Antidepressants most prescribed among drugs
El_Kabong
Posts: 4,141
guess i'm not surprised but it doesn't seem like it's needed
http://www.mmm-online.com/Antidepressants-most-prescribed-during-doctor-and-hospital-visits-CDC-survey/article/24339/
Antidepressants were the most commonly prescribed medications during US hospital and doctor visits, according to statistics published Friday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The survey examined 352 hospitals and about 1,200 physicians throughout 2005.
Of 2.4 billion drugs mentioned in patients’ medical records in 2005, 118 million were antidepressants. High blood pressure medications followed at 113 million and arthritis or headache drugs were mentioned in 110 million patient records.
The study also found that hospital and doctor visits have surged 20% in the past five years.
The report estimates that 1.2 billion visits were made to hospitals, emergency rooms and physicians’ offices in 2005.
The full CDC report is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/as/ad388.pdf.
http://www.mmm-online.com/Antidepressants-most-prescribed-during-doctor-and-hospital-visits-CDC-survey/article/24339/
Antidepressants were the most commonly prescribed medications during US hospital and doctor visits, according to statistics published Friday from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The survey examined 352 hospitals and about 1,200 physicians throughout 2005.
Of 2.4 billion drugs mentioned in patients’ medical records in 2005, 118 million were antidepressants. High blood pressure medications followed at 113 million and arthritis or headache drugs were mentioned in 110 million patient records.
The study also found that hospital and doctor visits have surged 20% in the past five years.
The report estimates that 1.2 billion visits were made to hospitals, emergency rooms and physicians’ offices in 2005.
The full CDC report is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/as/ad388.pdf.
standin above the crowd
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Not saying that they aren't extremely beneficial for some people sometimes, but I'll be holding out as long as I can and looking for as many other treatments for depression as possible before I'm willing to take them.
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
It's OK to feel sad once and awhile.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I am a strong believer in the idea that you have to go through tough things in life to enjoy the good things that much more. If I never have a bad mood or am sad about things, then how am I going to know when I am really happy about something? You need something to compare it to.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
I completely agree! And it's the argument I use with my gp the most!
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
Have we lost our way tonight?
Have we lost our hope to sorrow?
Feels like were all alone
Running further from what’s right
And there are no more heroes to follow
So what are we becoming?
Where did we go wrong?
Being Depressed is far different than being "in a bad mood" or "sad about things.". Until about 6 months ago, i would have agreed with you, but depression is a real thing, and to an extent, the drugs may be needed to even get you through the day. If you spend all day in bed (but rarely sleeping) being depressed, or god forbid, pondering suicide among other things, you dont even get the opportunity to find the root of the depression or fix your life.
not that I have a problem with antidepressants helping people with real problems.... I just think it's ridiculously overprescribed... kind of like ritalin.
There is a huge difference between chemical imbalance and general malaise brought on by events.
It is just not okay to feel sad....it is NATURAL.....disturbs me that so many go towards drugs to get over their life problems...the pills will only mask the pain until they run and the depression will remain...as an individual one needs to get over things naturally...not only does that ensure the most proper healing it will also strengthen your character as well...it will make you a stronger person...all anti-depressants do is lengthen the healing time....to go this route will only pro-long the emotional distress.....as for most don't I am willing to bet 95% of the users do not need them....its like I believe 95% of people over-weight can only blame themselves and only the other 5% can use the favorite "genetics" excuse.....
Yeah...you might consider doing little research on depression before saying things like that. In the end Depression may help you grow, but in most cases you "cannot come out on the other side" without some help. Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain and it is an illness. If you had any other illness (or even a virus) you would take medication for it.
Sure, if you're sad for a couple of days, there are some lazy doctors who would give you antidepressants, and that would be inappropriate. If you are sad, low, feel helpless, low energy, no motivation for two weeks or more, odds are you have depression.
Living with recurrent depression is not always easy, but I am so glad that there is something that can help me deal with it better. If I had not taken medication at the beginning of this whole thing, well, I'd be dead - and I certainly would not be in the right frame of mind to augment my medications with counselling, exercise, and a healthy diet. When I had my first bout of depression, I refused to take meds -- and I ended up getting worse and worse, and it was very hard to live my life. The meds provided a means to actually sleep though the night, and cleared up my muddled thoughts.
Even if you a rock star/famous musician, you can get depression - and I'd hazard to guess that most of them have taken or are taking antidepressants.
