Number of Americans taking antidepressants doubles

[Heidi]

Source: USA Today

Posted 6h 49m ago

The number of Americans using antidepressants doubled in only a decade, while the number seeing psychiatrists continued to fall, a study shows.

About 10% of Americans — or 27 million people — were taking antidepressants in 2005, the last year for which data were available at the time the study was written. That's about twice the number in 1996, according to the study of nearly 50,000 children and adults in today's Archives of General Psychiatry. Yet the majority weren't being treated for depression. Half of those taking antidepressants used them for back pain, nerve pain, fatigue, sleep difficulties or other problems, the study says.

Among users of antidepressants, the percentage receiving psychotherapy fell from 31.5% to less than 20%, the study says. About 80% of patients were treated by doctors other than psychiatrists.

Patients today may be more likely to ask about antidepressant advertising, says study author Mark Olfson of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. During the study, spending on direct-to-consumer antidepressant ads increased from $32 million to $122 million.


Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2009-08-03-antidepressants_N.htm

[Lorien]

1. Once again, human suffering is good for business

depending on what business you're in. The gulf between rich and poor, our inability to receive decent healthcare, or crap diets, or lack of leisure time...it all adds up. My father had to sell is psychology practice because most insurance companies dropped mental health coverage, or made getting payouts nearly impossible.

Antidepressants made me nearly non-functional. I use an Alpha-stim SCS for my clinical depression. It has no side effects and is more effective than Prozac (Google it). For situational depression though...that's a whole other issue. The American way of life makes situational depression all too frequent for millions of us.

[conspirator]

2. The american dream: live on antidepressants

<:sarcasm:>

[Heidi]

5. It's a brave new world, isn't it?

[Uben]

3. I didn't realize the republicans would take losing so hard

....But, if anti-depressants make them feel better, by all means.........

[SpiralHawk]

4. Shut up and swallow your Soma

[Rebubula]

6. The biggest problem...

...in my non-medically trained mind is for evolution.

Evolution occurs because the body adapts to current needs and creates changes that will become apparent in future generations in order to allow then to survive. It also occurs when we modify the body and it learns to adapt. I fear that the doping up of our breeding age population will cause unforeseeable problems generations down the line.

I am NOT trying to downplay the reality of depression and the tolls that it takes on a person - just that we are playing with future generations when we alter the physiology of people that are still breeding.

[Heidi]

7. I also worry for the "doping up" of our children.

Certainly there are children with, for example, neurobehavioral developmental disorders who need medication, but I also believe medications are over-prescribed for children and this really worries me.

[Odin2005]

10. Evolution has nothing do do with this.

Evolution is a purely genetic phenomena, populations evolve, not individuals.

[Better Today]

11. The other concern I have is the evolution of our spirits our psyche's;

in today's world many people have perfectly acceptable REASONS for being depresed, which in my mind isn't "clinical" depression at all, but situational. Seems that if it isn't clinical and one is given and takes pharmas and as the article mentions, gets no help for the environmental/situational issues that are truly causing it. . . well that just cannot be good for the evolution of an individual's spirit, it just numbs them to their troubles and that make is possible for them to continue to be in bad situations, not move forward, not gain any personal power in their lifes.

[shadowknows69]

8. Best money maker there is for big Pharma I bet

And with the economic woes in this country I figure doctors are prescribing them like candy again.

[Historic NY]

9. after eight yrs of * & the GOP its a wonder it didn't triple.

[SOS]

12. Antidepressant Discontinuation Syndrome

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20060801/449.html

Are doctors informing their patients of this?

[cosmicone]

13. This news is depressing !!! n/t

[krabigirl]

14. And they wonder why obesity is also on the rise?

Many people overeat when depressed, and don't exercise. Also, many of these meds cause weight gain. I gained a lot on Lexapro even when I exercised like a maniac. Dropped it easily when I went off. My best friend has gained weight on both Prozac and LExapro. I think there are meds that don't cause the weight gain (wellbutrin), but they are not good for people who have both anxiety and depression, like my friend.

[bain_sidhe]

15. Note that the data ends in 2005

We're talking about the Bush years compared to the Clinton years. Yeah, I was depressed too!