We ask readers about anti-depressants and whether they do more good or bad
ARE drugs really the answer to beat depression?
As we told yesterday, an Oxford University study claimed anti-depressants do work and that more than a million UK sufferers are not getting access to them.
But opinion is divided over their use. Here, a broadcaster and a Sun writer give AMY JONES their opposing views and below we answer common questions about the pills.
YES, says Jess Lester
Sun Writer
ANTI-DEPRESSANTS are not a cure but they have changed my life in so many amazing ways.
As a child I was happy and enthusiastic in everything, but as I got older the symptoms of depression, common in my family history, crept in and wreaked havoc with my emotions.
I was diagnosed with a combination of depression and anxiety at 16 years old after a series of traumatic events that led to me to toying with self-harm and, as things got worse, contemplating and planning suicide.
I was suicidal but the drugs helped me in amazing ways
I visited doctors, who were initially reluctant to medicate me, but after confirming the diagnosis they prescribed me my first dose of fluoxetine, more commonly known as Prozac.
Prozac is a word that strikes fear into some people, and I can understand why. This most common form of antidepressant can work wonders, but for many like me it sends them into an even darker place.
As it turns out, Prozac is just one type of SSRI prescribed in the UK.
As with psychotherapy, getting the right anti-depressants for you is never straightforward.
It has taken four years of communication between GPs and therapists to find a drug and a dose that works for me without any of the horrendous side effects like agoraphobia, extreme fatigue and even borderline psychosis that I experienced early on. The road to finding my happy place through Venlafaxine, a drug that agrees with me tremendously, was long and hard but definitely worth the time, effort and, at times, nudging from GPs.
Anti-depressants aren’t to be taken on a whim, but in the cases of the one million people the experts claim are suffering and aren’t getting helped, I don’t see why they shouldn’t be offered the life-changing drugs along with monitoring and moderation.
In my eyes, therapy alone will never cure your condition, but it will help you find ways to cope and change your behaviour.
Similarly, medication alone will not rid you of your condition but it does help to alter hormone levels to a more manageable level.
I would recommend that anyone with a diagnosis of anxiety, depression or OCD should talk to a professional about the right drugs. With the correct support and some hard work you will get what you need.
Without medication, I wouldn’t have the health to enjoy my job, my friends and my life.
NO, says Anna Atkins
Broadcaster
SOME things can make you too angry even to speak.
So, the drugs work, eh? Mental illness is history. They’re so cheap and take minutes to prescribe.
Nobody is telling the darker side to the story. Something I know all too much about.
Our daughter Lara was the most captivating child imaginable. Supremely gifted, full of fun, a natural leader.
Aged nine, she walked into a pub when we were on holiday and offered the landlord live music . . . then spent two days making her siblings practice so the four of them could play all night.
Addictive and so dangerous... they've ruined our girl's life
In early adolescence she began to suffer from an inherited anxiety disorder. Despite a referral to a top consultant, she was given no treatment for an agonising year.
After a cry-for-help overdose aged 16, she was hospitalised against our will and made to take Sertraline.
Thus begun an addiction which has wrecked her life. If I could change one thing in the world, I would have never let any medication pass her lips. That brilliant girl is now 32, yet has never managed a day’s paid employment.
Studying for her Cambridge degree, Lara couldn’t stop sleeping 18 or 20 hours a day. Over and again she begged her GP for information. Why was this happening?
It was a fellow student who explained it was the meds she was on. She stopped taking them with no medical help, and for a few blissful months we had our daughter back – happy and with lots of friends.
But she had been on pills for ten years and it proved too hard to continue. In her determination to stay off the SSRIs she used tiny traces of cannabis (five grams spread over a year, with a psychiatrist’s knowledge) prompting several years of terrifying psychosis.
A few years ago, in A&E with a panic attack, Lara was told she couldn’t leave until she had taken Lorazepam. She has been addicted ever since. She longs to be off it but no one will help her. Two psychiatrists refused her treatment last year until she’s free of it.
Our GP refuses to prescribe it any more, and told me before Christmas she could just stop taking it, dead. Researching for this article, I learned this could have killed her.
MOST READ IN HEALTH NEWS
The only treatment which has helped is therapy from a decent psychologist. And the NHS won’t give it.
Pills are cheap. But in our experience they offer no solution at all.
And can be extremely damaging, addictive and dangerous.
Your questions about anti-depressants, answered
Q: What are anti-depressants?
A: Psychiatric drugs licensed to treat depression.
Q: What conditions can be treated by them?
A: As well as depression, the drugs can treat other problems such as anxiety and phobias.
Q: How do they work?
A: They boost or prolong the activity of particular brain chemicals, such as noradrenaline and serotonin, which are involved with regulating mood. This can lift spirits but it does not work for everyone.
Q: How many types are there?
A: The most commonly prescribed are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs).
Q: What are SSRIs?
A: Developed in the late Eighties, they increase the level of “happy hormone” serotonin.
Q: What are SNRIs?
A: First introduced in the early Nineties, these are similar to SSRIs but they act on noradrenaline — which increases the heart rate — and serotonin.
Q: How many people take anti-depressants?
A: The NHS does not publish figures for the number of patients on the medication, but research in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests one in 11 UK adults take them.
Data released by NHS England under a Freedom on Information request last year showed 64,765 under-18s were given medication used to treat depression and anxiety.
In 2016, 64.7million prescriptions for anti-depressants were issued in England, an all-time high.
Q: Do they work?
A: The new study by Oxford University found the pills were up to 113 per cent more likely to tackle depression than no treatment at all.
Q: Are they addictive?
A: Up to a third of people who stop using them have withdrawal symptoms which can last up to two months. These include stomach upsets, flu symptoms, anxiety, dizziness and nightmares.
Q: Are you able to drink alcohol on anti-depressants?
A: It is best to avoid booze. It can make you drowsy if you are taking anti-depressants.
Q: How soon do anti- depressants start working?
A: Most take one to two weeks after the first dose.
Q: Are there side effects?
A: Yes, possible decreased alertness, diabetes, suicidal feelings and extreme hyperactivity.