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Antidepressant use doubles in US, study finds
Reuters ^ | 03 Aug 2009 | Reuters

Posted on 08/04/2009 4:19:34 AM PDT by rarestia

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday.

About 6 percent of people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996 -- 13 million people. This rose to more than 10 percent or 27 million people by 2005, the researchers found.

(Excerpt) Read more at alertnet.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: antidepressants; depression; mentalhealth; psychiatry
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Searched FR before posting, nothing came up with antidepressant in the title or depression in the keyword.

My problem with this "issue" is that no one is making correlations. For instance, obesity rates are climbing quickly, almost on par with the use of these pharmas. Suicides are increasing among those who use these drugs.

Having been through bouts of severe depression, I can happily say that I've never touched these pills. There's NOTHING a good run outside or an hour in a gym can't do to raise your mood that these drugs to better. All-in-all, people are growing lazy and giving up on themselves, so they grow fat and depressed. Then they get off these meds thinking their better, and the next story we hear is about someone shooting up a school or killing themself with the inevitable, "It was discovered they were on antidepressants," popping up in the news a few days later.

1 posted on 08/04/2009 4:19:34 AM PDT by rarestia
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To: rarestia

I’m 43 and started taking Celexa (Citalopram) last summer. It wasn’t for depression — it was for the unhinged mood swings caused by perimenopause. GAAAH!! I’ve never experienced anything like that in my life. I can’t take estrogen so it’s been a huge life saver.

I was seriously contemplating chewing on the walls. The only thing holding me back was a lack of metal teeth. That’s when I knew I needed a bit of assistance.


2 posted on 08/04/2009 4:23:12 AM PDT by Kieri (The Conservatrarian)
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To: Kieri

I’m 53 and went through peri and full blown pause without the aid of medication OR hormones.

I guess it’s different for everybody, or everybody handles things differently.


3 posted on 08/04/2009 4:25:58 AM PDT by colorcountry (A faith without truth is not true faith.)
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To: rarestia

If I had to live in Obozoland now, I would also be on antidepressants .


4 posted on 08/04/2009 4:26:21 AM PDT by AlexW (Now in the Philippines . Happy not to be back in the USA for now.)
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To: rarestia

Of course the use is high and rising.

No one can stand the Incompetent, The Won in the White House.

I wouldn’t be surprised if drug and alcohol use was up too, with Insane Nan Pelosi, Harry Reid and Biden in there.

One has to be drugged to listen to Zero speak.


5 posted on 08/04/2009 4:48:38 AM PDT by OpusatFR (Those embryos are little humans in progress. Using them for profit is slavery.)
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To: rarestia

Good for you, but I am exceedingly tired of people who have never used them making blanket statements about what this class of drugs can/can’t do and how they act.

For people where there is already a genetic predisposition to out-of-whack neurotransmitter balances these drugs can be a life saver.

Without them my mother would have ended up like HER mother, in and out of mental institutions for 10 years in her 40s and 50s. And my mother does exercise regularly, not overweight, good diet, etc.

There are a lot of things that people could be doing and aren’t that would improve their mood - diet (refined carbs and depression may be linked), proper fatty acid balance (Omega 3s have a marked effect on some), improved Vitamin D levels (deficiency is rampant because of the skin cancer scare) and exercise (boost serotonin).

But these things don’t work on everyone, nor to the same extent (if the depressed person is even well enough to take proper care of themselves, which is another issue). Drugs can be a life saver to those in this class, and as a jump-start to get the seriously depressed functional enough to where they can help themselves.

LQ


6 posted on 08/04/2009 4:49:16 AM PDT by LizardQueen (The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.)
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To: Kieri

“...it was for the unhinged mood swings caused by perimenopause. GAAAH!! I’ve never experienced anything like that...”

I hear you. Went through the same thing and worked in an insane office at the same time.

Seriously, the people I worked with were insane.

I got a double whammy of psychosis on both ends!! ( -;


7 posted on 08/04/2009 4:50:41 AM PDT by OpusatFR (Those embryos are little humans in progress. Using them for profit is slavery.)
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To: rarestia

If I here the phrase “let me be perfectly clear”, or the word “inherit” one more time I may go on them myself!


8 posted on 08/04/2009 4:52:55 AM PDT by RU88 (Bow to no man)
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To: rarestia

So many times, antidepressants are marketed and prescribed for more indications other than depression such as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMS on steriods), menopause, irritable bowel, fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic pain, autism, and obsessive compulsive disorders. Basically, you gotta problem, we gotta little pill for it.

I can’t wrap my mind around prescribing a pill for depression that has been shown (and must be labeled) as causing a potential for suicidal ideation. Perfect. If a depressed patient is standing on a ledge, I want to give her a pill that will push her over that ledge (/s). No, I’m not a doctor.

The pharmaceutical companies promote this theory of a serotonin imbalance. However, no studies have determined what a “normal” level of serotonin is. Google marketization of SSRIs and/or SSRI and placebo. Always remember, pharms do NOT have to publish negative studies. Those are withheld. I recommend reading a brief tutorial at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_inhibitor.


