Side Effects Of Antidepressants:

In rare cases, people have experienced fever, confusion, muscle rigidity, and cardiac, liver,or kidney problems.

Depression Treatment Facts:

Adult use of antidepressants almost tripled between 1988-1994 and 1999-2000. Ten percent of women 18 and older and 4 percent of men now take antidepressants.[3]

Two dozen antidepressants are currently on the market.  189 million prescriptions were filled in 2005.[4]

Sales of antidepressants slowed considerably after warnings were issued for increased suicide risks in youths aged 6-17 years in 2002 and a black box warning was added in 2004.

Pharmaceutical companies sell around $21 billion of dollars of antidepressant drugs every year.[5]

So what's wrong with Antidepressants?

Antidepressants work well for many people. Popular antidepressants such as Paxil®, Zoloft®, Prozac®, Lexapro®, and Celexa® offer relief to thousands of people suffering from depression, anxiety, and other mental health related issues.

But the truth is antidepressants are far from the perfect cure for depression and anxiety. The biggest problem with antidepressant drugs are their side effects.


Are Antidepressant Drugs Overprescribed?

A lot of evidence clearly supports this assertion.  Many insiders believe antidepressant prescription rates are so high because of aggressive pharmaceutical marketing to doctors and consumers.

Bob Goodman, MD is the founder of a group called No Free Lunch whose aim to encourage doctors to reject gifts and perks from pharmaceutical companies.  Bob questions whether or not all those prescriptions are necessary or if it's simply a result of aggressive marketing. "It's hard to
believe that number of people are depressed, or that antidepressants are the answer," he said.

The Journal of the American Medical Association completed a study in 2004 [6] that concluded that patients, stimulated by direct-to-consumer ads, who asked their doctors for antidepressants were significantly more likely to get a prescription for one than patients who didn't ask for an antidepressant.

"Patients' requests have a profound effect on physician prescribing in major depression and adjustment disorders," concluded the study's authors.

Antidepressant Drug Use In Children

Prozac is the only antidepressant drug approved for use in children with major depressive disorder, yet doctors are at liberty to -- and do -- prescribe many others for pediatric use.


References:  [1] New England Journal Of Medicine [2] Public Interest Research Group - New Jersey Chapter [3] Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)  Dec 2 -2004 [4] FDA May 2007  [5] IMS Health [6] Journal of the American Medical Association 

The Truth About Antidepressants:

Are They A Magic Bullet For Depression?

The New England Journal Of Medicine[1] released a report in January 2008 showing numerous unpublished studies submitted to the Food And Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that many popular antidepressants on the market today have little or no effect on patients. So why are we just finding this out now?

It turns out that since only the positive studies done by pharmaceutical companies are published, most doctors are unaware of these negative findings. As a result they're making inappropriate prescribing decisions that may actually be harming and not helping their patients.

The report showed that a total of 74 studies involving a dozen antidepressant drugs and over 12,000 patients were registered with the FDA between 1987 and 2004. Out of those studies 38 were deemed positive and all but one were published. The other 36 studies done contained negative results and only 14 of those were published. But here's the kicker - 11 of those 14 studies mischaracterized the negative data as positive. In other words, the studies were deceptively presented to appear as though the data was positive, not negative.     

Are Suicides & Homicides Linked To Antidepressants?

Absolutely. Some of the worst acts of violence in American history are linked to antidepressant drugs. Both of the Columbine High School shooters in Colorado, the lone gunman at Virginia Tech University who killed 32 students, and the recent young killer in the mall in Omaha, Nebraska were all taking antidepressant drugs. Is this coincidental?

Dozens of other well documented, but less known cases exist. Several that ended up in the legal system resulted in a verdict against the pharmaceutical companies.
 
Further, FDA spokesman Chris Di Francesco confirmed that homicidal thoughts were reported during the clinical trials of some antidepressant drugs.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently ordered drug companies to add strong "black box" warnings to the labels of antidepressants warning against
the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and teens.

   
Did Pharmaceutical Companies Attempt To Stop This Information From Going Public?

That depends upon whom you believe.
Many industry critics claim that when antidepressant drugs were linked to suicides and homicides these powerful and well connected companies fought hard to keep this information from going public. When it finally did leak to the media these same companies tried to stop any prescribing guidelines from changing.

The Public Interest Research Group[2] accuses drug makers of misleading both doctors and consumers with advertising and literature handed out by drug sales reps. They accuse drug makers of suppressing unfavorable results and minimizing drug risks in their marketing messages despite repeated warning letters from the FDA.