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Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibtors, or SSRI's for short, have become the mainstay of psychiatric mediation in recent years.
From major depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, to even obscessive-compulsive disorder, SSRI's have been widely prescribed,
partly because of heavy promotion of pharmaceutical companies who have one or more of these drugs on patent, and partly because
physicians see SSRI's as having fewer side effects and less abuse potential than their predecessors. SSRI's include Prozac,
Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, along with several others.
Personally, I disagree with the overly positive presentation of SSRI's. First of all, they do have noticeable side effects,
so much so that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a black box warning for all SSRI's except for Prozac when
concerning children and adolescents. A black box warning is the most serious warning a drug can receive in the USA short of
it being pulled from the market. It is alleged that SSRI's, despite being prescribed for depression, can actualy increase
sucidial ideation in children and adolescents. Even in adults, SSRI's have unignorable side effects such as negative effects
on libido (sex drive), blunting of emotions, and a nasty withdrawal sydrome when the drug is discontinued. In fact, SSRI's
do not work unless your neurotransmitters have adjusted due to exposure to the drug. In other words, you must be dependent
on SSRI's for them to have a noticeable clinical effect. It is this modulation of neurotransmitters that is theorized to cause
the antidepressant effect.
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