1. First and foremost antidepressants prescription rates are rising..and are rapidly becoming the most common medication. There are programs to reduce psychotropic prescriptions in children and those with intelligent disability but instead this is becoming a shift to AD.
2. Increasingly awareness that people aren't coming off them. We perhaps don't quite have system for drawing people off medications (hyperbolic dosing probably would help with switch to longer acting medicines).
3. Recognition of side effects especially sexual ones that take up to 6 months to resolve. Some claim never do. Hard to judge this but overall it's clear that patients don't feel they fully appreciated and where informed of some side effects. To be clear there does appear to be reduce sexual function up to about 6 months after usage in some. Indefinitely seems unsupported by facts but you will be hounded for saying so on some social media.
4. Disillusionment with pharma companies really enough said here.
5. Increased rates of supportive counselling Vs psychotherapy. Reducing the cost effectiveness of AD.
>> Recognition of side effects especially sexual ones that take up to 6 months to resolve.
For men, if it's the "can't finnish" side effect, take selenium supplements. This may not work while on the ADs. Beware it can influence your PSA level.
My understanding is that the main side effect is loss of desire and libido.
Sex being less pleasurable is another reported one which seems to be in a significant part linked to the previous one.
Not really. I haven't heard a explanation that is all that credible about why mental illness rates are skyrocketing like they have been (quick Google pulls up this chart, you can find many others[0]). The idea that a large percentage of children are mentally ill is taken at face value but if rates of say asthma were rising at the same pace we would probably be restructuring society to prevent it.
It isn't "skyrocketing". People are willing to discuss it nowadays. When I was younger, the attitude of those around me was to "be a man" and "just suck it up". The younger generations are unwilling to put up with the misery and abuse that older generations felt obligated to endure.
In some large cohorts (ex. white liberal women [0]) nearly half of the members are mentally ill or identity as such. Any illness having that level of afflicted should be a major concern, we should pull out all the stops to find out why (and given it's a mental illness, it really makes me rethink democracy). People feel comfortable to talk about it more is a cop out, either these aren't really illnesses (eg. having some level of anxiety isn't abnormal for humans or other primates, some percentage of people on anxiety medication probably are on it without a good reason) or there is some environmental cause we are missing, my guess is it's a little of both.
There seems to still be this notion that mental health is froofroo stuff and if it’s all in your head you need to just toughen up. So either it’s chemically based mental illness in which case you take a pill or it’s nonsense.
Antidepressants can help some people with chemical issues but will do little to nothing for people without them.
Erm yeah, mental problems are literally all in your head. That doesn't make them less real, though. And of course, toughen up is a stupid thing to say from someone not having those problems. (on the other hamd, you can take I am sick as a excuse to not make an effort anymore)
And if the chemicals are not in order still leaves the question whether that is just the symptom or the root cause.
What I mean is, that when someone has a shitty life and is therefore depressed, then his brain chemicals are probably not look good. Pills still might help this person to transition back, but this won't be sustainable, when the root cause does not get fixed.
> Erm yeah, mental problems are literally all in your head.
Well, everything you experience is literally in your head, so it's a bit useless observation. What matters is whether or not you can think the problem away, which for being depressed is about as possible as for a broken arm.
> What I mean is, that when someone has a shitty life and is therefore depressed, then his brain chemicals are probably not look good.
Yes. But in many other cases, brain chemicals are not looking good because of some other, more permanent issues, like genetics, or environment in which one grew up.
> Pills still might help this person to transition back, but this won't be sustainable, when the root cause does not get fixed.
There may not be a root cause. If one's stuck in a feedback loop of "bad mental state -> shitty life -> bad mental state -> ...", it doesn't even matter much what initially caused it all those years or decades ago. And again, in some cases the root cause is just permanent.
A wheelchair is a good analogy to mental health medication. A wheelchair will help people move around regardless of whether they were born without a leg, lost their leg in an accident, became paralyzed from waist down, or had a rough fall and need to give couple weeks or months for their legs to recover. You don't tell the person without a leg that they should think about transitioning off the wheelchair. You don't deny a wheelchair to a person with temporary loss of mobility from a bad accident. Some people will need it permanently, some only for a moment - but if they all have specific mobility problems, the wheelchair is there to reduce them.
"if they all have specific mobility problems, the wheelchair is there to reduce them. "
Yes, but if a person with 2 normal legs insists on continuing to use the wheelchair after an accident - he or she will allways remain dependant on it (muscles go away very fast and it is hard work to regain them) and not be able to walk again on their own feet. Same with antidepressants I figure. It will be hard, to not use them anymore.
Agreed. Sometimes though the unofficial diagnostic for possible chemical issues is that there is no obvious cause in one’s life for depression. If your life is great and you don’t feel it there might be something wrong.
> I've only read the headline, but isn't this the consensus already?
If only there was a readily available and easily accessible source of information that expanded upon the headline and had the potential to answer further questions on the topic…
Full disclosure: I'm on antidepressants and probably don't really need them.