Posted by sowhysosad on April 16, 2009, at 21:32:43
In reply to Re: Effects of long term SSRI use... My Story..., posted by linkadge on April 16, 2009, at 18:16:40
I live in a culture (the UK) where many people don't seek help for debilitating depression because they think "taking tablets" isn't natural or "normal". People who have mental illness should have a stiff upper lip, pull themselves together and get on with it. It's the British way.
The UK media is notorious for hysterical health scares and grossly misinterpreted science. It seizes upon anything which appears to discredit the efficacy or safety of AD's and feeds into the national anti-med paranoia. For example:
If laypeople decide to educate themselves about SSRI's online before making a decision, they're far more likely to be influenced by emotive personal anecdotes than they are academic research or even drug-company blurb. And the tiny minority who have had negative experiences seemingly caused by SSRI's have far louder voices than the millions who have found them helpful.
That's my concern - a lot of people suffering needlessly in this country, discouraged from trying meds by a comparatively small number of horror stories.
> That doesn't worry me one bit. I am still suffering seemingly permanent symptoms very similar to this due to long term SSRI use.
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> I think that it is absolutely critical that people come on and share the full extent of their experiences like this so that potential SSRI users will be able to make informed decisisons about using SSRI's.
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> If all you hear is the rosey storeys that are filtered through drug company websites then there is no way for people to get an acurate picture of the long term safety and efficacy (or lack thereof) of these medications.
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> Linkadge
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poster:sowhysosad
thread:891025
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090416/msgs/891148.html