NEWS: Anti Depressants over Prescribed in the UK?

CULTURE: Anti Depressants over Prescribed in the UK?

The UK has healthcare free at the point of delivery. This includes medication, which has a £6.40 charge per month "prescription" charge. This isn't paid by 80% of people needing the prescription.

Some meds and some treatments are expensive and experimental. To decide which ones are valued, we have something called the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) which looks at the scientific evidence for various treaments and issues guidance about the use of those treatments.

This means that tax payers' money isn't wasted on ineffective quackery (no matter how cheap it is) and also that people cannot be denied effective treatment, no matter how expensive it is.

NICE have said that too many anti-depressants are being prescribed in the UK—they have issued new guidance to GPs.

We (the UK) certainly seem keen on medicating our youth. You'd understand why if you'd ever had to share a bus with the little buggers.

I'm disappointed by this advice. Depression, even 'moderate depression', can be a fatal illness. In the UK, more young men die from suicide than any other cause of death, apart from Road Traffic Accidents. It seems that this group isn't getting enough medication, in addition to their lack of education concerning counseling.

Umm ... try over - prescribed EVERYWHERE and you'd be about right.

And I'm not going into a tangent, but medication isn't the solution for helping those dealing with depression issues and suicide.

In the UK?! Antidepressants and drugs in general are foisted onto us all day long, in most major countries.

Didn't realize it till now, you just said the same thing I said, so as to now make up for it with a tangible unique contribution to the discussion, here is a monkey emoticon.

Why not?

If someone has an ear infection do you say "Anti-biotics are not the solution"?

Do you tell diabetics to that insulin is just a crutch and that they don't need it?

The difference between here and there is that we don't pay for our meds.

Here a GP has a budget for meds. Why would a GP use that money to treat someone if there was suitable treatment that didn't need that money to be spent?

That's an interesting point.

Medication isn't THE solution for helping those dealing with depression issues and suicide. How about that?

Medication will never cure a person--or at least, has a miniscule chance when compared to actually trying to help oneself. Used as a crutch to get well on the way to mental health, sure, it's a good place to start for some people. Far too many, however, rely on it as their means of getting better, and end up in an endless cycle of needing stronger and stronger medication to deal with problems that they could eventually solve without it.

And don't give me that "you don't know, how can you know, you can't say that unless you've been there" bullshit. I have. I dealt with it. Chemical imbalance is still there and not affecting me.

Oh, and to back that up as a comparison to other physical problems (though it really doesn't need to be), ask any physician who has seen enough cancer patients--in the ones with a chance of surviving, however remote, getting through it is often a question of having the will to live. That's a pretty extreme example, but a lot of people can also tell you that with common illnesses (cold, flu, etc.), about the worst thing you can do is lay there and feel like you're so sick and never going to get better. If you're determined to get better sooner instead of laying there whining, your immune system will fight it off faster.

That's much better, and is something that I've often said myself. (Check some of my posts in Depression Outlet to see some of the things I've said about lifestyle changes.)

I disagree with this. Look at some of the studies: meds alone is more effective than counselling alone. It's important to say that I'm not talking about mild depression. This report I linked to isn't talking about mild depression either. The NICE are not suggesting using both treatments (meds and lifestyle changes), they're talking about removing meds from people who probably need them.

I would a million times rather find a way to deal with problems without drugs. This goes for every medical problem I ever get. Medication is always my last resort.

Hah, no. That's pretty offensive to the people who're dying from cancer: "They didn't try hard enough." ?

But that's the point: Depression means that you can't function. That's why meds are important.

Do you smoke? Do you drink alcohol? Do you use caffeine? (Just asking, not making any point yet. )

I heard an article over the summer saying that London's water has quite substantial amounts of anti-depressants in it (and possibly birth-control drugs too) because so many people are taking them and the body doesn't break them down, so they just collect in the water works when they're uh... excreted.

Water companies also put oestrogen in the water to kill of bacteria, which is slowly turning men in to women, but that's a whole other issue...

substantial?

I hadn't heard about the oestrogen ti kill bacteria thing before. Do you have a link for that please? I'm aware that people are concerned about some pollutants having a similar effect though.

My contribution

Cool. Your username uses and odd spelling for both Flotsam and Jetsam.

My personal opinion on anti depressants (I'm midway through the four British courses to be a qualified counsellor). They are a bloody good kick start.

If someone is feeling so down, so depressed that they can't even get out of bed or function properly then no amount of talking therapy is going to work. For moderate to severe depression that is seriously affecting someones life then starting anti depressants can 'pick' them up enough to be in a postition where they can start to talk.

I do believe they are overprescribed and I also belive that they are unnecessary in most mild cases of depression; They do have a place though.

I agree with your post. The article, and NICE, think that anti-depressants are over prescribed for moderate depression, not just mild depression.

Another reason why this is bothersome is the reluctance for males to see a doctor. By the time a man sees a doctor they're probably quite ill.

Yes. People telling you to "pull your socks up" or "count your blessings" is not helpful.

Offensive or not, that's sometimes the case. (Notice I never said always.) Many people die because they just gave up. Once you lose the will to fight, treatment will usually just prolong the inevitable.

Yes, in severe depression, you can't function on your own at first. Meds, as I said, can help get people get started on helping themselves (but are not the only way--it depends on the person). However, if you rely on meds alone for the rest of your life, you will probably be depressed the rest of your life.

My problem with medication (in the general sense, not even applied solely to depression, etc.) isn't that people use it as a tool to get better--that's perfectly fine, we all do that--it's that people today seem to depend on it as their only means of getting better; that they have no say in it whatsoever, other than whether or not they're willing to dish out the cash. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. For instance, do people honestly think that they can't beat a bacterial infection without antibiotics? With today's mentality, it's a wonder humanity survived long enough to make it to the 20th century, mentally or physically. Are you offended by that? Fine. You pay your money for medications to justify yourself feeling miserable, and I'll continue living my life using them as a last resort, most likely in much better mental and physical condition.

Yes, I agree with that. Which is exactly what I've been trying to get across, but I just get frustrated with the people who don't actually need it, but try to take the easy way out.

The problem is meds are so relative on dosage and some of them don't work for you, that by the time you actually find one that works it will only work for about a year or so, at least that is how it has been for me.

I am actually considering ECT as an alternative again.

I think people even in extreme cases don't need the drugs all the time to live, but the thing is, it is such an up and down situation by the time you are out of a depression you can might as well go back to it without the help of some meds.

daevric:
I agree. People who don't need it and are using it as an escape to actually having to deal with their problems is really something to be pisssed about. However, there are many times were you can't simply draw a line to know who is on what level of depression.