Antidepressant Use Skyrocketed in Past 20 Years: CDC

[OhioChick]

12 hrs ago

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 19 (HealthDay News) -- The rate of antidepressant use among Americans of all ages increased nearly 400 percent over the last two decades, and 11 percent of Americans aged 12 and older now take antidepressant drugs, according to a federal government report released Wednesday.

The analysis of 2005-2008 data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys also showed that antidepressants are the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages and the most frequently used by those aged 18 to 44.

Of people with severe depression, about one-third takes antidepressant medication. More than 60 percent of Americans taking an antidepressant drug have taken it for two years or longer and nearly 14 percent have taken the medication for 10 years or more, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers.

The investigators also found that less than one-third of people taking one antidepressant and less than half of those taking multiple antidepressants had seen a mental health professional in the past year.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/antidepressant-skyrocketed-past-20-years-cdc-160605413.html

[Avalux]

1. I am not going to bash antidepressants because they apparently do help some people -

HOWEVER....there is ZERO clinical trial data that shows a mechanism of action for how these drugs work in the brain, or objective efficacy data.

And....pharmaceutical cos. are clever enough to give them makeovers and market them for a host of other conditions - such as Cymbalta for diabetic neuropathy and fibromyalgia.

With side effects that are often worse than the condition itself, these drugs should be controlled substances and education about them should be paramount.

I know of one person in particular who stopped taking Cymbalta abruptly (she didn't know any better, Dr. and pharmacist didn't tell her) and she's permanently damaged from it. Her life will never be the same.

[uppityperson]

7. Cymbalta is VERY serious, very hard to get off of. Either you taper it and

hallucinate, feel like crap, etc, for a couple months, or go cold turkey and do the same for a couple weeks. I am sorry she got damaged, what happened? MrUP went cold turkey and it sucked. His MD said their sib was trying to get off it for months and couldn't manage to due to the side effects. He started on 5HTP from the coop or Costco and feels as good as when was on RX'd but with fewer side effects.

Anti-depressants help some people indeed. Some work on some, some don't. Some work for a bit, others longer. They aren't simply fast and easy meds, education is indeed needed.

[HuckleB]

2. They are probably prescribed far too much.

On the other hand, this timeline matches the basic timeline of the existence of antidepressants (SSRIs and SNRIs) with far few side effects than those available to this era. Thus, there are many reasons for such an increase in use.

[hifiguy]

3. I think they are prescribed far too cavalierly by GPs

I have been taking anti-depressants on and off for eight years. It is very hard for me to function without Cymbalta, especially when I am in what the originally prescribing psychiatrist called "a major depressive episode." I had one this summer and since I have insurance now, was able to get back on Cymbalta and now feel better than I have in several years.

And the first thing doctors told me about anti-depressants is DO NOT STOP TAKING THEM without medical supervision and consultation.

[RaleighNCDUer]

4. I can't imagine why. nt

[Warpy]

5. Probably because this country has gotten so fucking depressing

with labor looted by the rich and Calvinist busybodies sticking their long blue noses into our private lives.

The good thing is that the modern antidepressants aren't numbing drugs, they don't sedate people. In fact, when people have to go off them because they suddenly lack the means to buy them, they get absolutely furious.

It's going to be a fun ride for a few years.

[HughBeaumont]

6. Things that don't make you go HMMMMMMMM . . .

. . . Again, the result of Faith-based Reaganomics and Fear-based Conservatives ruling the Earth for 31 years.

[get the red out]

8. I used to think people should avoid them

I have suffered from Depression and Anxiety disorders since I was a child. When I was a young woman I sought help and ended up being slammed with massive doses of anti-psychotics and told I was bi-polar (I wasn't). I couldn't even see properly to read or drive on those drugs. Long story short I ended up going off everything and not trusting mental health medications for about 18 years. I just resigned myself to feeling bad pretty much all the time. There were periods when I had almost non-stop suicidal thoughts but figured I needed to live with it. I saw a Psychologist but didn't want to see anyone to be prescribed anything.

What I didn't know is that now the drugs are better and that since my medical doctor could help me, I didn't have to see a Psychiatrist (I had lost all trust in them years ago). I am on an anti-depressant with almost no side effects and I never knew I could feel normal on a routine basis. I'm not drugged up, I just don't think of misery with out of control emotions I'm trying to hide. Like is ok, finally.

There is something to be said for the new drugs on the market; but then maybe people like me should just grind our teeth and bare it?

[BadgerKid]

9. I wonder whether food choice and quality is correlated. n/t

[bananas]

10. Here's a link to the study

pdf: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db76.pdf
via http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/234166/20111019/antidepression-medication-women-depression.htm

edit to add a couple paragraphs from the ibtimes article:

One in 10 Americans takes antidepressants, according to a federal study released Wednesday, a rate that has skyrocketed in the last two decades.

<snip>

Women are two and a half times more likely to take antidepression medications, according to the report, and women aged 40 to 59 made the largest demographic of antidepressant medication users at 23 percent.

<snip>

The study also found that while 14 percent of white people took antidepressant medications, only 4 percent of black or 3 percent of Hispanic residents took the meds. The study concluded that there was no relation between income and antidepressant use.

Over one in eight Americans took antidepressant medications for 10 years and longer.

<snip>

[mopinko]

11. reliable treatments for debilitating diseases get used? omg

whoda thunk it.

[Tsiyu]

12. Cash Cow for Big Pharma

and they spend billions in advertising trolling for more depressed people.

Cannabis is an excellent anti-depressant for some people, with very few side effects. But if all Americans realized this, imagine the profit loss to Pharma!

And this explains part of the reason this beneficial plant is treated like heroin. And will be until Pharma can make some profit off it.

Let me just say, I hate the politicians who gorge on the Pharma Hush money like pigs at the feed bucket.