Anti-depressants: Major study finds they work

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43143889

 

This seems to be all over the news and would be interested in hearing people's comments, opinions, and experiences. I've seen and heard a lot of people not getting better on AD's and there's been a lot of media and press surrounding the fact that they are no better than Placebo's. Apparently that is not true and there has been a rather large and extensive study indicating that they do work.

 

Take care,

 

 

 

 

Bullshit...thats my opinion. I did not open the link but guess that big pharma payed for that "study".

No this was a study done by the world health organization; independent from any pharmaceutical initiatives (apparently). This question was asked in every news piece I watched and the answer was that pharmaceutical company's were not involved.

Bullshit...thats my opinion. I did not open the link but guess that big pharma payed for that "study".

 

"My minds made up, don't try to confuse me with facts"

Yes Colley, ADs DO WORK for people with dual diagnosis. My life fell apart twice after having tapered ADs to 0. The first time I went directly back to benzos after having discontinued Prozac. I was 11 yrs benzo free.

 

This isn’t a prescriptive site. Some ppl just don’t get it. They are entitled to their own opinion, of course. But saying ppl with serious mental issues that "ADs are bad" may be really dangerous both for the well-being and life of those ppl. I wish the ADs opponents finally understood this fact. ADs have nasty sxs. But may be lifesavers in certain cases. When they are really needed.

 

It would also be good to read this: http://cepuk.org/2018/02/22/antidepressants-work-new-research-proves-nothing-new/

Well they haven't for me. Poly drugged and abused by psychiatry with out a shred of evidence to back up their 'chemical imbalance' mantra. I got hooked on V due to the extreme reaction on a prozac start up. V was meant to calm me down while the Prozac started to work. I was told Z drugs are not addictive and benzos were perfectly safe for up to 6 weeks all by psychiatrists. The worst mistake of my life was going to a psychiatrist and ever starting these 'cures'. Bipolar and other illnesses may need them but in many studies 70% plus of people with anxiety and or depression resolve within 8 or 9 months without treatment. CBT and talking therapies should be the first therapy offered before drug. Problem is we have been led to believe A/D's work and solve the problem. They don't and can't all they ever do is mask the source of the problem.

Just my point of view having been on an host of ssri's, snri's and TCA's along with gabapentoids and antipsychotics over the last 20 years.

Yeah, therapy should be the first line of treatment. If it doesn’t work, then ADs may be added. The therapy shouldn’t be discontinued even if ADs are added, though. ADs are a double-edged sword. Many ppl who don’t really need them are given them for some obscure reasons.

 

I believe ADs do work. Though they made me suffer a lot in my life. I think my original condition would have made me suffer more, though. Ppl blame everything on pdocs, as though they didn’t feel in any way responsible for having taken ADs.

 

Pdocs just prescribed them. They didn’t force-feed all the "AD casualties" with ADs. IMO, all this anti-AD campaign is aimed at absolving oneself of all the responsibility for having taken an AD. And at shifting the responsibility on the "evil pdoc". Not fair, IMO. We are/were the ones taking those ADs.

Yeah, therapy should be the first line of treatment. If it doesn’t work, then ADs may be added. The therapy shouldn’t be discontinued even if ADs are added, though. ADs are a double-edged sword. Many ppl who don’t really need them are given them for some obscure reasons.

 

I believe ADs do work. Though they made me suffer a lot in my life. I think my original condition would have made me suffer more, though. Ppl blame everything on pdocs, as though they didn’t feel in any way responsible for having taken ADs.

 

Pdocs just prescribed them. They didn’t force-feed all the "AD casualties" with ADs. IMO, all this anti-AD campaign is aimed at absolving oneself of all the responsibility for having taken an AD. And at shifting the responsibility on the "evil pdoc". Not fair, IMO. We are/were the ones taking those ADs.

