Todays News Report That Ssris Dont Work

[pete69]

was looking for a thread on this but couldnt find one,so if it has already been started delete this.

my thoughts are if a placebo is just as good you wouldnt be getting all the side effects that go with prozac n the like,they obviously are having some effect good or bad wouldnt you say?
my shrink said the very same thing the other day when i refused seroxat as i cant handle the side effects "the side effects mean the drug is getting into your system and making your neuro transmiters go hay wire-hence you feel bad for 2 weeks,but then they settle down and all alighn with each other and start to do there job"...

i dont suffer from depression but social anxiety,so i cant comment on there effectiveness in this area,and all the news reports just mention depression.

anyway be interested to hear your views

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle3434486.ece

pedro

[weeble40]

Hi Pete Ive just been to my docs, after suffering for over 20 years, she has put me on propranolol, which I have taken before, but stopped as I also thought it was a placebo, but she has just said to me if it works or not and they doing some good what the hell, take em, so am gonna give em another go, anything gotta be better than the hell I go through, not on them,

she also put me on some anti- depressants and this is a first for me, I cant find em on here anywhere, they are called Paroxetine Hydrochloride

hope someone can advise me about them as I so dont want to google them

anyways hope this is of some help if not am sorry Im having a bad time at mo

Emma xxxx

[joy]

Think its prozac
Joy

[chalky]

Hi Pete,

Please do not be drawn in by the hype surrounding this issue.
The only way for anyone to deal with this is to make an appointment with their GP and talk over any concerns with them.
The difference between todays newspaper headlines and the actual facts is substantial.
Best wishes,
Chalky

[design2]

I'm an American, and have lived in the UK for a year, so the NHS is still pretty new to me. I've been on an SSRI (Sertraline) before for severe depression and anxiety, and I was sure it helped me, as I was on it for about 8 months, got off, and have felt wonderful for about 4 years. Well, recently the panic attacks started again, with a nice dose of depression to go along with it. I made an appointment with my GP, she talked to me for about 6 minutes, prescribed Sertraline again, and sent me on my way.

After 11 days of taking the Sertraline, I was going absolutely bonkers - felt 1000% worse than before I took the pills.

I quit the meds, made another appointment with my GP, and asked why it made me so crazy this time and seemed to work wonders last time. She explained I'm probably not nearly as depressed as I was last time, and my body probably just doens't need it. NICE - thanks for finding that out before writing out the easy-way-out prescription. Then she suggested talk-therapy, which I think should have been prescribed before the pills.

With the NHS, I definitely believe anti-depressants are the first answer to any depression or anxiety issue, when people really need a variety of options, without having to have extra anxiety waiting something unGodly like 8 months for CBT! Anyways, sorry to ramble, but I think this study is interesting, and if anything maybe it will make GPs and depression/anxiety sufferers think twice before popping pills.

[Nel]

I’m an advocate of psychological treatments and I’m against anti depressants (apart from cases of severe depression). In my own experience, and I guess we can only really go by our own experiences, anti depressants made my anxiety worse. I tried a few different ones, the first I took for a period of 6-8 months and the others 4-6 weeks (I persevered with one particular anti depressant that had such bad side effects I was hospitalised – I should never have been told to keep taking it). I can honestly say that my anxiety/secondary depression would not have gotten to the levels it did had I been offered therapy straight away as opposed to various prescriptions, medication side effects saw me experience anxiety attacks at their very worst. I overcame my anxiety through therapy and I’m confident of staying well thanks to the understanding therapy gave me.
I’m heartened to hear that the governments are at long last acknowledging the benefits of therapy and are putting more money into resources.

[pete69]

Hi Pete Ive just been to my docs, after suffering for over 20 years, she has put me on propranolol, which I have taken before, but stopped as I also thought it was a placebo, but she has just said to me if it works or not and they doing some good what the hell, take em, so am gonna give em another go, anything gotta be better than the hell I go through, not on them,

she also put me on some anti- depressants and this is a first for me, I cant find em on here anywhere, they are called Paroxetine Hydrochloride

hope someone can advise me about them as I so dont want to google them

anyways hope this is of some help if not am sorry Im having a bad time at mo

Emma xxxx

emma,
the paroxetine is "seroxat" one of the top 3 prescribed for depression and anxiety,sorry your having a bad time at the moment,how long have you been taking the seroxat? also you mention the propanalol feeling like a placebo,well its a beta blocker used to lower your heart rate,doesnt really have a great success rate with major anxiety,probably why you didnt feel it helped much.
good luck on the seroxat!

chalky,
i dont read to much into the reports today,listened to the guy from hull university and he said they do help with severe depression but not for mild depression,so he was going back on what he said a lot of the time,and a phone in on 5live,80% of people ringing in said they were of benefit so i do take it with a pinch of salt really.

design2,
i think you make a valid point that ssris will be the first choice gps dish out as soon as u mention depression,panic,anxiety,etc...u get a 5min appointment and they are writing out the script before u have even gone into the history of your problem.


overall i think like all meds some will work for some whilst others work for others,it is all trial and error .

pete

[kate]

I don't think they are a placebo as such, just that they don't work for all levels of depression.

It kind of backs up my own feelings that they certainly don't do much for anxiety although they are the drug of preference at the moment.

They certainly worked for me the twice I was severely depressed but, for more mild depression and anxiety, they did absolutely nothing for me.

Kate

[willp]

Three months on from starting a course of SSRIs I feel completely different - happy, energetic and able to enjoy things again. My life is not hampered by the anxiety that has dogged me for much of my life. I appreciate this may be in part due to the placebo effect, but as you say Pedro, I know the pills are having some sort of physical effect as I felt so ill for the first two weeks. Citalopram isn't one of those mentioned in the report, but it's the same type of compound and I can say from experience that it does work.

I would love a course of CBT but unfortunately it is expensive and there is a long waiting list which is why my GP has gone down the medication route while I wait to see a therapist. She told me that SSRIs are a good short-term solution but don't get to the bottom of the actual problem - CBT helps you deal with negative feelings yourself. Without CBT or similar alongside medication, depression and anxiety is likely to return when the course of anti-depressants ends.

Mental health services in the UK are woefully under-resourced and I really hope that this report will bring this issue to the front of the political agenda and make the public more aware. Unfortunately with much of our press intentionally misrepresenting the issues I feer any calls for improved counselling and therapy services will be dismissed as quackery and a valuable opportunity will be lost.

[PUGLETMUM]

hi id just like to add here that you dont have to wait to start cbt, you can get good books and on-line courses. check out livinglifetothefull and uncommonknowledge. emma