Comments on: The truth about depression medicine http://www.bloggernews.net/114157 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Wed, 25 Nov 2009 07:11:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Michael J Lewin Sr, http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-1121794 Michael J Lewin Sr, Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:27:38 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-1121794 Many times pain is th cause of depression and it is the use as SSRIs that instigate and participates the increase in chronic pain making life unable to these that are deprived pain relive. The same receptors in the brain that our bodies receive our own bodies endorphins ( our bodies opiates)causing a increase of agitations and some pain receptions. Many times pain is th cause of depression and it is the use as SSRIs that instigate and participates the increase in chronic pain making life unable to these that are deprived pain relive. The same receptors in the brain that our bodies receive our own bodies endorphins ( our bodies opiates)causing a increase of agitations and some pain receptions.

]]> By: Sam http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-245299 Sam Sat, 01 Mar 2008 01:13:29 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-245299 I hate to say it, but this is another typical Doctor Rant about the wonders of the anti-depressant drugs missing the whole entire sad point. This is hardly "the "truth" about depression medicine" - the very title of the piece betrays the prejudice of the writer. If one were to read a detailed careful study of this controversial issue in the recent British Medical Journal, you would see that the so-called "truth" is hardly that clear. Go to the website called Effexor Petition and read thousands of patients talking about the effects of one particular anti-depressant on their lives and you will get some notion of the risk of these drugs for some people. The notion that these drugs have reduced suicide rates and that the black box warnings have caused more suicide is simply NOT TRUE. If you read the warnings, they are nothing more or less than common sense.. advising doctors to use caution, to use some reasonable practices in treating patients rather than just prescribing pills the way the doctor suggests. These medicines have effect on the brain.. They are not candy, not aspirin, not some harmless medicine.. they carry serious risk and must be managed seriously.. That is really the trouble. They have been prescribed so easily without regard for risk. That is THE TRUTH. We need psychiatrists who spend the time to read up about the medicines and properly inform patients and families about warning signs. Most simply were not doing that. There is loads of evidence. Could they be helpful..? Yes, in some cases.. but it is not as simple as the doctor puts it here. And some of what she writes here is simply NOT THE TRUTH... Not exactly lies, but distortions of the real scientific facts and the recent research on this. Some of these drugs do increase risk of suicidal thoughts and ideation. There are anecdotal cases.. even a case of a normal subject in a study without a history of suicidal tendencies who actually killed herself in the laboratory of the manufacturer. The one case does not make a study, but the mere fact that these drugs do cause increased suicidal thoughts, means they have to be managed very very very carefully.. That is the truth... Sam I hate to say it, but this is another typical Doctor Rant about the wonders of the anti-depressant drugs missing the whole entire sad point. This is hardly “the “truth” about depression medicine” - the very title of the piece betrays the prejudice of the writer. If one were to read a detailed careful study of this controversial issue in the recent British Medical Journal, you would see that the so-called “truth” is hardly that clear.
Go to the website called Effexor Petition and read thousands of patients talking about the effects of one particular anti-depressant on their lives and you will get some notion of the risk of these drugs for some people. The notion that these drugs have reduced suicide rates and that the black box warnings have caused more suicide is simply NOT TRUE. If you read the warnings, they are nothing more or less than common sense.. advising doctors to use caution, to use some reasonable practices in treating patients rather than just prescribing pills the way the doctor suggests. These medicines have effect on the brain.. They are not candy, not aspirin, not some harmless medicine.. they carry serious risk and must be managed seriously.. That is really the trouble. They have been prescribed so easily without regard for risk. That is THE TRUTH.
We need psychiatrists who spend the time to read up about the medicines and properly inform patients and families about warning signs. Most simply were not doing that. There is loads of evidence. Could they be helpful..? Yes, in some cases.. but it is not as simple as the doctor puts it here.
And some of what she writes here is simply NOT THE TRUTH…
Not exactly lies, but distortions of the real scientific facts and the recent research on this. Some of these drugs do increase risk of suicidal thoughts and ideation. There are anecdotal cases.. even a case of a normal subject in a study without a history of suicidal tendencies who actually killed herself in the laboratory of the manufacturer. The one case does not make a study, but the mere fact that these drugs do cause increased suicidal thoughts, means they have to be managed very very very carefully.. That is the truth…
Sam

]]> By: Ian Westmore http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-245249 Ian Westmore Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:37:45 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/114157#comment-245249 In fact we did see angry kids shooting themselves and others long before antidepressants, and particularly SSRIs became readily available. For example, the first school shooting occurred in 1966 (University of Texas at Austin), and they have occurred at 1-2 year intervals since. The first tricyclic antidepressants date to about 1968, and SSRIs were first released in the U.S. in 1989. As for the recent Kirsch study, while the authors claim that antidepressants aren't effective in moderate to severe depression, the studies they used for their meta-analysis were almost all of very severely depressed patients. On a small number of subjects in one small study were moderately depressed. So the conclusion Kirsh et al. reached is not supported by any of the data in their study. Nor is this the only flaw. In fact we did see angry kids shooting themselves and others long before antidepressants, and particularly SSRIs became readily available.

For example, the first school shooting occurred in 1966 (University of Texas at Austin), and they have occurred at 1-2 year intervals since. The first tricyclic antidepressants date to about 1968, and SSRIs were first released in the U.S. in 1989.

As for the recent Kirsch study, while the authors claim that antidepressants aren’t effective in moderate to severe depression, the studies they used for their meta-analysis were almost all of very severely depressed patients. On a small number of subjects in one small study were moderately depressed. So the conclusion Kirsh et al. reached is not supported by any of the data in their study. Nor is this the only flaw.

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