 

Any patient being offred any type of pscyh drug should have been told of the risk and issues before taking them. That's informed consent. In my case I trusted what I was told then found out the horrible truth when it was too late. I didn't ask for V or lyrica or quetiapine or dosulepin etc. My only failing was believing what a psychiatrist was telling me was the truth. I'm now paying the price as my life is in ruins as a result. I had moderate depression and should have been offered councilling but instead was put on drugs that I couldn't tolerate and then V to stop the anxiety the ssri was causing, then Lyrica and so it went on. Not once was it explained to me the downside of any of these medications. So yes, I was forced fed some of these medications. I didn't ask for them and believed those who told me they were the cure for my problems. I'm now a unemployable chronically depressed prescription drug addict as a result with a 12mg V taper to try and manage some how.

From what I am reading,study seems quite flawed. They only studied short term use. 8 weeks! Not addressing any real world studies of people using them for years. They also don't address the hell people experience coming off of them.

 

Even then, it is only slightly less than placebo, with all of AD's unpleasant side effects.

 

I don't think I will ever touch one again. I tried two and they made my head explode, I couldn't last more than a week - it was non-stop 24-7 anxiety.

 

I found the statement "putting to bed" any doubt that anti-depressants don't work a bit arrogant myself.

 

The question is "work for what?". If the problem is depression than they worked for me and still do and I think that for many people there's really no other solution. For anxiety, honestly I'm not 100% sure but I think they help, but maybe not through withdrawal. I've read a lot of positive reviews and I trust them. Unfortunately the best medication to relieve anxiety are benzos and this is why so many of us are on this forum. They worked for us for a while but eventually made us more ill than when we started.

 

I was on Paxil and clonazepam from 2003 to 2009 and felt pretty good. I C/T'd clonazepam and switch my AD to Cipralex and for two years I felt great. No withdrawals from Clonazapam, no depression and no anxiety. However life was great and I had very little stress. When the stress came back so did my depression and anxiety. Cipralex didn't work and I had to start leaning on lorazapam.

 

It's really hard to know what works and what doesn't work but you have to keep trying and you can't just say they don't work because they may not work for you.

Yeah, therapy should be the first line of treatment. If it doesn’t work, then ADs may be added. The therapy shouldn’t be discontinued even if ADs are added, though. ADs are a double-edged sword. Many ppl who don’t really need them are given them for some obscure reasons.

 

I believe ADs do work. Though they made me suffer a lot in my life. I think my original condition would have made me suffer more, though. Ppl blame everything on pdocs, as though they didn’t feel in any way responsible for having taken ADs.

 

Pdocs just prescribed them. They didn’t force-feed all the "AD casualties" with ADs. IMO, all this anti-AD campaign is aimed at absolving oneself of all the responsibility for having taken an AD. And at shifting the responsibility on the "evil pdoc". Not fair, IMO. We are/were the ones taking those ADs.

 

Any patient being offred any type of pscyh drug should have been told of the risk and issues before taking them. That's informed consent. In my case I trusted what I was told then found out the horrible truth when it was too late. I didn't ask for V or lyrica or quetiapine or dosulepin etc. My only failing was believing what a psychiatrist was telling me was the truth. I'm now paying the price as my life is in ruins as a result. I had moderate depression and should have been offered councilling but instead was put on drugs that I couldn't tolerate and then V to stop the anxiety the ssri was causing, then Lyrica and so it went on. Not once was it explained to me the downside of any of these medications. So yes, I was forced fed some of these medications. I didn't ask for them and believed those who told me they were the cure for my problems. I'm now a unemployable chronically depressed prescription drug addict as a result with a 12mg V taper to try and manage some how.

 

Pregabalin (Lyrica) and quetiapine (Seroquel) are not ADs. The first is a mood stabilizer, the second an AP. I believe we’re talking about ADs here.

 

If you had extreme anxiety on Prozac, which is an SSRI. Why did you agree to take another SSRI (Lexapro)? Why didn’t you quit Lexapro right away, but let the pdoc give you Lyrica? You already had nasty experience with Prozac and Valium.

