Posted by med_empowered on March 11, 2005, at 18:12:52
In reply to Re: 3 QUESTIONS TO PONDER...... » willyee, posted by Phillipa on March 11, 2005, at 17:22:23
You make some really good points. Antidepressants, with a few exceptions (amoxapine and amineptine..the latter isn't sold in Europe or North America anymore, though) antidepressants have major gaps between initiation of treatment and therapeutic effect. The newest explanation for this that I've heard is that AD therapy promotes growth/re-growth of brain cells, which apparently takes a while. I suppose this growth is a good thing (though it kind of freaks me out), but there are major shortcomings in embracing drugs that take weeks to work, often have significant side-effects, have only a slight advantage over placebo (ESPECIALLY in unpublished, "in-house" studies), and have a DEFINITE withdrawal syndrome. I'm also kind of concerned about the lack of attention paid to problems with SSRIs. Tricyclics have been around since the 1950s, and it has looong been known that they cause side-effects and have a withdrawal syndrome. Obviously, same deal for the MAOIs. Why did psychiatrists, and psychiatry as a whole, ignore the legions of patients who were straight up telling them that drug X caused major problems? And the studies for the SSRIs flat-out suck...mostly very short-term data, even though long-term treatment is now being recommended. I understand drug company greed--I despise it, but I understand it-- but I cannot find any reasonable excuse for the unprofessional, unscientific, often callous behavior of many docs and shrinks who 1) accepted the crap data wholesale 2) created and create med regimines without supporting data and 3)ignored and continue to ignore the problems of the very people they claim to "treat" and "care for".
poster:med_empowered
thread:469558
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050308/msgs/469801.html