John's Wort (Hypericum) and SAMe

St. John's Wort is an herb, which can be bought over-the-counter, has been shown to be effective for some types of depression. Generally, its side-effects have been shown to be substantially less than antidepressants. It may have unwanted effects when it interacts with other medications, so this possibility should be considered. It also has photosensitive side-effects, which means one should limit exposure to the sun in some cases. As a supplement, its dosage is not regulated so the actual amount of the active ingredient in each portion may not be accurate in many cases.

SAMe (S-adenosylmethionine) is a molecule that all living cells produce constantly. It has been shown to be effective with depression, arthritis and liver disease. It has undergone numerous scientific studies in Europe where it has been approved as a drug and prescribed successfully for two decades. The only known side-effect is that it could trigger manic episodes in people diagnosed with bipolar disorder. However, by in large, it is relatively free of negative side-effects and can be bought as a food supplement to help relieve some types of depression.

Electroshock Therapy

Electro convulsive therapy (ECT) can change depression but is a high risk, experimental procedure that may result in permanent brain damage. Research indicates that it has no long-lasting beneficial results. Possible medical side-effects include the following:

• Death
• Brain damage
• Cardiovascular complications
• Extra risks of the three above categories for the elderly
• Seizures and epilepsy
• Memory loss

Emotional effects of ECT includes feelings of terror, shame, helplessness and research indicates no lasting beneficial effects typically occur.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy is a natural approach that is based upon changing unhealthy ways of thinking. It is presumed that when your thoughts change, they automatically, in turn, change your emotions. This approach is often helpful, but not the only means of treatment. In cases of minor depression, it can be effective, but in more severe cases, cognitive therapy usually has little effect upon the emotional aspect of depression.

Many people function on an intellectual basis and are detached from their emotions. Cognitive therapy is focused upon correcting errors in present day logic, not in uprooting early life experiences that may be the underlying cause of depression. Many people intellectually understand what they are doing and how to think, but nonetheless, they continue to be helpless in changing the actual feelings. Strong emotional charges often overwhelm the thought process. Thinking often becomes a product of emotion rather than emotion being a product of thinking. After strong emotional charges of depression are reduced, cognitive therapy can have a stabilizing effect on future emotionally charged experiences.