Anti-depressants 'of little use'

Interestingly enough, the "Prozac" disappointment was of note. SSRI's (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are in addition to Norepinephine antidepressants are more effective than older formulas. Celexa, or Citalopram with 2 mg of Otasuka's Abilify has improved recalcitrant depressive symptoms previously unamaliarated with a single traditional agent. Compliance can be a issue. It takes a minimum of 2 weeks for good disernablity to take effect. The newer generation Rx's carefully titrated, have proven especially efficacious.

To all the people who have bought into the argument that depressed people need antidepressants like diabetics need insulin, you are dillusional.
Diabetes is a measurable disease with a measurable cure.
Serotonin has never been measured in the synapse of any human being ever, and the chemical imbalance theory of depression is a marketing sham.
There is no objective scientific test of any kind that can test for depression, so comparing its disease model to diabetes is insulting to diabetics.

Please will people stop saying they have a chemical imbalance. No such thing has ever been proven. It is as logical as saying, if i take aspirin for a headache and feel better i must have an aspirin imbalance (This is precisely how they arrived at serotonin imbalance theory ).
Not a single human being has ever had serotonin measured at the synapse, and for all the geniuses who say you can take a blood test you are wrong in thinking this proves anything. A blood test does not measure serotonin levels in the brain, and most people do not know 90% of serotonin is found not in the brain, but throughout the rest of the body hence the sexual side effects etc.
Sorry for the tone but it frustrates me when people regurgitate marketing myths by drug companies to support a belief that they have a disease. Diseases can be measured, hence the use in the literature of the unproven "disorder" (major depressive "disorder").
ps I speak not as an arm chair critic but as someone who has taken prozac for 10 years and still withdrawing after 86 days.

ben wrote:

Please will people stop saying they have a chemical imbalance. No such thing has ever been proven. It is as logical as saying, if i take aspirin for a headache and feel better i must have an aspirin imbalance (This is precisely how they arrived at serotonin imbalance theory ).
Not a single human being has ever had serotonin measured at the synapse, and for all the geniuses who say you can take a blood test you are wrong in thinking this proves anything. A blood test does not measure serotonin levels in the brain, and most people do not know 90% of serotonin is found not in the brain, but throughout the rest of the body hence the sexual side effects etc.
Sorry for the tone but it frustrates me when people regurgitate marketing myths by drug companies to support a belief that they have a disease. Diseases can be measured, hence the use in the literature of the unproven "disorder" (major depressive "disorder").
ps I speak not as an arm chair critic but as someone who has taken prozac for 10 years and still withdrawing after 86 days.

How are you doing now Ben, I'm over the two year mark and still not right, neurological 'damage'.