Antidepressants Controversy

 Hello everyone,

            So for those of you who do not know what an antidepressant is, basically like the name suggests, it is a medication that treats depression. Antidepressants are supposed to help boost your mood, improve your sleep as well as appetite and concentration. That sounds like a very good cure for people with depression right? Well the problem is that there are also negative factors involved when taking antidepressants. They are known to have side effects as well as dangers to them as well. This is why there has been an ongoing controversy about whether or not patients should take antidepressants. In this post I will be discussing both sides of the spectrum then giving my intake on it. 

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 Arguments in favour of antidepressants  

           Despite the opinions that bash at the negative effects of antidepressants,  there are many people out there that believe antidepressants work and are beneficial for patients diagnosed with depression. There are test results to support that the benefits outweigh the risks. Apparently, 61% of the public agrees that antidepressants are effective and approximately 60-70% of studies show that antidepressants reduce and manage depression better than placebos. This being said most people that have had successful encounters with antidepressants argue that it worked for them and helped them very much.People argue that if doctors have been prescribing these medications for years, they must work to some extent or else they would have stopped using them. In addition, in response to the F.D.A’s black box warning towards antidepressants for 
children/teens, this article talks about how the benefits of antidepressants are shown in a trial to be greater than their risks in teens and children. In their results they found that antidepressants did not increase suicidal thoughts and helped up to dozens more experiencing those thoughts. They expressed how depression itself was already a risk for suicidal behaviour. Also many people think that it is less time consuming compared to psychotherapy as you just take a pill instead of taking a few hours each week.

Arguments against Antidepressants

         As time progresses there has been more and more objections towards taking antidepressants because people believe the risks outweigh the benefits of it. People opposed to antidepressants feel that it is not very effective and are harmful. They worry about the side effects associated with taking antidepressants such as nausea, headaches, muscle spasms, reduced blood clotting capacities, and increased thoughts of suicide and violence. The FDA has reported over 20,000 cases of such feelings and actions. In addition, I found from this website that a major U.S. government study that came out in 2006 had shown that less than 50 percent of people on antidepressants become symptom-free despite trying two different medications. They argue that a lot of people who do respond to medication fall back into depression within a short time even though they stick with drug treatment. The website also expresses that researchers do not know a lot about how antidepressants work. Because there is no test to find out the amount of serotonin in the brain, we cannot even find out where normal or low levels of serotonin lie. Therefore people who are not lacking in serotonin would not respond to some antidepressants such as Prozac that increase serotonin levels in the brain.

           There is much controversy with regards to taking antidepressants for depression. In my opinion, I am leaning more towards not taking antidepressants unless it is very severe and you have tried all the other options already. I was asking my best friend how she felt when she was on antidepressants and she told me that it was just horrible. She told me that the second time she tried antidepressants  her doctor put her on a higher dosage which she thought was terrible. She took an antidepressant called fluoxetine for 3 months and stopped because she didn't like it. She told me that she ended up feeling less herself and more like a zombie. She would eat and sit at the dinner table but she would be emotionless. One night she also ended up taking a bunch more pills at once because it made her feel suicidal and not think straight which is one of the side effects of taking antidepressants. Nonetheless this is just her experience and may differ amongst people.

Heres a list of some of the side effects I found from this website:


Side effects of SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors)

Nausea Insomnia Anxiety Restlessness Decreased sex drive Dizziness Weight gain

Tremors Sweating Sleepiness or fatigue Dry mouth Diarrhea Constipation Headaches

      As you can see there are numerous side effects to taking antidepressants which is why I believe it may not be a very good option. It is also questionable that doctors even overprescribe antidepressants because they don't have much time and knowledge to completely evaluate their patients’ mental health and suggest to them about other therapies. I read here that physicians may give limited information to patients when they prescribe antidepressants while often leaving out important information that may promote adherence. this was from the conclusions of a randomized experiment consisting of 152 general internists and family physicians recruited from solo and group practices and health maintenance organizations.

      So furthermore, although there are many opinions about whether or not you should take antidepressants, I think that you should form your own opinion and do your background research to determine if it’s the right thing for you. There are success stories of it and failure stories of it so who knows, maybe it will work for you! My best friend recovered when she was off medication and decided she was going to live. She made goals for herself and got rid of the negative people that were in her life. Sometimes you may just need the right amount of motivation to believe in your own self worth and will power. Remember there are people who care about you and will always support you.I hope this post helped some of you and good luck :)

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-Vivian

Unreliable websites for Depression

Hi everyone,

I’d like to welcome you back to my blog. So quite recently I was online searching up on Google “cure depression naturally” and not to my surprise a bunch of websites popped up with natural remedies that were supposed to help cure depression. Yes it is true that the Internet has brought many benefits to society, however it has also evident that many of the websites on the Internet are not very reliable. Many of these websites about curing depression naturally are just trying to persuade their readers to buy their product. This becomes an issue when the reader believes everything the website claims and buys the product without doing any background research about it. To help you understand how to tell which websites are just trying to get your money, I will show you an example of an unreliable website and explain the features that make it unreliable.

Here’s one of the websites that I found from Google search:

 http://curedepressionwithoutmedication.com/

At first glance, what is off about this website?

Okay, first of all, we can already see that this is a word press website, meaning that it is a “blog”. Blogs are written merely based on a person’s opinion and we cannot fully rely on personal evidence because the person could ultimately be lying. We know nothing about this author except the information in his about section.