9 posted on 08/04/2009 5:05:54 AM PDT by TennesseeGirl
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To: Kieri

I thank God for the advances in these medications and I would venture to say that the improvement in the medications, i.e. SSRI’s is one of the reasons for the increase. Depression is a hellacious torment and to find a medication that works is wonderful. My Mom went through her life on a series of tranquilizers and antidepressant medications that just didn’t work. Fortunately, I have Effexor and lead a normal life that she rarely enjoyed.

I look forward to the day when people finally understand that depression really is a chemical imbalance in the brain and not a character weakness.


10 posted on 08/04/2009 5:50:24 AM PDT by Clintons Are White Trash (Lynn Stewart, Helen Thomas, Rosie ODonnell, Maureen Dowd, Medea Benjamin - The Axis of Ugly)
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To: rarestia
... probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported

Don't expect "researchers" to come up with relevant facts or potentially useful conclusions or anything. That would use up time they could spend applying for the next government "research" grant.

11 posted on 08/04/2009 5:52:15 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("If the worst that Barack Obama does is ruin the economy, I will breathe a sigh of relief." Sowell)
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To: Kieri

I’m 43 and just had a baby. Can I have your menopause?


12 posted on 08/04/2009 5:53:30 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("If the worst that Barack Obama does is ruin the economy, I will breathe a sigh of relief." Sowell)
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To: rarestia

Wonder what they’d see if they tracked antidepressant use daily, beginning just before the last election...


13 posted on 08/04/2009 6:19:06 AM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: Tax-chick
"I’m 43 and just had a baby. Can I have your menopause?"

It's not the lack of menopause causing the babies, ma'am!
LOL!

14 posted on 08/04/2009 6:22:44 AM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: Tax-chick

(btw: we had our latest/last son when we were both 48, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything in this world or the next!)


15 posted on 08/04/2009 6:24:28 AM PDT by Redbob (W.W.J.B.D.: "What Would Jack Bauer Do?")
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To: Clintons Are White Trash
I look forward to the day when people finally understand that depression really is a chemical imbalance in the brain and not a character weakness.

What you're talking about is genuine depression.

What 'depression' has come to in this country is what 'autism' and 'ADD' has become - a catch-all term for a nonspecific thing whereby pills can be dispensed.

I also think today's 'depression' is really, in many cases, boredom with life, frustration with a stressful lifestyle, a self-obsession over one's every emotion, despondence over realizing that happiness is not a constant state, the emptiness of one night stands and sexual 'freedom', etc.

16 posted on 08/04/2009 6:34:37 AM PDT by Lizavetta (In Communism everything is free. But there isn't any of it.)
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To: Redbob

Congratulations! I wouldn’t give Frank back, or any other baby now matter how old I get. (But I’m *really* tired!)


17 posted on 08/04/2009 6:43:00 AM PDT by Tax-chick ("If the worst that Barack Obama does is ruin the economy, I will breathe a sigh of relief." Sowell)
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To: Lizavetta; TennesseeGirl
I also think today's 'depression' is really, in many cases, boredom with life, frustration with a stressful lifestyle, a self-obsession over one's every emotion, despondence over realizing that happiness is not a constant state, the emptiness of one night stands and sexual 'freedom', etc.

Bingo! And I agree with TennesseeGirl's assessment of overproscribing of SSRIs. As a psych clinic orderly in college, I saw the great things these drugs could for for people with genuine problems, but I saw and equal and even greater incidence of suidice attempts come through our doors because teens and 20-somethings were off their meds. It was really mind-boggling!

I've gone through periods of life with a "pervasive negative affect" (see the DSMIV on the definition for depression), but I always managed to snap out of it with a change in diet and exercise. Those times were usually accompanied by some life-altering event (breakup, death of a family member/pet, school stress, quitting of recreational drugs like marijuana or alcohol, etc.), but once I lifted myself up by the bootstraps and forged ahead, I went back to my normal, happy, motivated self.

People need to realize that the use of these drugs is not without complication or risk. I am dealing with a sibling who is addicted to pain killers, and he was once prescribed them after dental surgery. It's amazing how quick he declined, and now we have to worry about valuables being stolen or his violent mood swings. Pharmaceuticals are becoming the next "big" industry, and I think the lobbyists need to be silenced and real examples like my sibling be brought in front of Congress to show them, "THIS is what they're doing to us!"

18 posted on 08/04/2009 6:50:36 AM PDT by rarestia ("One man with a gun can control 100 without one." - Lenin / MOLWN LABE!)
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To: colorcountry

I was going psycho. I can talk myself out of a lot of things but this was so over-the-top it was crazy. The low dose is enough to prevent me from murdering my poor husband and gnawing happily on his head.


19 posted on 08/04/2009 6:58:21 AM PDT by Kieri (The Conservatrarian)
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To: Kieri

Really? So you’re saying that if you had been born 100 years ago, you would have been a murderer? That you could not control yourself any other way than to take drugs?

That’s an interesting thought.


20 posted on 08/04/2009 7:05:19 AM PDT by colorcountry (A faith without truth is not true faith.)
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