You may think that antidepressants are prescribed only for the treatment of depression, but they aren’t. Doctors prescribe them for numerous other conditions, and as one study conducted in Canada shows, 50% of the prescribed antidepressants in the last ten years by doctors in Quebec were for treating depression. However, for what conditions were prescribed the other half of antidepressants?
Doctors routinely prescribe antidepressants for fibromyalgia, insomnia, chronic pain, obsessive-compulsive disorders, panic disorders, and migraines.
But they also give these drugs for numerous “off-label” conditions that haven’t received approval for treatment with antidepressants.
In fact, it was proven that 2/3 of the total antidepressant prescriptions were given to “off-label” conditions, so they were practically prescribed for unapproved purposes.
Now we can see why the use of antidepressants in America has risen by 400% in the years from 1988 to 1994, and from 2005 to 2008.
This is surely not a small problem, as 11% of nowadays teenagers and adults have been reported to take antidepressants, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Experts Are Concerned about Off-label Prescriptions
Doctors are constantly prescribing antidepressants without having any evidence that they can help with these off-label conditions. So the mere idea that they give drugs to patients which haven’t been proven to work is quite shocking.
Robyn Tamblyn, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at McGill University, explains that antidepressants are often prescribed for migraine and fibromyalgia although their effects haven’t been tested for these conditions, so it’s unknown if will give effective results.
Tamblyn and his colleagues conducted a study to analyze electronic medical records by primary care doctors in Quebec in the period between 2006 and 2015. In that period, only 55% of the prescribed antidepressants were given for depression.
The study examined over 100,000 prescriptions of antidepressants, and the results show that 4% were for panic disorders, 6% for chronic pain, 10% for insomnia, and 18.5% for anxiety disorders. Moreover, it was noted that antidepressants were prescribed for menopause, ADHD, digestive problems, and migraines, although their usage in these conditions has been unapproved. Some physicians give antidepressants even for sexual dysfunction, PMS, urinary problems, and bulimia.
Completely Irresponsible Antidepressant Over-Prescription Given the Potential Consequences
Although you may think that there’s nothing wrong with giving people “happy pills” regardless if they are necessary or not, the number and severity of antidepressants’ side effects are pretty large and scary, since they increase the risk of NCBI, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Side effects like indigestion and headaches aren’t the worst thing that could happen. Antidepressants have been connected to suicide, and actually, more than one NCBI has been on these drugs. This is the reason why antidepressants should be prescribed and used only in the most extreme cases of depression, and of course after trying to treat them with natural methods.
The European Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology has published research that showed that the use of antidepressants among young people has drastically increased in some countries in the period between 2005 and 2012. Dr. Shekhar Saxena, the World Health Organization director of Mental Health, explained her concerns about the off-label use of antidepressants, saying that they haven’t been tested on young people, and therefore have no basis to be prescribed and used by them.
Nevertheless, it seems that antidepressant prescriptions will only go up rather than down, because of the influence of the powerful pharmaceutical companies. The even bigger shock is that most conditions doctors prescribe antidepressants for, can be relieved through lifestyle changes such as a healthy diet, regular exercise, spending time in nature, and meditation.
Via Natural News | Philly | BBC | Science Natural News
