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Antidepressants may not be worth the risk, researchers say.
I hate this article. I think it does a great disservice to those who would not be alive without antidepressants.
Antidepressant drugs may be doing more harm than good, with their use linked to higher risks of developmental problems in infants and stroke in the elderly, according to new research from McMaster University.?We need to be much more cautious about the widespread use of these drugs,? Paul Andrews, an evolutionary biologist at the Hamilton university said in a release. ?It is important because millions of people are prescribed antidepressants each year, and the conventional wisdom about these drugs is that they?re safe and effective.?That may indeed be the conventional wisdom, but previous studies have sounded the alarm over antidepressants and particular populations.In 2006, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that taking antidepressants during pregnancy might be associated with persistent pulmonary hypertension in newborns, which can be fatal. The study prompted Health Canada toissue an advisory, which noted that earlier research had found that use of antidepressants was associated with an increase in the risk of major birth defects.In the latest research, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, Prof. Andrews and colleagues examined previous patient studies to determine the overall effects of antidepressants on the body. Their conclusion? The risk outweighs the benefits.Most antidepressants work by manipulating levels of serotonin, a naturally produced chemical that regulates mood. But that?s not all serotonin does. It also plays a role in reproduction, forming blood clots at wound sites and digestion.?Serotonin is an ancient chemical. It?s intimately regulating many different processes, and when you interfere with these things you can expect, from an evolutionary perspective, that it?s going to cause some hard,? Prof. Andrews said.The analysis of earlier studies linked antidepressant use to higher risks of not only developmental problems in infants but also problems with sexual stimulation, function and sperm; digestive problems such as constipation, diarrhea, indigestion and bloating; and abnormal bleeding and stroke in the elderly.As well, a handful of studies showed that elderly people who take antidepressants have higher death rates than non-users, even when accounting for other variables.Given these findings, it is time for a serious, widespread discussion about the total effects of antidepressants, not just their benefits, according to Prof. Andrews.
?The thing that?s been missing in the debates about antidepressants is an overall assessment of all these negative effects relative to their potential beneficial effects. Most of this evidence has been out there for years and nobody has been looking at this basic issue,? he said.
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Re: Antidepressants may not be worth the risk, researchers say.
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Nope. It's time for a serious, narrow-spread discussion about the total effects of antidepressants between prescribers and patients.
Ummm...they are depressed
I love my meds, but they do not make life all sunshine and bubbles, they make it livable.
Which risks outweigh which benefits? That's what this doesn't seem to address. I think most people who suffer from severe depression and/or anxiety would gladly suffer some indigestion and bloating in exchange for being able to get up in the morning and actually function, for example.
Slightly off tangent but I have a friend who takes antidepressants as prescribed by a doctor who insists his patients on these drugs also commit to regular exercise.
Is this a regular practice?
My doctor HIGHLY recommended it, saying that it would help boost seratonin and other happy hormones, along with just keeping me healthy in general.
I think exercise is always part of a healthy lifestyle, regardless of antidepressant use.
I don't like seeing any absolutes but in general, yes, you are encouraged to exercise and eat a healthy diet if you have anxiety or depression. You're encouraged to do these things anyway but it can help with those issues. I also don't think people who are on meds long term should be seeing just a GP either but I know that it's hard to find care sometimes.
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Ditto all of this, but a thousand times the bolded.
Soooo going with my recent escapades as a PCE shii!t starter, I guess I'll continue here, though I'll probably be much less irreverent here than other places.
I think there is a valid point to be made but I think it really, really get lost in the crappy message.
My mother had a mental illness and died of it (suicide) in large part due to her being medication sensitive. The few medications available to her had such horrendous and horrible side-effects that it negated her being on them and ultimately it led to her taking her own life (that back in the late 80s). While I get that there are tons of more options now for people, and people should seek those options, I'm sympathetic because I inherited not just mental illness but that same medication sensitivity.
This study focuses a lot on side-effects like bloating or upset stomaches or whatever but for a lot of people who struggle with medications it's well beyond that to the point of unbearable. While I'm happy for people who are given a prescription by their doctor to start taking and it works them with no further major complications, I'm totally sympathetic to people who essentially end up guinea pigs being given cocktails of drugs because their doctors are so bent on curing them with drugs and not alternative treatments. I am all for a medical community that favors going forward, especially with the drug sensitive people, with alternative therapy like 2xD DBT, monthly (or however long it needs to be spaced) ECT and other non-medicated ways of rebalancing brain chemicals.
To be clear I totally agree that the main article just totally shits on how important and happily life changing anti-depressants are for people, I just can read between the lines that we're coming at an impasse where psychiatric doctors need to realize that not all of their patients brain health needs can be treated the same way.
If it's not a unity horse on this board that pharmaceuticals aren't for everyone, I will sign off for good.
/granddaughter of man killed by side effects of experimental drug cocktail
"we're coming at an impasse where psychiatric doctors need to realize that not all of their patients brain health needs can be treated the same way"
This is pretty much what I came in here to say. The article isn't great, sure, but just as talk therapy isn't the best solution for everyone, meds aren't the best solution for everyone, either, and IMO the psychiatric community is at this time relying on them a little too heavily and prescribing them a little too readily, without doing due diligence on what's best for the patient.
