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Post by Mario Mejia on Jul 31, 2017 9:56:25 GMT -4
The benefits do not alway outweigh the risks when it comes to depression and generalized anxiety medications. The biggest concern is that we are not exactly sure how they are effective. On top of that, as the article states, drugs are not the most effective way to treat many of these patients. CBT and other interventions would be better at treating the root cause. For these patients, medication works like a band-aid just treating the symptoms but not working towards a cure. It is hard to not think of drug companies as cynical when they make their products less expensive and therefore more accessible than more effective alternatives. Again, taking money into consideration, it is definitely better to treat with medication than to not treat at all. At the end of the day, the fact remains, there is still much to learn about depression and anxiety and how they affect our brains.
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Riuyinosa Egharevba
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Post by Riuyinosa Egharevba on Jul 31, 2017 12:30:23 GMT -4
Anti depressant are gaining popularity now more than ever which helps reduce the stigma of mental illness. There are many different classes of antidepressants including: TCA, SSRI, SNRI and MAOI. These medications work by increasing certain neurotransmitters namely; serotonin, norepineoherine and dopamine. Theraputic effects of most antidepressants take weeks to kick in. Antidpressants gradually increase neuroplasticity which is helps maintain positive mindset and inceases adaptation thus decreasing likelyhood of experiencing depression. It is difficult to establish an underlying cause of depression. Anti depressants have many side effects which vary from person to person.These side effects include insomnia, sexual dysfunction and precipitation of mania in bipolar patients.
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Post by Omar Perez on Jul 31, 2017 16:20:46 GMT -4
The article touches an interesting point, which is the lack of understanding regarding mechanisms of action of antidepressant and other psychotropic medications. Despite this, antidepressants and other psychoactive medications are widely used, due to both the necessity and the increasing incidence of psychiatric conditions. This lack of understanding of how antidepressants exactly work stems from the gap of knowledge regarding the specific relationships between neurotransmitters and higher brain functions. This results in less focused treatment measures which ultimately mean less efficient therapy and patient care. Major breakthroughs in the understanding of neurotransmitters and higher brain functions are required in order for a new generation of more focused, effective medications/treatment options to develop.
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Post by Ingrid Villanueva on Jul 31, 2017 16:27:03 GMT -4
How do antidepressants really work?
For a better understanding of how something works, there is a need to look also at what would it be working on. What is depression exactly? How does it manifests itself? It could feel as if I am trying to start a philosophical argument. But the truth is that as the article points out there is a some familiarity regarding depression and mental health issues that are somehow helping with the way lay people see it and deal medically with it. But familiarity is not the same as understanding and this later is not the same as insight. The most important thing for me is insight, opinions or bystanders are not as important as the insight of the patient. A patient with good insight of the disease will definitely be able to get more out of the treatment. And as the neurotransmitter, and the neuroplasticity get to work the patient with a good insight of his or her disease will benefit better than a patient that does not.
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Post by Nikki Brar on Aug 1, 2017 17:14:57 GMT -4
I think this article makes some very good points in saying that although the topic of depression and using antidepressants is becoming part of every day conversations, this does not mean we have much of an understanding of this treatment. Because of the various ways depression can present, it makes treatment all that more confusing. The every day person may believe that just because a medication is available, it should be an easy fix but it is much deeper than that. This article talks about how antidepressants became so common but I believe that because they are considered a first line treatment for depression, it was a no brainer for people presenting with depressive episodes to be treated with one of the few medications we have available. Furthermore, if antidepressants have a chance of increasing plasticity, I think it is worth trying. All in all I think having conversations about depression is always a positive because it can help alleviate the stigma that surrounds mental illness.
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Post by Monica Gifford on Aug 1, 2017 17:29:37 GMT -4
This article mentions the fact that depression does not have one exact cause, therefore making it extremely difficult to treat. Looking at depression from that aspect can help people understand why SSRIs are not always the answer and why some cases are refractory to medication. It also explains why there are drug trials out there for the use of ketamine on patients with depression that is resistant to medication. There is still so much to learn about how to treat depression in order to better help these patients in the future.