 

I think as long as we don’t recognize our own responsibility in having taken those psych meds and blame everything on the pdocs. There is little chance for us to recover.

 

Why do we actually expect pdocs to be perfect and omniscient? I have also been badly hurt by psych meds in my life. But I prefer to take responsibility for my own actions. For my own good.

 

BTW, if ADs don’t work, why are you still taking mirt?

Yeah, therapy should be the first line of treatment. If it doesn’t work, then ADs may be added. The therapy shouldn’t be discontinued even if ADs are added, though. ADs are a double-edged sword. Many ppl who don’t really need them are given them for some obscure reasons.

 

I believe ADs do work. Though they made me suffer a lot in my life. I think my original condition would have made me suffer more, though. Ppl blame everything on pdocs, as though they didn’t feel in any way responsible for having taken ADs.

 

Pdocs just prescribed them. They didn’t force-feed all the "AD casualties" with ADs. IMO, all this anti-AD campaign is aimed at absolving oneself of all the responsibility for having taken an AD. And at shifting the responsibility on the "evil pdoc". Not fair, IMO. We are/were the ones taking those ADs.

 

Any patient being offred any type of pscyh drug should have been told of the risk and issues before taking them. That's informed consent. In my case I trusted what I was told then found out the horrible truth when it was too late. I didn't ask for V or lyrica or quetiapine or dosulepin etc. My only failing was believing what a psychiatrist was telling me was the truth. I'm now paying the price as my life is in ruins as a result. I had moderate depression and should have been offered councilling but instead was put on drugs that I couldn't tolerate and then V to stop the anxiety the ssri was causing, then Lyrica and so it went on. Not once was it explained to me the downside of any of these medications. So yes, I was forced fed some of these medications. I didn't ask for them and believed those who told me they were the cure for my problems. I'm now a unemployable chronically depressed prescription drug addict as a result with a 12mg V taper to try and manage some how.

 

Pregabalin (Lyrica) and quetiapine (Seroquel) are not ADs. The first is a mood stabilizer, the second an AP. I believe we’re talking about ADs here.

 

If you had extreme anxiety on Prozac, which is an SSRI. Why did you agree to take another SSRI (Lexapro)? Why didn’t you quit Lexapro right away, but let the pdoc give you Lyrica? You already had nasty experience with Prozac and Valium.

 

I think as long as we don’t recognize our own responsibility in having taken those psych meds and blame everything on the pdocs. There is little chance for us to recover.

 

Why do we actually expect pdocs to be perfect and omniscient? I have also been badly hurt by psych meds in my life. But I prefer to take responsibility for my own actions. For my own good.

 

BTW, if ADs don’t work, why are you still taking mirt?

 

Who cares about who is responsible? We are talking about people's lives here. If you had a fire threatening your house, the first task is to put the fire out and then find out who's to blame. Same with psychiatric drugs. The first priority is to get better. It's only when a person is healed enough that it is possible to see where the blame/responsibility falls.

If one blames someone else for their misfortunes, it is easier not to do anything about them. One is focused on the problem, not on the solution. In this particular case, the grudge against an imperfect pdoc. Maybe a quack. It doesn’t really matter anymore. The best one can do do is trying to change one’s life here and now. By learning from negative experience. Not by becoming obsessed with it to the point of losing the ability to move on.

 

If one blames someone else for their misfortunes, it is easier not to do anything about them. One is focused on the problem, not on the solution. In this particular case, the grudge against an imperfect pdoc. Maybe a quack. It doesn’t really matter anymore. The best one can do do is trying to change one’s life here and now. By learning from negative experience. Not by becoming obsessed with it to the point of losing the ability to move on.

 

That makes sense, but a lot of us also have a tendency to blame ourselves for everything, and I think that can lead to increased depression, increased anxiety/panic and more and more suffering. A lot of times the other people do a good job of blaming us, and it's hard to say anything when vulnerable and unable to oppose some of the things people say about us that may not even be true. Also, others have their narratives and ideas that they project on us, and most people are vulnerable and permeable in the psych drug withdrawal state, and don't always have the strong and healthy ego boundaries to decide what's best for themselves. Someone on multiple psych drugs doesn't have the healhy ego boundaries to tell the doctor "no thanks. But I prefer not to take this medication".

