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Im not like them, but I can pretend, the sun is gone, but I have a light, the day is done, and Im having fun, I think Im dumb or maybe just happy -Nirvana Quick get this band some Prozac on the double! Actually odds would suggest that theyre already taking the drug. The antidepressant Prozac has reached pop culture status and widespread use which cant be rivaled by any drug, but oddly enough, I never seemed to give the drug much thought. My curiosity was sparked one day when I flipped to MTV to see which bare flesh filled show was airing. I was surprised to see that there was a documentary about a band named Korn. The documentary profiled every member in the band and I was especially interested in the lead singer as he talked about his battle with depression.
After his serious vignette about the lead singers battle with depression, he pulled out his bottle of liquid Prozac, gave the camera a sinister smile, and proceeded to rapidly consume the bottle after which he kissed the container. I thought that this was really funny as I had heard many other jokes about Prozac, but then I remembered that my mother takes the drug and I started to think (a rare occurrence). The popular view of Prozac is that it makes depressed people happy by doping them up so much that they are completely out of tune with reality. When I first caught onto this stereotype I thought, Wow, Prozac must be great, but then again, my mom doesnt usually seem very jubilant. Heck, my emotional state is usually blue, but who can stay chipper when you live in a state that rains seven months out of the year? My views of Prozac became even more skewed when one day my mom told me that I should take Prozac.
I have never been one to enjoy taking pills and I certainly didnt think that I was too mentally unstable (others may feel different). I thought to myself, and decided that before I did anything stupid like take some of my mothers pill (which I did) I would try to explore the topics surrounding the drug. When I started my research, I was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of information regarding Prozac, especially the negative information. The antidepressant, Prozac, has medical benefits, but the drugs downside far outweighs the medical advantages as can be seen in the obvious promotion by big business which facilitates a society that has become chemically dependent. In modern day society the feeling of depression has become as identifiable as the feelings of joy, sadness, excitement, and fright.
Usually when a person breaks up with their boyfriend or girlfriend they usually describe themselves as depressed, but these same people dont usually completely fit the definition of this feeling. Mental illnesses such as depression are especially tricky to recognize as a life threatening problem since the illness can only be identified by its symptoms. The true definition of depression does encompass many of the same feelings as a person being blue, but depression is more defined by its symptoms which include changed eating habits, agitation or retardation of movement and thought, loss of interest, fatigue and loss of energy, feelings of worthlessness, and thoughts of death and suicide. This description does shed a little light on what its like to be depressed, but then after I gave this definition more thought, I remembered that most of my teenage years and the years of my classmates, were spent feeling this way, but I never thought of depression as a problem. I had always associated these feelings of sadness with many rock artists as well as visual artists, since life experience and feeling are the basis for art. The rise of antidepressants has seemed to provide light for some people who experience chronic depression, but doctors and the general public are having problems drawing a line between normal depression and depression as an illness.
In Bregin's book Talking Back to Prozac, Begin sites that 10 million Americans are seriously depressed and that a total of 14 million will suffer from depression sometime during their lifetime (200). The numbers are quite stifling, but also understandable as Im sure nearly everybody knows someone who has had a trouble with depression. During my research I tried to find a rough worksheet to help diagnose if a person is depressed or not and I came across the Prozac web page. After a lengthy disclaimer page that urged potential test takers to see a doctor as well as taking the test I got to the questions. Some of the questions read as follows: 1.
I feel downhearted, blue and sad 2. Morning is when I feel the best 3. I have crying spells or feel like it 5. I eat as much as I used to 6.
In enjoy looking at, talking to, and being with attractive men / women 7. I notice that I am losing weight 8. I have trouble with constipation 9. My heart beats faster than usual 10.
I get tired for no reason 11. My mind is as clear as it used to be 12. I find it easy to do the thing I used to 13. I am restless and cant keep still 14.
I feel hopeful about the future 15. I am more irritable than usual 16. I find it easy to make decisions 17. I feel that I am useful and needed 18. My life is pretty full 19.
I feel that others would be better off if I were dead 20. I still enjoy the things I used to do each question was followed by a degree of feelings on each statement like; none or little, some of the time, a good part of the time, or all of the time (Zone Assessment Tool 2). It was unclear how the scoring was tallied on the website, but a person was urged to seek help if he or she scored a 50 or higher. I proceeded to take the test after giving it a quick overview and I scored a surprising 70.
My score shocked me at first, especially since I was twenty points over being normal, uh oh. The biggest comfort for me though was the realization that the web site was the official site of Eli Lilly, the company responsible for Prozac since its introduction in 1988. A couple of questions then seemed to rise up. Is the test more vague so the company could make more money or is it vague to get a person to go see a doctor and possibly diagnose a potentially dangerous illness?
The company may have had the health and safety of the public in mind, but their billions in sales probably speak a little louder. After learning about many of the symptoms associated with depression, I began to come up with the assumption that the feeling of melancholy is probably created by social factors rather than chemical problems. Psychologists who are losing business to rising antidepressant use would probably agree with me, but people concerned with time and money restraints probably feel different. I later learned that depression was also caused by a chemical problem in the brain as well as environmental factors. Chemicals known as neurotransmitters particularly serotonin and norepinephrine, act as messenger transmitting signals from one nerve cell to the next at the gap, or synapse, between cells (Prozac Controversy 724). Then when a nerve cell sends these messengers to another cell, some bind to the receptor on the next nerve cell, but others are reabsorbed by the sending cell in a process called reuptake (724).