Funny - I go to McMaster university and know this professor.
Anyway, my first thought when I saw this article was "have they ever had depression?". Not worth the risk? Antidepressants, mood stabilizers and antipsychotics saved. my. life. I truly believe I would have committed suicide had I not gotten medical help, along with therapy. Sure, taking any kind of medication always involves the associated risks, but I'm glad I have a good quality of life NOW.
SO much this.
YES. It does bother me, and at my most paranoid times, I wonder if doctors (not just psychiatrists) get kickbacks from prescribing. Wasn't it here that someone posted the article on the male birth control in the works in India, that is kind of at a standstill and not even being researched here because big pharma won't make any money on it?
I agree. Of course, what this comes back to is the failure of the managed care model to adequately address health needs in this country. The alternative therapies that might help mitigate some of that risk don't fit so well into the healthcare system as it currently exists---easier to write a prescription, but not ultimately cheaper, and not always to the betterment of the patient, either.
I'm being treated for prenatal depression, and while I'm not on meds (yet), my eyes have been opened to just how risky it is to ban meds for pregnant women. There is absolutely a case for risk management in these scenarios, and for many women, the proper meds under the proper supervision can be vitally important.
It could be irrational but I attributed a lot of my doctor's indifference to my suffering while trying various cocktails of drugs to this exact thing. They were getting paid and getting kickbacks, so what incentive did any of them have to treat me like a real human being who needed empathy and emotional breaks from the kind of crazy those drugs put you through? I'd break down sobbing in my psychiatrists office about how much I couldn't take another round of drugs and they'd give me a half-hearted pat and a "there there, it helps for a lot of people, just stick it out" consolation. It wasn't until I researched people who specialized in medication sensitive patients and alternative mental-health therapy that a doctor recommended ECT to me and actually listened to how miserable the drug regimens made me, and even then I was heavily discouraged from going by my main providers because it wasn't as "stable"... nevermind I relapsed multiple times while under drug-only therapy and haven't once relapsed under alternative therapy.
There's very little money for big pharma to make on depression and mood disorders if it doesn't involve anti-depressants and mood stabilizers in pill form, and thus despite how big of a difference it may make to some, alternatives aren't recommended to people who could direly use them.
Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
I am not a fan of any direct to consumer medication advertising to be honest but Abilify really helped me through a tough period. My psych explained the science of it. It gives you a boost even if you're on an AD. I'm much more in favor of trying that then upping my dosage because then it's harder to reduce it later whereas dropping the Abilify was not bad at all.
ETA. And I didn't ask for it based on the commercials. It was prescribed to me.
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Oh lord, don't even get me started on those TV medication ads. My favorite is the one for psoriasis where the woman's all happy because her skin looks and feels better, but then Scatman John rattles off a list of everything else immunosuppressants do, like make you ridiculously prone to cancer and death from simple infections. I'll eat my hat if I ever see it be widely publicized how very effective moderate sunbathing is for psoriasis, with a much lower risk of death.
I've been in counseling, more than once, and I've never been pushed meds. It was offered, but entirely my choice. It has never been offered initially, either. IME, people treat is as a last resort, although I don't particularly agree with that as much as I don't agree with pushing meds as a first answer.
I've had a PCM offer meds the first time I spoke with him, but no counselors.
I do think it's about time to see if there are major effects in infants of pregnant moms taking antidepressants - you can't add those women to blind studies and so the drug companies and doctors are basically going off animal studies and this might be the first generation of kids from moms with widespread antidepressant use to be studied. (I don't know but the article seems to discuss that a little.)
Why is it wrong to say that it's a good time for the medical community to reassess the stats and risks in certain populations - pregnant women on antidepressants, elderly people on antidepressants, etc.?
Are you united with the CCOKCs?
Oh awesome, I'm glad that an evolutionary biologist is looking at all these hypertension meds the whole population is on and determining they're not worth the risk. I really hate those Lipitor commercials and I think Big Pharma is making so much money off my mom when she could just exercise instead.
MOTHER@&@#$%#&*#$ER
PESCASMASH
Because mental health can't really be quantified in a risk/reward scenario. Because quality of life is more important to most of us than quantity of life. Don't get me wrong...I would LOVE more info on the effect on infants, especially since I don't see me having another child not on my meds.
I am a huge, huge proponent of therapy. But it's often not an either/or choice. There are people who are successful with just therapy, there are people who are successful with just meds, and there are people who are successful with both. Therapy is a) expensive, b) can be hard to find, and then c)can be useless if you don't click with your therapist. Not only that, but therapy means taking time off frequently, and most people don't have the ability to do so. If a good deal of people can be helped with just meds and the occasional check in with a doctor, I don't see anything wrong with that. Andalsoplus, if your chemical makeup is failing you, talk therapy can only do so much.
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Anything you can achieve through hard work, you could also just buy.
Antidepressants may literally be a life saver for many, but often they are also overprescribed .
Exercise, life style changes, avoiding alcohol and drugs as well as talk therapy all have significant benefits for those who are mildly depressed.