 

Yeah, despair and helplessness influences our decisions to a great extent. We’re looking for that "magic cure". Sth outside of ourselves that will fix us. I remember leaving the pdoc’s office full of hope for many yrs. With an Rx for a new AD. Only to become disappointed with the result. I think my current pdoc made an awful lot of mistakes during those eight yrs of treating me. Anyway, he always wanted to help. It’s not his fault that ADs come with a host of sxs. I always carefully read the leaflet and any additional information I could find on a particular AD. I still think that my original illness is much worse than Prozac sxs. Though they are absolutely terrible.

Just read this today. Loved the article. Shows how complicated all this is.

 

http://wellinthishouse.com/you-will-not-shame-me-the-stigma-of-mental-illness-and-prescription-drugs/5604/

Just read this today. Loved the article. Shows how complicated all this is.

 

http://wellinthishouse.com/you-will-not-shame-me-the-stigma-of-mental-illness-and-prescription-drugs/5604/

 

Great article, LRF. I still remember one of my first panick attacks in high school as though it were yesterday. Of course, panick attacks can often be remedied by other means than BDZ. But they really do have to be treated, IMO. Just like insomnia. I constantly fell asleep on the bus to school as a result of sleep deprivation at night. I cannot describe the extent of my teenage depression here. Cause it would be against the forum’s rules. And the therapist wasn’t able to help me with this. Although she was one of the best here. This was all BEFORE PSYCH MEDS. At age 14-16.

I remember a classmate in high school who, one day, just fainted in class, and got really panicked before she fainted. She got the help, but I remember our teacher being so judgmental, and was saying how "she should have handled it better, blah, blah, blah". It's easy for someone who doesn't get panic attacks to make those kinds of judgments about people who get panic attacks. I do remember the shame that I had with my panic attacks, and I think a lot of that was stigma from others. So, i became a master of hiding panic and bad anxiety at all times. I hid them when I was not on bzd's, and when I could no longer hide them, I started taking bzd's to hide those panic attacks, because I was being judged for having them.

 

So, there is plenty of stigma towards people who have bad anxiety/panic attacks long before they take any anxiety medication or antidepressants. It's no wonder that the psychiatric meds are so profitable. If there wasn't such stigma against "pretend illnesses" such as anxiety and depression, maybe fewer people would be taking psychiatric drugs.

 

 

Pregabalin (Lyrica) and quetiapine (Seroquel) are not ADs. The first is a mood stabilizer, the second an AP. I believe we’re talking about ADs here.

 

If you had extreme anxiety on Prozac, which is an SSRI. Why did you agree to take another SSRI (Lexapro)? Why didn’t you quit Lexapro right away, but let the pdoc give you Lyrica? You already had nasty experience with Prozac and Valium.

 

I think as long as we don’t recognize our own responsibility in having taken those psych meds and blame everything on the pdocs. There is little chance for us to recover.

 

Why do we actually expect pdocs to be perfect and omniscient? I have also been badly hurt by psych meds in my life. But I prefer to take responsibility for my own actions. For my own good.

 

 

BTW, if ADs don’t work, why are you still taking mirt?

 

Well, I will be forever grateful to a doctor who nicely convinced me to get off of my 4 week bzd and an AP prescription (given off label for stomach pain) at the age of 17. She didn't say much about the dangers or even about the tolerance, but was nice enough and said that I'd really be better without these meds and that I would do better finding more friends, etc.

 

Unfortunately, it was a short appointment, and I couldn't quite explain that my friends were too busy discovering cigarettes and alcohol, and I'd seen plenty of that at home already. No thanks. So, I got off the meds, but ended up staying very lonely. Was wanting to meet people like myself, but really only had about 3 friends in high school I could really relate to.