They are not all bad...and this study referred to in the original post is very one-sided...
I have been depressed by losing someone close to me for I guarantee you 6 months and I would not resort to anti-depressants (I lost 20 pounds of weight and never slept). However I came out of it a better and more importantly a stronger person. I attriubute that time of my life to making the person I am today...and that is someone that is full confidence.
I see where your logic lies but I guess maybe a lot of it has to do with the person but I think everyone here is in agreeance on the pills being grossly over-prescribed. Just the debate remains on who actually needs the med's and what criteria should qualify those for them.
There is no question it is over prescribed. But the notion of "just get over it" is ridiculous. Perhaps just getting over it is an option in regards to a singular event that causes sorrow or sadness, but most people that are "depressed" are facing more of an ongoing situation (lack of job, being lonely after a break up, etc), and thats where medication can be helpful.
I was on Prozac and Xanax for about 2 months, and it definately helped me deal with an extremely stressful job, as i wasnt sleeping, and spent all my time away from work dreading going back in. Also, my doctor required i come in for a follow up visit each time, and would not just "refill" the prescription without me coming in.
When I meant lost someone it was with my first serious g/f...again I came out of it (free of pills) just fine...just lost some weight is all....:)
It is not a matter of "getting over it" there are other means of helping like trying to talk to friends/family (how quickly people forget about these options), speaking to a therapist, one does not need to medicate themselves to get over everything. We went through a few thousand years of people getting over bad things...pretty sure we are still capable of doing it on our own....
But hell it is a free world and people can do as they choose....just that I think one should look inside themselves as their first option.
OR maybe I just punish myself emotionally than the the average person....which would not surprise me in the very least
Riiighhhttt...Good thing my meds work (and the counselling I have been getting since I started my meds), or I would take that to mean you think people are "weak" if they need medication to live with their depression.
I can't help thinking that you might not have grieved for 6 months if you had sought help and talked it over with your GP. You may not have even been prescribed meds, but psychotherapy and your grief could have been addressed in half that time. At any rate, grief and depression are not the same thing.
Yes, I agree that antidepressants are over-prescribed, but it's silly to paint everyone who takes them as feeble minded wimps who can't get over a little set-back. Actually, I find it quite offensive.
By the way, how many people on here take Advil or Tylenol or Aspirin for a headache. Or do you leave it long enough that it will "take care of itself" and clear up on its own?
Oh - and when you are in the beginning of a depression - you have NO MOTIVATION to talk to anyone, and you tend to isolate yourself. You don't want to burden your friends and family with your problems, so you HIDE it from them and PRETEND you are OK....It's not that people forget that as an option, they don't want people to know what's going on.
Vedderfan I hope you haven't taken my remarks in this thread as an attack on those who do take anti depressants because that was not my intention at all. I was simply saying that for now, and for as long as I can I do not want to take antidepressants. And not because I think it's "weak" to take them or that I think that they're bad and that I should just be able to "get over it" myself. Or that this applies to anyone else. In my circumstances I think I've made the right decision for me and I'm happy that I didn't take them, but I may have to at some point in the future, I'm simply trying to delay getting started on them because the underlying cause of the depression is not going to go away in my case. So the longer I can go learning to cope with that the better for me. In my case.
I'm not going to tell you that I understand your depression or how you feel because I am not you and I have no idea. But I would never belittle you or think anything derogatory about you for having made the choice that you have made. If they are helping you and you feel better for taking them, that's a great thing and I admire you for making the choices that you have made to take care of your health.
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
No, not at all. I'm not taking any of these comments personally (because the meds are working
This is not a thread about me or my depression, but can really only speak to my experience with it. The issue is that the antidepressants are being over-prescribed by the doctors, the patients are only looking for help (most of them anyway) -- which may not even involve medication.
I agree that they are not for everyone and I certainly respect anyone's decision not to take them...I wish everyone all the success in the world to recover from depression naturally, without meds! Part of me says "Lucky You!". But meds are not always the answer and they are not the only answer. Therapy in conjunction with meds (which get you in the right frame of mind to put things in perspective so that you're no longer blaming yourself for everything) really works. St. John's Wort works for others.
So, Jeanie, not to worry. PM me if you want to yap to me specifically about this topic further. If I can help one person because of my experience with this illness, then that makes it just a little bit better for both of us.
http://www.myspace.com/brain_of_c