There\u2019s an uncanny similarity between antibiotic and antidepressant prescribing in the US. If you\u2019re currently taking one or both, took them in the past, or are considering taking one or both now, know that the odds are very strong you don\u2019t need either of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numerous clinical studies confirm that both antibiotics and antidepressants are vastly and inappropriately overprescribed, with some estimating that 70% to 80% of prescriptions for these drugs are completely unnecessary and potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ponder these probabilities\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quick disclaimer. Both antibiotics and antidepressants, when carefully and thoughtfully prescribed, are highly valuable treatments. I\u2019ve certainly prescribed both throughout my professional career. But with each passing year, I found myself prescribing them less and less often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both parties involved, patient and physician, have specific agendas. The patient wants a treatment for his infection ASAP. After all, he made the appointment, drove to wherever, spent too much time in the waiting room, was examined, and then finally told he has an infection, which he knew all along. He expects some help for all this effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The physician wants to help, but she\u2019s pretty much been trained to view antibiotics as a powerful tool. This kind of training\/thinking has led to the estimate that 80% of inpatient and outpatient antibiotics are prescribed inappropriately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Antibiotics have a specific, fixed number of days they\u2019re to be taken. Generally a week and you\u2019re finished and, if you did have a bacterial infection, it\u2019s been wiped out (along with your microbiome, but that\u2019s another story). No refills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s a second scenario: you\u2019re having a miserable time in your life. Job, school, relationship, money\u2014whatever the cause you\u2019re feeling overwhelmed. Or you feel physically exhausted and no one can find anything wrong with you. Everybody you know seems to be taking an antidepressant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, your primary care doctor says, \u201cYou must be depressed. Try this.\u201d You leave the office with some samples and a prescription and, a month or so later, you notice you\u2019re in fact feeling better. \u201cMaybe I was<\/em> depressed,\u201d you think. But rather than set up visits with a psychotherapist (which your insurance may not cover and you don\u2019t have time for anyway), you keep renewing your antidepressant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soon, months turn to years. \u201cWow!\u201d you think, \u201cI\u2019ve been on this a long time.\u201d But while you may not even clearly remember why you started taking the drug in the first place, you\u2019re a bit apprehensive about stopping it because you don\u2019t want to go back there (wherever \u201cthere\u201d was). A big problem here is that you may well be among the 70% to 80% of antidepressant users who never met the criteria for clinical depression<\/a> in the first place. In reality, you\u2019re taking a brain-altering chemical you didn\u2019t ever need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may interest you to know that psychiatrists who spend a lot of time in talk therapy with patients actually prescribe far fewer antidepressants than primary care physicians, who need to work fast and make snap diagnoses and thus offer a handful of antidepressant samples and a prescription before moving on to the next patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Psychologists, prohibited by law from prescribing medicine, are trained to treat depression without meds. They rarely refer patients to MDs in order to prescribe. In other words, the better the diagnostician, the less likely an antidepressant will be prescribed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Virtually all selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants work by increasing serotonin, a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) that acts as a stress buffer. If you\u2019re feeling miserable–depressed or anxious–because something awful has been happening in your life, after a few weeks on an antidepressant allegedly up goes your stress-buffering system and you feel less depressed. I say allegedly because studies have shown<\/a> that placebos, especially active placebos replete with side effects, can treat depression just as well, though obviously they do so without affecting serotonin levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With genuine SSRIs, because your stress buffer has been boosted, the most common complaint is feeling numb, the buffer having been increased too much. This includes numbness to sex, which becomes a fond but not particularly sought-after memory. Many SSRI users replace sex with food and thus gain weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other antidepressants increase, along with serotonin, brain levels of a second neurotransmitter, norepinephrine, which may help with mental clarity and physical energy. Common side effects of the enhanced norepinephrine are nausea, dry mouth, excessive sweating, and increased heart rate and blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What antidepressant-prescribing physicians forget, and what psychologists grasp intimately, is the value of the proverb \u201ctime heals all wounds\u201d when it comes to treating depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than focusing on raising serotonin, psychologists offer new perspectives on managing the stress that triggered the symptoms in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMaybe,\u201d a psychologist might sensibly suggest, \u201cIt\u2019s better for you to leave your toxic relationship or explore the source of your anxiety rather than take a handful of meds every morning in order to endure it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Antidepressants and antibiotics. Odds are you don\u2019t need them, or didn\u2019t need them in the first place. And for most of you on antidepressants, good news, you can get off them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be well, There\u2019s an uncanny similarity between antibiotic and antidepressant prescribing in the US. If you\u2019re currently taking one or both, took them in the past, or are considering taking one or both now, know that the odds are very strong you don\u2019t need either of them. Numerous clinical studies confirm that both antibiotics and antidepressants are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,214,2,211,50,3],"tags":[1150,255,1702,1703,1704],"class_list":["post-6480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a","category-big-pharma-evils","category-blog","category-g","category-healthy-lifestyle","category-knowledge-base","tag-antibiotics","tag-antidepressants","tag-brain-altering-drugs","tag-clinical-psychologists","tag-talk-therapy"],"yoast_head":"\r\nBrain-altering drugs<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Talk therapy<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to quit\/avoid antidepressants or be sure you\u2019re using them appropriately<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"