 

 

I think as long as we don’t recognize our own responsibility in having taken those psych meds and blame everything on the pdocs. There is little chance for us to recover.

 

Why do we actually expect pdocs to be perfect and omniscient? I have also been badly hurt by psych meds in my life. But I prefer to take responsibility for my own actions. For my own good.

 

 

 

In my case, I was VERY hesitant to take an SSRI. My doctor spent about 10 minutes convincing me that is was a very good idea and that I was being a hypochondriac for not taking it (because I did have anxiety after all). I was hesitant because I was prescribed one 10 yrs earlier for pain in my back - then suffered for two weeks with debilitating panic attacks on the AD. When I never had anxiety or panic at all back then!

 

She told me to start small and work my way up in dosage, and that my disability might be threatened if I didn't try medications.

 

What I endured after that was torture worse than benzo withdrawal. (I was not on benzos back then). 24-7 unrelenting anxiety. I went to the pharmacy explaining what happened and they said "yes these medications often increase your anxiety for a few months. A few months! I could not sleep for a week. I had vivid nightmares like out of a horror movie. 

 

Though I was not force fed the medications, I feel rather let down by my GP by pressuring me into taking them, especially with me voicing my extreme reluctance. And after all the hell with these and now Benzo withdrawal, she is pressuring me to take ADs again. No thanks.

 

 

Regardless of what I experienced (and I am sure that I am not alone). The latest studies still have concluded that anti-depressants work little better than placebo except in some severe cases of depression.

 

I am glad if they have worked for some people.

I do have a few friends on them, for both though - they don't seem like a cure. Both were for anxiety, but for one her AD is not working anymore and is going though WD from her SSRI. The other who was on Effexor found eventually the numbing effect it produced is no longer working and is on a series of them and is still trying to figure it out.

SSRIs have been proven to work short term.

 

But that's not the end of the story. An analysis of helpfulness Vs harm must look beyond a few months.

 

While they "work", they also produce brutal withdrawals and potentially irreversible effects in those that started young or took them long term (I believe this happened to me).

 

 

Of course, since these drugs are fairly new, and because pharmaceutical incentives arent aligned, there's almost no research on the mid to long term effects.

 

 

In future I think antidepressants will be seen almost identically to benzos. For now, many or perhaps most doctors don't even acknowledge withdrawals or long term effects.

 

 

There are many reasons for this. Little research. It wasn't taught. Patients experiences of withdrawal are extremely easily interpreted as relapse - since withdrawal is characterized by anxiety symptoms. It all means that clinical experience and research will take a very long time to become informed.

 

 

I'm someone who's life may have been saved by antidepressants.

 

 

I'm also someone who was caused years of suffering trying slowly and unsuccessfully to taper off them with symptoms that never resolved.

 

 

I'm probably someone who took them too young and had them affect the way my brain was developing, meaning I can never come off them.

 

 

Did they harm or help me ? It's hard to know for sure. They made me suffer for years. But perhaps I wouldn't have been here to suffer otherwise..

In my opinion antidepressants are just another drug pushed by pharma companies that screws with your brain chemistry.  Our bodies and brains aren't meant to be tinkered with by benzos, antidepressants, or other mood medications.  Life has ups and downs but you get through the bad times by staying healthy, exercising, and doing cognitive work.  Even if an antidepressant works for you, then what?  Are you going to stay on it indefinitely and deal with the side effects and tolerance?  At some point you're going to have to come off and deal with the withdrawals, and there are withdrawals because anything that screws with your brain chemistry like AD's is going to leave you out of whack when you stop taking it.  As far as them helping during benzo withdrawal, they might be a short term band aid but you're going to have to come off of them at some point as well. 

Staz states that:  I'm now a unemployable chronically depressed prescription drug addict . . .  NEVER call yourself that.  You are not a drug addict.  You have become dependent on a drug because of a misrepresentation of that drug.  You are a victim!  NOT an addict!