Addiction to antidepressants

Among the "normal" people there is an opinion that "antidepressants are very harmful", "they can go crazy", "get used to them for life", etc. Is this true? Of course, there is no smoke without fire, but fire is the cost of Soviet psychiatry, when strong remedies "just in case" were prescribed in large doses with the corresponding results. In the rest of the world, the attitude towards drugs is completely different. To date, about 65 percent of the US population is taking psychotropic drugs (primarily antidepressants and tranquilizers).

There is a stereotype that taking antidepressants is a manifestation of a weak character. But at the same time, people who suffer from other diseases, such as hypertension or polyarthritis, take medication during periods of exacerbations and this is considered normal. For example, aspirin is not able to cure polyarthritis, but it can relieve pain in the joints and thereby alleviate the physical suffering of the patient. Unfortunately, in our society there is still a stereotype that depression is weak-willedness, non-assortment, and only a few understand that depression is the same disease that requires treatment. Yes, antidepressants can not always relieve depression, but they can reduce pain. Only not physical, but spiritual.

For many, the issue of addiction to antidepressants is important. Will not the body demand and after the release of depression another portion of the pills of joy? You can answer more than unequivocally - the drugs used to date in the treatment of depression, do not cause addiction, regardless of the duration of treatment. They only help the body to restore those mechanisms that were disturbed by depression.

Those people whose work is related to creativity, often worried about the question, will the antidepressant drug use interfere with the processes that are responsible for creativity? In most cases, depression does not have the best effect on creativity, but most often makes it impossible. Antidepressants are able to restore a broken inner world and restore the ability to create a person's ability to create, because most often creativity contributes to mental health.

The task of a psychiatrist is to select the right preparations. Only half of the patients experience improvement after the first course of therapy, so that the selection of drugs can be called trial and error. A doctor can prescribe several drugs before he finds the most effective one. In many clinics, it is practiced to prescribe free drugs to persons who are on psychiatric records. Since the cost of the drugs of the last generations can reach $50-100, and they can be written down several types, imagine how much it can cost. Although - they say that over the past 30 years nothing better and stronger than the good old amytriptilin has not been invented. New drugs basically differ in contraindications (they are much less) and at a price (it is much higher).

The effect of the drug is not immediately apparent - usually between the time of the beginning of the reception and the appearance of a positive effect is not less than 2-3 weeks, although in some cases, positive mood changes may appear in one week. For someone, drugs are a panacea, and a person who has tried to escape from depression for many months unsuccessfully comes to life right before our eyes. Someone they are able to remove only some of the depressive symptoms. But there are people on whom drug therapy does not affect. Do not rush to rank yourself in the last category - everything is very individual, and in some cases a stable result can come only after a few months.

Often drugs are prescribed together with other methods of treatment. Antidepressants are most often unable to fill the inner world with light and completely rid themselves of depressive experiences, but they are able to give at least some feeling of stability, to ease the symptoms of depression.

Another important point is the name of the drugs. For example, fluoxetine, which is by far the most popular drug both in America and in Europe, is represented on the Russian market by almost 20 pharmaceutical companies. This means that the same drug is sold under 20 different names. And if the recipe simply says "fluoxetine", then you have to focus on the ratio of "price / quality." The cheapest are Russian and Indian drugs, but they often have a lot of side effects. Drugs produced by Western pharmacists are more expensive, but the side effects are not as pronounced.

Mary, 32 years: “For several years I have to take antidepressants. At first they really "help the body to restore those mechanisms that were disturbed by depression." Rather, they even make the body (in particular, the brain) what it should do by itself.

And he gets so used to it that he refuses to work after the drug is discontinued. Even if you cancel the medicine according to all the rules, with the exact calculation of dosages.

I tried to cancel antidepressants several times, in different ways, under the supervision of doctors. As a result, the brain simply refuses to work.”

Many will say that an untreated disorder simply returns again in its entirety. This is not so: before going to the drugs I felt much better - at least, I could walk and talk.

In practice, I have come across many people who have been suffering from depression for years and often in severe form, but have never been treated with antidepressants. Many of them have a stereotype that "like as long as I am without drugs - I can consider myself normal, and it is only necessary to start ..." And what, what will happen next? See what is already happening to your life. I repeat - the drugs are not addictive, and you can stop the therapy at any time even if you sit on drugs for many years, without prejudice to your health. Often, it is the depression that does not use any of the techniques in this section, because in order to try something, you need strength and a sense of stability, and depression takes it all away. Drugs are able to give the necessary foundation, change your attitude, ease depression, and then, while taking medications, you can go jogging, go to a therapist, practice sleep deprivation and do many other things. I myself took antidepressants for many years and they played an important role in the therapy of my depression, and years later, when I managed to deal with depression, and its symptoms became much weaker, I just stopped taking them. Do you understand?