Considering Antidepressants

Considering Antidepressants
Depression is the most common form of mental health
problem. Most estimates are that twenty percent of people
in the US are depressed, with the majority not getting any
sort of treatment. Those people with depression who do get
treatment usually do so in the forms of psychotherapy, some
type of pharmaceutical prescription, or a combination of
both. The pharmaceutical types most often prescribed for
depression are, naturally enough, in the antidepressant
class.

Antidepressants have been in use since the 1950's. The
method for antidepressants is to alter the brain chemistry
in some specific way, often to maintain levels of a
particular chemical. The SSRI antidepressants for example
are designed to keep levels of the brain chemical serotonin
at certain levels, the thought being that reduced levels of
serotonin lead to depression among other dysfunctions. SSRI
is shorthand for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor.
The most well known of the SSRI's without question is
Prozac.

Prozac became commercially available in Europe starting
1986 but work on the drug actually started in the 1970's.
Contrary to what may be popular opinion, Prozac was not the
first SSRI antidepressant but it was the most commercially
successful of the initial SSRI's. This was certainly helped
by the fact that the first SSRI antidepressant, zimelidine,
was banned because it presented serious side effects.
Prozac was marketed as a completely new type of drug, one
that was specifically in contrast to tricyclic
antidepressants, which prior to Prozac were the most
commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals for depression.

Specifically, Prozac was said to be more precise in the way
it worked and to present fewer side effects than the
tricyclic antidepressants. Tricyclic antidepressants were
known for having particular side effects, including
increased heart rate, constipation, and sexual dysfunction.
Though Prozac may have had fewer side effects than the
tricyclics, Prozac was not an entirely clean drug when it
came to carryover side effects: sexual dysfunction was also
an effect seen during Prozac usage. The side effects from
Prozac use however were generally thought to subside over
time.

Whether Prozac was a miracle drug or not is certainly up
for debate, but it did prove to be enormously profitable.
There were literally millions of prescriptions written for
Prozac, and the drug grossed billions of dollars before its
patent expired. There are now other SSRI drugs similar to
Prozac that are commercially available, and these drugs,
like Prozac, have proven to be exceptionally popular. This
gives credibility to the notion that the SSRI's may be the
most effective type of antidepressant currently available.

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Zinn Jeremiah is a freelance author. For help with
depression, visit
http://www.hubonline.biz/get-better-now.htm or
http://www.hubonline.biz/healthy-mood.htm .