Are You Depressed?
The best remedy
is to make your peace with God; trust in Him; read the Scriptures every
day; by the grace of Christ, live a clean life; thank Him for all His
blessings; and, whether at home or at work, spend your time helping
others.
But do not take
antidepressants! Here is some information to share with those who do:
USEFULNESS OF
ANTIDEPRESSANTS
Millions of
Americans are now taking Prozac and similar antidepressants. The technical
name for these are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
They are supposed to help people achieve happier, less anxious lives and
are given for a broad range of disordersincluding panic, obsessive, and
phobic conditions, as well as depressive and anxious states, and even
substance abuse and eating disorders.
But a team, led
by University of Connecticut psychologist Irving Kirsch, analyzed clinical
trial data for six widely prescribed antidepressants approved by the FDA
between 1987 and 1999 (Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Serzone, and Celexa).
They found that "80 percent of the response to medication was
duplicated in placebo control groups."
In everyday
language, that means that the people who received only the fake pills felt
better just about as much as those who got the drug! The average
difference in improvement was only two points on the Hamilton Depression
Scale, which produces scores up to 50 or 62 points, depending on the
version used. The difference was so small that it was obvious the people
got better because they expected to. (Source: Irving Kirsch, et al.,
"The Emperors New Drugs," Prevention and Treatment, July 2002.
This is the journal of the American Psychological Association.)
"Our data
suggest that the effects of antidepressant drugs are very small and of
questionable clinical significance," the Kirsch study concluded. Due
to the dangerous side effects of these drugs, people should not take them.
ANTIDEPRESSANTS
AND SUICIDE
Now we come to a
second, separate report on antidepressants, which the present writer
obtained a month later.
In the September
issue of Clinical Psychiatry News, Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive
Director of International Coalition for Drug Awareness (and author of Prozac:
Panacea or Pandora? Our Serotonin Nightmare), discussed an astounding
research studythat people who regularly take serotonergic medicines
(another name for SSRIs) are 68 times more likely to commit suicide than
those who do not!
These drugs are
supposed to relax people, yet they are doing the very opposite.
A patients
chances of suicide jump from 11 out of 100,000 to as much as 718 out of
100,000 if one is taking one of these new SSRI antidepressants (Prozac,
Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, and Celexa). Yet those medications are supposed to
rid a person of depressed, suicidal tendencies! The risk is even higher
for the new serotonergic antipsychotics (Zyprexa, Risperal, Seroquel): 752
out of 100,000.
The data for
this study was presented by Dr. Arif Khan at a recent meeting of the New
Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit, of the National Institute of Mental Health.
What Khan did
was to analyze the data on the suicide rate of all the patients who
participated in the clinical trials for these new drugs, a total of over
71,604 people. The purpose of the clinical trials was to ascertain whether
the drugs were "safe and effective" for the general public. When
completed, the data was presented to the FDA, which examined it and then
approved the new compounds. What Khan did was to look more closely at the
data which the FDA thought was so excellent for drugs approved between
1985 and 2000.
It should be
known that everyone known to be "actively suicidal" was excluded
from those trials. What Khan discovered was that the suicide rate among
those who did take the medications horribly increased to an extremely high
number.
Why is it that
the FDA did not recognize this glaring fact? It is clear that these drugs,
that increase the serotonin rate in peoplecause suicide rather than
cure it. Ironically, modern psychiatry treats patients by giving them
drugs, such as these!
Here is the data
in more detail:
Average
Americans have an 11 out of 100,000 suicide rate. The rate for those who
take antidepressant drugs should lower it from 11 to 4 or 6. But, instead,
the serotonin drugs dramatically increase the likelihood those taking them
will want to end their lives:
752 per
100,000 for those treated with atypical antipsychotics: risperidone (Riserdal),
olanzapine (Zyprexa), and quetiapine (Seroquel).
718 per
100,000 for those taking SSRIs: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Luvox, Celexa).
425 per
100,000 for those treated for "social anxiety disorder" with
nefazodone (Serzone), mirtazapine (Remeron), and bupropton (Wellbutrin/Zyban).
136 per
100,000 for those treated for panic disorder with benzodiazepine
alprazolam (Xanax).
105 per
100,000 for those treated for obsessive-compulsive disorder with
anticonvulsant valproate (Depakote).
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