Anti-depressants and Their Effects

In today's cutthroat and traumatic life, people are expected to be a target of stress and sorrow. In deed, this “stress and sorrow” is a part of everyone's lives, but when these elements last longer than usual, they can interfere with a person's ability to function. The reasons behind this “stress and sorrow” are multiple: loss of a relative, loss of job, genetic imbalances, or even abuses. Nevertheless, “no matter what the cause of your melancholy or despair, such feelings are rooted in a neurochemical imbalance in your brain” (Source C). Such feelings of despair and helplessness eventually lead a person to a condition commonly referred as depression. This state of depression can have many capricious effects; ones that lead a person to do anything, even suicide. As a result, to ensure the welfare of the people it is imperative to aid such people with the advanced knowledge of surgeries and antidepressants. However, at the same time researchers and psychiatrists should also keep in mind the factors associated with these modern antidepressants that can instead lead the people with depression to an even major problem.

The relationship between depression and suicide is significant and has long been evident. Nonetheless, after the introduction of antidepressants this relationship has become a little nebulous. According to a study conducted by J. John Mann, MD, it was determined that “the prescriptions for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and other new-generation non-SSRI antidepressants were associated with lower rates of suicide. However, …[there is] a positive association between tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) and suicide rates” (Source D). Moreover, in Source D, Strong also indicates that, “a high number of TCA prescriptions may be a marker for those counties with more limited access to quality mental health care and inadequate treatment and detection of depression, which in turn lead to increased suicide rates.” In the other hand, according to Source G, the “suicide rates began to decline in the late 1960s… [which the researchers theorize] is linked to the availability of SSRIs”. According to this data, it is evident that SSRIs is a way better and efficient antidepressant form than TCAs, which instead increase the suicide risks, thus nullifying the point of antidepressants. As a result, one of the biggest factors that needs to be considered by doctors while prescribing antidepressants is TCAs. Doctors should realize that TCAs, instead of benefiting the patients, distracts their chemical balance and results in bigger suicide willpower on the part of the patient. Thus, doctors should instead depend on SSRIs to treat their patients, which have been proved to be advantageous.

In addition to TCAs, another factor that needs to be considered while prescribing antidepressants is age group. In Source A, the author Benedict Carey mentions that many antidepressants “increase the risk of suicidal thinking or behavior in some young adults… [while the use of these antidepressants cause] no increased suicide risks in patients older than 25 and appear to reduce the risk in those older than 64.” As evident from this data, the use of antidepressants in younger age groups can spur the motivation of suicide amongst these people. Although, according to the Food and Drug Administration, it is now mandatory for drug makers to include a drug label consisting of warnings and risks of using the product, this step is not efficient enough to prevent the young adults from such harmful effects of antidepressants. People in depression will take any antidepressant to ease their burden, thus it is the doctors that need to consider the effects of antidepressants and try to stay as far away as possible from prescribing antidepressants to young adults.

Although the increasing technology and research has been pretty helpful to drug makers in helping them create more efficient and favorable medicines and antidepressants, there are still quite uncertainties regarding this field. Still the cure for depression is undiscovered, and the antidepressants that exist in today's world are not hundred percent safe. Thus, one of the biggest and conclusive factors that needs to be considered while prescribing antidepressants is its risks itself. Very few, if any, antidepressants in today's world are hundred percent safe and hundred percent efficient. Thus, instead of prescribing drugs it would be more proficient if the doctors tried to fight depression by simply helping the patients overcome their own problems through placebo techniques. “The average improvement in antidepressant clinical trials is just over ten points, which means, according to Irving Kirsch, a University of Connecticut psychologist, that nearly 80 percent of the drug effect is actually a placebo effect” (Source B). As evident from this statistics, it is evident that most of the "curing" that antidepressants do is a result of placebo effect. This placebo effect, if executed can be beneficial to any age group by simply enabling the people to feel better themselves, while simultaneously preventing the growth of suicide rates.