So basically this person has no medical degree nor states any other sort of degree he has. He is just a normal everyday person. Can we really trust this person's opinion? He is definitely not an expertise so that tells us that we should be doubting some of the things he says.

          The second thing to point out is that this website is FILLED with advertisements. There are ads linking to a product or program in majority of the posts. I've screen shot some of the ads from the website for you to see.

       Bloggers who have advertisements on their website are paid for putting it there. This author is recommending these links possibly because he makes more money as more people click on the links. So in other terms, the author is just benefiting mostly himself. How can we trust his recommendations when we know that he is getting paid to promote these recommendations? He does not seem very genuine so in my opinion I do not see him as reliable. 

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        Thirdly, there is no evidence or proof that tell us how well the products that he is recommending actually work. For some, he lists out what the product does for your body, however he does not back it up with any scientific or other evidence. In some of the posts, he doesn't even tell you why he thinks that product works. He just states it works! For example in one of his posts, he says ,"The fastest way I know of to Cure Depression Naturally is to take an amino acid called 5-htp, which is available here -" We cannot believe something that has not already proven to have worked. 

       Fourthly, the author seems to show his biased view of opinion. He highly recommends something and does not appear to show the other opinion of it such as the side effects. For example he talks about how Chromium Picolinate is a good treatment for Atypical Depression Symptoms is. "Picolinate is the most easily absorbable form of Chromium that stabilises blood sugar, so it is also recommended for Diabetics and a plus it practically eliminates sugar and carb cravings so is a great aid to effortless weightloss too!" From a credible website  that gives information about chromium, we can find out that chromium does aid in weight loss  however, it does not necessarily work for everyone. The effects of weight loss can vary amongst individuals using chromium. Some people have found that it works for them, while others have no effect. Also, he does not list any of the precautions  of using Chromium Picolinate supplements. Precautions such as the side effects from taking it with other medications can be dangerous. Also as a supplement, taking very high doses of this can actually reduce how effective insulin is at maintaining blood sugar and  can cause stomach irritation, itching, and flushing. It is obvious that the weight loss factor he adds to the post is just another way of convincing people that it is beneficial to take these supplements. Again he doesn't support his claims much, so it seems questionable whether or not he is telling the truth. 

Lastly, notice how he mentions a lot in his posts about curing depression fast. In fact, it is the title of his blog! In one of his posts he claims that if you follow the things that he had suggested, you would already feel better within a week. I read over from this website that treatment takes time and commitment. It seems common sense that the supplements he is promoting are not "magic pills" that can suddenly heal depression within a month. It doesn't seem to be rational to think that these so called supplements can help a person recover so fast. In addition, the author does not mention the account of a relapse occurring. This is very common in individuals recovering from depression. From an article, it says that the recent survey data provides some evidence to suggest that while clinicians widely view SSRIs as effective in the short treatment of depression, many see some degree of relapse while ongoing treatment is occurring.

So furthermore this concludes my analysis of the website and I hope this helped. There are many websites out there that are just made to earn money. You should always be careful not to get tricked by them and do your background research first before actually believing what they say. Sometimes we may be attracted by the "easy ways out" and just think that there is a quick fix to everything, however everything takes time and we need to be patient. Depression is serious, and sometimes though it seems like it will never end, there is always a bright finish line waiting for you. My best friend struggled with depression ever since grade seven all through high school. She went through therapy, drugs, and much more. Sometimes you just can't lose hope and keep trying. Things eventually do get better! :)

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Good luck everyone !

-Vivian

Welcome to my blog!

Hi there! 

   My name is Vivian Lam and I am currently a first year business student at SFU studying a kinesiology course. To start off, like most people, I am definitely not a perfect person. I have made mistakes, fallen, and done some things that I have regretted in the past. The question is: Does that really matter?

   It is true that we are our biggest critics and I feel like sometimes we are too harsh on ourselves. I have realized that we don’t need to be perfect in life because no one is, and in the end it is about the quality of life you have. I think that nothing really matters in life except for being happy and content. I am a positive and optimistic person who wants to change my ways to become healthier so I can live a better and longer life. I feel that in order to have a good quality of life, you need to be healthy both physically and mentally. Most people only focus on the physical side of health and ignore the mental component, but they don’t actually realize the importance mental health. How can you be healthy if you are not living a happy life? If you are constantly feeling pessimistic and upset, it can also lead to severe mental illnesses in the future. 

HEALTHY LIFE=HAPPY LIFE

    In this blog, I would like to mainly focus on the mental component of health and specifically depression. The reason being is that I have been inspired by my best friend to understand and learn more in depth about depression as she has suffered through it for many years and is currently recovering. I have seen her go through it from when she was young and I have always wanted to know what people with depression have to go through and also the ways they can cure it without the aid of medication.

 Through this blog I would like to find out answers to my curious questions about depression, talk about the controversy of antidepressants as well as give my opinion on it, respond to some misconceptions, examine articles, discuss the importance of mental health, and just share my past experiences about my best friend going through depression to my readers. My blog is open for everyone to read because I feel that everybody can benefit from learning more about depression. Maybe you know someone who has depression or you are unsure if you or someone else has depression, regardless I hope that you can take away something after reading my blog and maybe I can inspire you to live a healthier life too!

-Vivian 

Image reference: http://www.haskell.org/happy/Happy.gif