Antidepressants

I was called to write about this topic while I was revising my pharmacology chapter this morning. It is an interesting part to write because of the increasing number of people are taking it since it was introduced to the society in 1980's, an antidepressant era.

Depression is a common psychiatric disorder which is a disorder of mood rather than disturbances of thoughts or cognition. People who are depressed usually have misery, apathy, low self esteem, loss motivation and some biological symptoms such as disturbances of sleep and retardation of action and thought. Okay, now I know, when you read this, you might be thinking, "I think I'm depressed."Before you go further into it, let me tell you that it is not as simple as that. The symptoms should be ongoing and have major impact into one's life. Those symptoms could lead one to discontinue having normal activities that usually occur after a massive trauma such as losing the loved ones or stressful life events.

Antidepressants become an interest of many researchers in many part of the world because of the potential profit they offer. Thanks to the hu-ha of the media about depression, depression is now well marketed and so do the antidepressants. People who only have minor stress due to workload in workplaces or complicated problems at home will straight away find solution from Prozac (fluoxetine), which is the most commonly prescribed antidepressant. This medication is a Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI) and its action is to increase the neurotransmitter which help to stimulate the brain. Sounds clever right? It certainly is, as many people get some relieved from this medication eventough it only gives effect after 2-4 weeks taking this medication. But what happens during that 2-4 weeks? Some studies have shown patients who are taking this type of medication could have tendency of suicidal. Hmm that is really a bad news indeed. Antidepressant doesn't suit into the description here, antidepressant that causes suicide??

The unwanted side effects of suicidal mostly effect teenagers and children. What concern me here is why do these children need to take the antidepressant in the first place? I can't deny children and teenagers also have stressful life events that are difficult to handle but as adults around them, offering medications is not the answer. It could be an easy short-term solution for these teenagers but in the end, we are destroying their lives even more. In later life, they won't be able to handle simple stresses and cannot live without these miracle medications.

Now, here it makes me think of another side of the topic, what do we believe most in life and how do we make ourselves strong enough to handle stress? Everything that occur in life I believe must have another purpose that we might or might not know. Every bad things happen will eventually leads to a better life in some point or later. Qada' and qadar I would say. If whenever you feel weak and you feel that you couldn't handle anymore, just remember that your Creator is always with you. Turn to Him, you might not find the answer immediately, but just remember He always plan the best for you. I always believe that, the burden that we faced are the burdens that we are able to handle, He will never give those that are unbearable for you.

If I haven't made myself clear, antidepressants are not the sole answer!

~In conclusion, antidepressants should only considered as the last option for the treatment of mood disorder~