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Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

theguardian.com

11–20 of 561 posts

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#12
SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years!, before I gave medication a go.

Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of people use this medicine successfully

Articles like this are part of the narrative that SSRIs in general are no better than placebo. Absolutely not true for me!

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#13
post #3
post #2

From the article: > They can also increase suicidal ideation. A very close family member committed suicide, after Prozac dosage adjustments made his brain chemistry go haywire. This happened 30 years ago, and it has been known to us that Prozac can cause this, since then. The Guardians headline is way, way understating the real situation here.

The problem with suicidal depression is that if someone has created the thought pattern that death is best, then removing the symptoms of depression (lethargy, lack of energy, no willpower) now gives the person the ability to actually follow through with the act. Medications almost always target symptoms and never address root causes.

This is what my psychiatrist more or less warned me about when I went on medication; that a lot of people who are suicidal lack the energy and ability to plan their suicide, and medications can sometimes undo those particular symptoms and people manage to end themselves.

I'm not sure what kinds of studies have been done about it, but I've had a few therapists same similar ideas. If it's not a studied phenomenon, then it has folks that believe it exists.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#14
post #3
post #2

From the article: > They can also increase suicidal ideation. A very close family member committed suicide, after Prozac dosage adjustments made his brain chemistry go haywire. This happened 30 years ago, and it has been known to us that Prozac can cause this, since then. The Guardians headline is way, way understating the real situation here.

The problem with suicidal depression is that if someone has created the thought pattern that death is best, then removing the symptoms of depression (lethargy, lack of energy, no willpower) now gives the person the ability to actually follow through with the act. Medications almost always target symptoms and never address root causes.

Finding everyone’s cow is expensive and time consuming: https://antidepressantcow.org/2020/02/the-story-of-the-antid...

But is the only true cure to the suffering. We’d have to undergo a massive reorganization of society (and upset a few hefty profit margins) to prioritize that, so we settle for the messy symptom management we have.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#15

SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years! , before I gave medication a go. Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of…

Same here, after struggling for 39 years, glp-1 + SSRI + ADHD meds have made me a normal productive human, and 2 years ago I had pretty much given up on the possibility.

Having a child forced me to fix my life, and I'm incredibly happy because of it.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#16
post #15

SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years! , before I gave medication a go. Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of…

Same here, after struggling for 39 years, glp-1 + SSRI + ADHD meds have made me a normal productive human, and 2 years ago I had pretty much given up on the possibility. Having a child forced me to fix my life, and I'm incredibly happy because of it.

Pharmacology and chemistry can really make the world a better place.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#17
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with suicidal depression is that if someone has created the thought pattern that death is best, then removing the symptoms of depression (lethargy, lack of energy, no willpower) now gives the person the ability to actually follow through with the act. Medications almost always target symptoms and never address root causes.

Finding everyone’s cow is expensive and time consuming: https://antidepressantcow.org/2020/02/the-story-of-the-antid... But is the only true cure to the suffering. We’d have to undergo a massive reorganization of society (and upset a few hefty profit margins) to prioritize that, so we settle for the messy symptom management we have.

[deleted]

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#18

SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years! , before I gave medication a go. Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of…

Spitballing here. I always understood stuff like this as "the system doesn't care about you, it cares about the masses." If the result is overwhelmingly looking no better than a placebo, then the small number of people it actually helps is sort of irrelevant. The exception might be cases where people are willing to drop a bomb of cash for lifesaving drugs for rare diseases (Pharma Bro got a lot of flack for massively jacking up the price of one of these drugs.) I don't know what implications such a study may have in a complex space. I imagine the drug will still be available for those who want to try, but far less prescribed as a sort of safe default. I doubt drug companies will care much for this, since the patent has long expired.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#19

SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years! , before I gave medication a go. Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of…

This seems like bias against the placebo effect.

Re: Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

#20

SSRIs literally saved my life, no question about it. Night and day difference, from daily panic attacks destroying my life, happiness, and career, to being almost completely better in 2 weeks after starting. I tried exercise and diet and meditation and you name it, for years! , before I gave medication a go. Do not care what the science says. It 100% worked for me. Please get help if you need it, tens of millions of…

I think it’s important to note the headline that it’s specifically about children. Maybe Prozac is effective for adults but not kids in that range?
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