Posted by doxogenic boy on September 20, 2009, at 12:37:27
Have any of you experienced that the illness isnt any better today than before you started with antidepressants or other psychotropics? In my case, some symptoms are better and some symptoms are worse, so roughly speaking, I have no gain for these 15 years with medication experiments, maybe I am even worse. Mostly, I feel it has been 15 wasted years.
I have had some good periods on medication , but now I am not sure any longer if it was worth it, because of all the disappointment when the effects from other meds I hoped for, never came and all the side effects and withdrawal I have been subject to.
Maybe our brains are made evolutionary not to become lasting satisfied by substances that induce euthymia or euphoria, so that we don't stop fighting for the reward, to have better chances to stay alive?
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12633120J Clin Psychiatry. 2003 Feb;64(2):123-33. (pdf) Links
Can long-term treatment with antidepressant drugs worsen the course of depression?
Fava GA.
Department of Psychiatry, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA.BACKGROUND: The possibility that antidepressant drugs, while effectively treating depression, may worsen its course has received inadequate attention.
METHOD: A review of the literature suggesting potential depressogenic effects of long-term treatment with antidepressant drugs was performed. A MEDLINE search was conducted using the keywords tolerance, sensitization, antidepressive agents, and switching. This was supplemented by a manual search of Index Medicus under the heading "antidepressant agents" and a manual search of the literature for articles pointing to paradoxical effects of antidepressants.
RESULTS: A number of reported clinical findings point to the following possibilities: very unfavorable long-term outcome of major depression treated by pharmacologic means, paradoxical (depression-inducing) effects of antidepressant drugs in some patients with mood and anxiety disturbances, antidepressant-induced switching and cycle acceleration in bipolar disorder, occurrence of tolerance to the effects of antidepressants during long-term treatment, onset of resistance upon rechallenge with the same antidepressant drug in a few patients, and withdrawal syndromes following discontinuation of mood-elevating drugs. These phenomena in susceptible individuals may be explained on the basis of the oppositional model of tolerance. Continued drug treatment may recruit processes that oppose the initial acute effects of a drug and may result in loss of clinical effect. When drug treatment ends, these processes may operate unopposed, at least for some time, and increase vulnerability to relapse.
CONCLUSION: The possibility that antidepressant drugs may worsen the course of depression needs to be tested, even though its scientific exploration is likely to encounter considerable methodological and ideological difficulties. The clinical implications of this hypothesis in depression are considerable. Antidepressant drugs are crucial in the treatment of major depressive episodes. However, appraisal of paradoxical effects that may occur in susceptible patients during long-term treatment may lead to more effective use of the drugs.
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thread:917814
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