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Post by Anis Said on Aug 2, 2017 8:02:09 GMT -4
How Do Antidepressants Really Work
Depression is diagnosis that can be caused by many different ways and can be explained scientifically by many different pathopysiological theories. In addition, clinically speaking some patients respond to different types of antidepressants differently. This is why, it is best to practice personalized medicine when it comes to managing depression and to keep switching between different medications or treatment approaches until patient symptoms improve. For example, clinicians can rely on Cognitive behavioral therapy CBT to treat patients who do not respond well to SSRIs or they can try ketamine treatments or Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (Deep TMS) treatments in patients who do not respond well to the conventional anti depressants.
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Post by Sylvia Akenji on Aug 2, 2017 13:03:10 GMT -4
Like the author of this article, and many others in this post, I do agree that something is better than nothing. The field of medicine is ever changing and I believe that we will eventually figure out the best approach to depression but until then. Depression, like many other psychiatric issues can significantly hinder quality of life. That being said, if an individual can be provided some relief though minimal, to improve their quality of life, a trial of the antidepressants available is the best place to start.
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Igbudu Akpewe charles
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Post by Igbudu Akpewe charles on Aug 3, 2017 12:30:48 GMT -4
stated by the author.."The fact that antidepressants are now so common is something of a mixed blessing.now a-days we see that antidepressant are so common that you can get them anywhere bringing the fear for abuse of this medications.what is an antidepressant and whats it suppose to be used for?Antidepressants can help jump-start mood and give people the boost they need to get over the symptoms of their depression Antidepressants work by balancing chemicals in your brain called neurotransmitters that affect mood and emotions.so also patient of now a days are looking for a quick way out of depression but as we all know and according to the article antidepressants takes about 3-4 weeks before they start working.so I would end by saying that knowledge is the key to power, we should try as much as possible to educate our patients about all this medications even though we know google has taking over.
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Post by Ray Hall on Aug 4, 2017 10:12:24 GMT -4
Like must pathology and treaments it is a ongoing process that unfortunately does not have a one size fits all solution to must problems. In the case of depression all you have to do is look at the evalution of medications. There was a time when the use of TCA was very common place now however SSRI's and SNRI's have taking over do to their less serious side effects. Then you consider treatment that are being researched like Ketamine, MDMA and it becomes clear that what works for one might not work for someone else. This is a result of small genetic different that have allowed us to survive as a species so rather then trying to fight it try to adjust treatment according, and never stop researching until solutions are found for each patient.
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Post by Desiliette King on Aug 8, 2017 23:30:53 GMT -4
From my understanding the article is basically stating that even though antidepressant are commonly used and prescribed and are excellent for alleviating depression . The actual mechanism to how they work is not fully known. What we do have is a broad idea of how they act on the brain by increasing or decreasing or blocking certain activities in the brain e.g neurotransmitters. The problem with this is that the problem itself is never fixed only the symptoms, it's like holding your finger over a hole in a straw, it will stop leaking when your finger is there but once you remove your finger the hole is still there. The next issue is the side effects of these antidepressants and the fact that they can have various effects on various people. Two persons may react completely differently and have totally different side effects from the same medication. Also every patient is different and these medications are not catered to treat each patient specifically, they treat overall, so pts may have various types of depression or they may deal with or handle their depression differently but are treated with the same medication even though these medications may have different dosages for each pt this does not always help. With all that being said I think there needs to be more research on antidepressants which should focus more on treating the actual problems rather than the symptoms.
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Suraka Aminu Yahaya
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Post by Suraka Aminu Yahaya on Aug 16, 2017 1:15:00 GMT -4
its really amazing and entirely fascinating on how antidepressants really work, with the major and leading ones being the SSRIs, SNRIs, TCAs and MAOIs among others. like we all know, antidepressants came into existence in the mid 90's but before then, opioids and amphetamines were commonly used as antidepressants but their use was limited due to their addictive nature and terrible side effects, nevertheless there were to some extend very effective. Antidepressants are very effective and yet efficient, but like we all know, everything comes with a price and the price here is "side effect".. with the major side effect being antidepressants induced mania and suicide ideation or even plan, which we sometimes see in some of the patients that walk-in. furthermore, most of these patients are dependent on this medication and hence why majority of them come in mainly for refills. and sometimes after a while they become resistant or need a higher dose or even switch to a stronger one.
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