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Inquisitr.com
June 14, 2015
Jinger Jarrett
According to the American Psychological Association, depression is defined as the following, and they suggest the following depression treatment:
“Depression is more than just sadness. People with depression may experience a lack of interest and pleasure in daily activities, significant weight loss or gain, insomnia or excessive sleeping, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt and recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.
Depression is the most common mental disorder. Fortunately, depression is treatable. A combination of therapy and antidepressant medication can help ensure recovery.”
Although depression is often described as a mental disorder and treated as a disease, many who are taking prescription depression medication have discovered that the side effects of antidepressants often cause more problems than the depression. There is wide spread disagreement among mental health professionals on both the use of depression medication and depression treatment.
Denmark-based researcher Peter C. Gøtzsche, in the prominent medical journal BMZ, estimated that those who take antidepressants are 15 times more likely to commit suicide than those who don’t. He stated that the modest effects of antidepressants also don’t justify the cost. Gotzsche cited that the risk of death was higher when using medication for depression treatment. He based his findings on mortality studies showing higher mortality rates in older patients taking depression medication.
“Psychiatric drugs are responsible for the deaths of more than half a million people aged 65 and older each year in the Western world.”
Gotzsche suggested that doctors needed to stop prescribing all depression medication. A black box warning issued by the Food and Drug Administration about 10 years ago indicated that the side effects of taking drugs for depression treatment included suicide.
Some of the research indicated that patients taking antidepressants long term could have their symptoms worsen down the road. Dr. Dost Ongur, chief of psychiatric disorders at the Boston based McLean Hospital said that doctors didn’t really know the long term effects of using antidepressants. Patients needed to remember that these drugs are chemicals and not natural to the body.
Dr. Ben Weinstein, assessment division director at the Menninger Clinic, a Houston based psychiatric center, said there is a lot of controversy in taking medications.
“In general, there is controversy regarding the use of medications, and I think there is some concern about the overuse of medications and, at times, inappropriate prescribing. Taking medication of any sort is not something that should be done lightly, and it should be done in an informed way.”
The latest case publicly reported of the hidden dangers of antidepressants in depression treatment is the case of the GermanWings pilot Andreas Lubitz. Lubitz was reported to have been taking or had taken in the past, depression medication and was responsible for the downing of the Germanwings Flight 4U 9525 flight on March 24.
As previously reported in the Inquisitr, the Veterans Administration is currently under fire for its treatment of veterans for PTSD. The criticism stems from veterans committing suicide at a rate of 22 per day, and the Veterans Administration not following its protocol for mental health treatment for veterans. Veterans are often prescribed depression medication for treatment of PTSD and other mental health issues.
If you take antidepressants, are you aware of the side effects of medication for depression treatment? Have you read the package inserts? Have you suffered any of these side effects including thoughts of suicide?