Depression, it happens to anyone at anytime even when it’s least expected. Depression is an illness that causes affects on the body, thoughts, and emotions (Chut). It’s a major disorder that can affect all age groups. Depression can happen at random, the events that could possibly cause it to occur include a break up of a relationship, death of a loved one, change in jobs, suffrage from a severe illness, or when being separated from a relative or friend (UXL Encyclopedia of Drugs and Addictive Substances). When treating depression, there are many alternatives that could be put into use.
Patients could use antidepressants to aid, or they can have therapies and other treatments. People from ages eight and above tend to rely on antidepressants over time, thus causing changes in their lives. When someone is known to have depression, a doctor usually prescribes the patient an antidepressant to treat their illness. There are many antidepressants that can be prescribed. Mainly, there are three classifications of antidepressants. One of which are monamine oxidase inhibitors better known as MAOls, used to ease depression.
Also included in the classification are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRIs. These are mainly used for major depression and anxiety disorders. Lastly, there’s also tricyclic drugs or TCA, prescribed for depressive disorders (Chut). Anyone can have depression. It can happen during the childhood ages to an elderly. According to the World Health Organization more than 350 million people suffer from depression worldwide (Qing).
That being said, there is about 7. 5 billion people living in the world right now and from that, 350 million people have some sort of depression occurring in their ives. In the United States, depression affects about 2. 5% of children and 8% of adolescents ( Weir). Many of those who suffer from depression tend to rely on antidepressants. They believe that antidepressants will help fix their lifestyle, in which at times it does not. Antidepressants can affect anyone in any way whether its making them better or worse. There are some circumstances in which doctors tend to prescribe medicine to their patients when they don’t really need it. SSRIs, for example, experts believe they’re being overprescribed (Alic).
Generally they consider SSRIs should only be given to the patients who really need it when they’re having a major disabling depression. Even though for some patients an antidepressant is a functional drug usage for them, misdiagnosis of the prescription substance can be harmful (Redfield). It’s very simple to make a mistake in prescription, especially when dealing with depression because of the varieties of antidepressants that are out in the world. Some doctors who prescribe antidepressants aren’t properly well trained with all the different types of depression (Redfield).
This can simply cause issues to those who are seeking help in getting rid of their illness. Many people are relying on antidepressants for various reasons. Young adults end up taking psychiatric medicines for longer periods of time when at the same time they are also solidifying their identities, planning for their future, and at the same time they’re engaging in adult relationships (larovici). Young adults have much on their plates during their early 20’s. Many young people rely of antidepressants primarily because of changes in their lives.
The attempt to stop antidepressants in college students goes well less often than the prevalence of depression suggest it should” (larovici). This starts to concern others because of how much they are relying on the usage of the drug to help them recover from an illness rather than try and coping with depression when they have such big modifications in their lives. The main reason why antidepressants is usually the first choice when dealing with depression is because other methods aren’t as popular as antidepressants.
Usually doctors would prescribe one who’s coping with depression a type of antidepressant without acknowledging other treatments for depression. Antidepressants is recognized as the cheaper way to go about helping the illness rather than trying to gain help through therapy. Insurance sometimes doesn’t cover therapies, in which case a patient goes towards medicine to aid themselves from depression (larovici). Antidepressants have many downsides to them, one of which could potentially be suicide.
There was a time when on October 2004, the FDA had conducted manufacturers to add black box warning labels of antidepressant medications making sure that its alerting health-care providers to a risk increase of suicide in children and adolescents (Weir). There are chances of risking ones life as a child or an adolescent during the times that antidepressants were out before 2004. There must have been a reason behind the labeling to show that suicide is a possibility. Suicide is also part of depression known as suicidal depression.
This involves a kind of “pain and hopelessness that is impossible to describe” (Redfield). The wrong prescription can lead to such harmful decisions or usage with the drug. Antidepressants in general have many effects. If someone was to use antidepressants, a withdrawal is bound to happen with any type of the medication taken (UXL Encyclopedia of Drugs and Addictive Substances). Withdrawals normally are affected by how one perceived the usage of an antidepressant. If the antidepressant was strongly needed, the withdrawal will not be as simple to overcome.
