Posted by scott-d-o on December 16, 2003, at 10:56:02
In reply to Re: how did it get this bad? » KellyD, posted by scott-d-o on December 16, 2003, at 9:50:44
I should also add that the evidence corruption is going on is evident in the stark contrast you see between the doctor's office and just about every anxiety message board on the internet. At the doctor's office most all you hear is "benzo's are addictive", however if you go on these message boards most of what you will hear is "benzo's saved my life" with an occasional complaint of addiction. I can't say I have seen very many success stories resulting from the use of the SSRI's. In fact, my personal belief is that they are entirely *ineffective* in 100% of true anxiety disorders since I believe an anxiety disorder manifests itself as a dysfunction of the GABA system, not of the serotonin system. Every other drug that has ever shown high efficacy in treating anxiety disorders has affected GABA or at the very least the balance between GABA and Glutamate; even the MAOI Nardil does. I do not doubt that SSRI's are effective in some people for depression, OCD, and even premature ejaculation in men. However, I believe the people who have found relief from anxiety as a result of the SSRI's just had depression which was causing *symptoms* of anxiety. Depression can cause a lack of self-esteem, motivation, etc. that can *cause* anxiety. IMO, anxiety caused by depression or OCD is not the same thing as an anxiety *disorder*. However, there is a definite grey area there where a patient could easily be misdiagnosed.
My opinion is that the 20% or so of the people that SSRI's were shown to be effective for over placebo in the trials to get them approved for these uses were a result of misdiagnosis. Also, as is also cited in the lawsuit against Neurontin's manufacturer Parke-Davis, it is not hard for a drug company to pay for several inexpensive clinical trials and make sure only the ones that show the drug to be effective are the ones that get published. I should also add I think the result of all this is a great injustice not only to the patient but to the manufacturers of the first benzodiazepines. It is quite a shame that the company that invented Klonopin and is responsible for helping so many people probably didn't even make back the money to cover it's R&D costs on developing it since it could only market it as an anticonvulsant. Yet every SSRI manufacturer is filthy rich because of the mighty dollar and a corrupted system.
Okay, I've said my peace now and apologize for rambling on. :-)
poster:scott-d-o
thread:290163
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031213/msgs/290511.html