This information is hard to understand, but if it is thought of as transmitting signals and balancing levels of chemicals its a little easier to understand. According to the Prozac Controversy, depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain caused when excessive reabsorption of neurotransmitters for the synapse creates an imbalance (725). Even with the scientific information regarding depression, there is still a question of whether society makes the brain act a certain way or if the brain goes through abnormal levels of certain chemicals. So on one hand, therapy should be able to fix the problem, but in the scientific view, drugs should be able to fix the problem of depression. When Prozac was first introduced in 1988, the drug was thought of as the wonder drug, as it seemed to cure depression without all the side effects of the earlier antidepressants. Who wouldnt think that Prozac was a wonder-drug, after all the pill claims to cure depression without countless hours in therapy.
The drug completely fits in with Americas quick fix mentality and chemical dependence. America as a culture uses pills to cure annoyances and illness anywhere from cancer to weight loss. Modern culture has come to embrace drugs more than old fashion counseling and / or rest and relaxation techniques in order to continue with his or her fast paced lives. Prozac works by blocking the reuptake of serotonin, allowing it to remain in the synapse for a longer time (Prozac Controversy 724). Other antidepressants block the reuptake of both serotonin and norepinephrine, as well as other neurotransmitters (724). Prozac at a glance sounds great, as it would, in theory, balance any abnormally low amounts of serotonin and therefore end a persons depression.
The long term effectiveness of the drug is still being researched and debated but there is a little bit of information on its success. According to the American Encyclopedia, the clinical response to antidepressants such as Prozac is about a 50 % improvement and many patients who do respond to treatment fail to show a full clinical remission (158). Fifty percent isnt a very conclusive number, but the progress of patients is as difficult to gauge as it is to diagnose. Some experts also argue that if the pill has any chance of making a patient feel better then its worth while.
According to Prozac Controversy, Prozac helps about 60 to 70 percent of the people who take it (727). In many of my sources, the statistics often conflicted or were exaggerated to argue for or against Prozac, but it does seem that Prozac only gives the patient about a fifty percent chance of remission. Prozac has reached wide use since its introduction in 1988 and Prozac is now the third most frequently prescribed drug in this country (Mc Calls 103). The large amount of prescriptions has also made the pill part of big business. In 1993 the pills sales hit $ 58 billion and accounted for about three percent of all prescription drug sales in the United States (Prozac Controversy 725). Prozacs numbers are amazing, but is the drug really all that its cracked up to be?
Prozac has been known to help treat a number of disorders other than depression such as bulimia, PMS, insomnia, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and even earaches. Depression is a by-product of all of the disorders that are mentioned above and treating a reaction to an illness is overkill. Prozacs widespread use is evidence that it is used too freely. There isnt really another drug on the market that claims to be a diverse as Prozac and the drug is prescribed openly without much regard for its side effects. The drug is certainly not without its side effects as the list is fairly extensive including abnormal thinking, agitation, bronchitis, chest pain, chills, cough, diarrhea, dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, insomnia, increased appetite, itching, joint pain, weight loss, and the list keeps going (Prozac 2). This paper is starting to sound like the herpes medication commercial on late night MTV, but in most cases a patient probably wont feel most of the side effects.
The chance of side effects from Prozac are usually slim and because of its lack of side effects patients are more likely to stick with the treatment and doctors are more likely prescribe it because of the lack of a danger of overdose among potentially suicidal patients. The most attractive aspect of Prozac in the first place was its lack of side effects in comparison to the earlier antidepressants, which gave patients a severe dry mouth. In my research though I began to notice that some of the side effects of Prozac are the same as its symptoms, which is quite strange. Insomnia, weight changes, increased sleep, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide are all example of the similarities in side effects and symptoms which is a large piece of evidence against the drugs effectiveness. The issue of Prozac use may be a remake of The Emperors New Clothes. How can a patient ever feel completely cured or comfortable with themselves when the side effects of the drug are the symptoms of which the patient was trying cure?
When I interviewed my mother Jayne Lewis, an experienced Prozac taker, she brought up the point that she was never sure if the symptoms she was feeling was a side effect or a symptom of her depression. She also said that she was afraid to stop taking the drug because she wasnt sure if she was cured or not. This confusion among patients can only worsen the problem. Some experts say that Prozac was cleverly pushed through the FDA without proper study and conclusive evidence. Antidepressants may even be a little before their time since the functions of the human brain are still not completely understood. I his book Talking back to Prozac, Peter Begin provokes an interesting thought by saying the biochemical activities that run the brain remain almost wholly shrouded in mystery.
We have no idea, for example how the brain makes a thought or emotion. It seems foolhardy to imagine that blocking one of the brains biochemical functions would somehow improve the brain and mind (35). I dont really think that doctors know if increasing serotonin levels effects other emotions and activities or even if serotonin is the real cause of depression. The whole theory that chemicals create emotions is a little hard to grasp because in theory if a drug can make a person happy then there should be chemicals that can dictate other emotions. If emotions were purely chemical, then a breakup probably wouldnt be as painful. As a person finds out more and more about Prozac, more problems and issues seem to arise.
In an interview with Health magazine, Joseph Glenmullen argues that when pills boost serotonin levels, your body tries to restore chemical balance, which in turn can cause neurological side effects possibly including brain damage (Health 35). Glenmullen doesnt necessarily claim that drugs like Prozac should be banned but he does call for doctors to conduct check-ups more frequently. I agree somewhat with Glenmullen on the suggestion that Prozac users should be more closely monitored, but I think once again society's time and money restraints come into play. Its hard to believe that with the lack of scientific knowledge of how emotions and the brain work, that drugs like Prozac could be used as freely or even approved in the first place.
Some experts say that Prozac was cleverly pushed through the FDA without proper study or conclusive evidence. Eli Lilly's journey through Prozacs testing by the FDA is thought by somewhat inconclusive with possible evidence of fraud. During drug testing a double blind test must be done in order t
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