On the assumption of a withdrawal, it can affect the patient and the need taking antidepressants again after the limit usage that they initially started with to end the withdrawal feelings. There is also a possibility that another episode of depression will occur after the usage of the drug, it contains a fifty percent chance (Alic). If this were to occur, the patient will have to deal with depression for another amount of weeks or months. The understanding of how the medicine affects the brain in a young adult is very broad. During this time the brain is developing.
It is changing over time since a young adult still has some growing up to do. An antidepressant is still uncertain if it affects the brain in this time (UXL Encyclopedia of Drugs and Addictive Substances). We aren’t sure if theres a chance that an antidepressant drug is causing some sort of problems in someones brain. Commonly, the effects for antidepressants are agitation, insomnia or drowsiness, and thirst. All three main classifications of antidepressants contain different side effects. MAOI’s were the first antidepressant drugs.
Now, they’re not recommended to be the first choice to treat depression. There has been many side effects, hence it being the first antidepressant drug. The long term health effects from MAOl’s are sedation, dizziness, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, rapid heartbeat, constipation, agitation, and blood pressure rise (Chut). Despite the effects with just taking the drug alone, there are some effects when taking it with other things such as over the counter cold medicine, aged cheese, and meats. They have chances of creating a stroke, headaches, vomiting, and palpitations (Chut).
SSRI’s contain some long term health effects for all ages such as self harm, an increase risk for arrhythmias (Chut). There is a risk of gastrointestinal bleeding that can mainly affect an elderly rather than someone who’s younger (Chut). The issue with SSRI’S is that sometimes they’re not effective in treating depression. There is a 20-40% of patients who use SSRI and the drug would show no benefits (Alic). There could have been chances that a patient was using this drug for a long time waiting for a result and nothing had made them feel better in which they could’ve potentially kept using the drug.
Another effect is the reports of patients being able to develop tolerance to the drug based on dosages increasing for the effectiveness. TCA’s, on the other hand can disrupt the heartbeat (Chut). This drug likely has the cause of death because of the disruption of heartbeat. To think, an antidepressant is supposed to help you get better from depression, not increase risks in death. Other effects given by the drug is threat to vision wether its by dry eyes, blurred vision or vision loss, reduced urine output, sometimes a situation of constipation with weight gain (Chut).
Other effects included is dry mouth, which can create dental cavities (Chut). There will always be side effects from drugs being taken to help with an illness. Taking an antidepressant is basically for better or worse. There are cases of antidepressant usage in which antidepressants were known to have an effect over patients. Patients are becoming more reliant on antidepressants, many doctors aren’t focusing on actually figuring out whats happening with the patients. For example, there was a study with older U. S. Veterans CLC Residency (Hanlon).
In this case, there was studies of the amount of antidepressants that residents were receiving. There was a 57. 5% of residents who had use of inappropriate interactions with the drug, because of drug-drug interactions. There were 2,815 residents who didn’t have depression. From these residents, there was 1,190 that were prescribed with either one or more antidepressants. There were 48 residents who had been suggested as potential overuse of antidepressants. About 324 users of antidepressants, overall, were using it appropriately for depression.
The misuse of antidepressants leads back to doctors, some of which aren’t sure which type of depression their patient has based on the depth of the illness. Doctors shouldn’t be prescribing antidepressants to just any patient who feels that they have depression. It should require more testing on patients. There are other issues that deal with a specific classification, SSRI’s. Although MAOl’s are known to be the last resort antidepressants, SSRI’s antidepressants had caused effects.
“According to the Agency of Healthcare Research and Quality, he number of SSRI prescription patients under 20 increased 62 percent between 1995 and 1999″ (Weir). The usage of the antidepressant was so heavily acted upon during this time. The issue is that in December of 2003, the British health authorities had banned new prescription of all SSRI’s for children under the age of 18 (Weir). There was only one exception which was the use of prozac. The risks of using the drug outweighed the benefits. The amount of patients under 20 using the drug that they shouldn’t really be consuming could have potentially and might’ve actually harmed those who did.
They had the thought that the use of the antidepressant was useful in benefitting of depression, without knowing the risks of the drug and how it could’ve potentially risked their lives until later on as years passed. There was a case that involved 4,400 children being studied (Weir). In 2004, the children had either taking Paxil, an SSRI drug or they were taking placebos, an inactive substance that is used to manage the effectiveness of a drug. The studies consisted of the children who had taken either of the two for a month or up to four months. With the placebo, 2 out of 100 children were suicidal.
When using Paxil, 2-4 out of 100 children were suicidal. The usage of an SSRI drug that isn’t prozac for anyone younger than 18 is a dangerous thing. There were studies in clinical trial with adults from moderate to severe depression, these were studies that were mostly short term (larovici). Few studies followed patients for longer than two years. Since it was funded by the pharmaceutical industry, it had a financial pursue to keep people on medicine longer than needed. The studies that were in use in the trials could’ve easily had been affected by the industry to captivate more patients into continuing the use of antidepressants.
There are many alternatives that can be used other than antidepressants for treatment. Generally, those who see their family members or friends that suffer from depression can help them recover from depression by referring them to other options. Patients who are known to be severely depressed should be involved in discussions about suicide with their close ones (Redfield). That would have some possibility in helping them. Anyone can refer someone they know to a specialist in depression. Allow someone to understand a depressed person and see what they are able to do in order to stop being depressed.
Self help groups or support groups and other local resources are also a good way to being allowed to say how they feel and be heard by others(Depression in Adult Recognition). Sometimes those who are depressed are more reserved and should be able to say what they’re feeling. Another possible alternatives could be change in sleep schedule and use of exercise daily, being healthy helps create a better environment emotionally for anyone in general. Therapy is another alternative that a depressive person can turn towards. There are different types of therapy such as interpersonal, cognitive, pharmacotherapy and many more.
Therapy allows the patient to get help expressing their anger, take risks, and be confident (Harvard Mental). It gives chances for a patient to feel more free, able to speak their mind. One type of therapy that can help depression is interpersonal therapy. This therapy treats chronic depression, changing how the patient perceives themselves from being someone with flawed characteristics to being someone “with chronic but treatable disease” (Harvard Mental). An interpersonal therapy is cognitive therapy. The therapy helps patients see situations in positive ways (Harvard Mental).
This therapy takes place twice a week. Its a more efficient therapy when it comes to a patient who had “childhood adversity” (Harvard Mental). A type of psychotherapy is CBASP, which is cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy. This therapy was developed by Dr. James P. McCullough. The “therapy involves exposing and challenging these perceptions and behaviors” (Harvard Health). Therapists use situational analysis. They try having the patient break down an event that occurred into segments. The therapist then tries to pin point where the patient behavior was affected by the event.
Currently, there has been a different type of alternative that is unlike therapy or the use of antidepressants. The treatment is called, Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation known as rTMS. There’s an electromagnet placed on the patients scalp, which generates magnetic field pulses. There were analyses published proving that rTMS was an effective treatment for depression (Qing). “Two of three studies of the use of rTMS showed augmentative effects”(Qing). Antidepressants should be neglected. If someone were to be depressed they should try other treatments.
It’s rather an improvement trying other treatments other than going straight towards antidepressants and having side effects that aren’t necessary. Sometimes a patient can think that their depression is somewhat strong when in reality it is not. There is also a moment where withdrawals will occur. Antidepressants should always be a last resort in case of an emergency. The current standard is to recommend medicine indefinitely after three or more recurrences, or even after a second episode if certain other risk factors are present antidepressants should be a last resort” (larovici). Antidepressants should always be a last resort.
