Are you on an antidepressant?

[WiseOne]

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I am interested in how prevalent psychiatric/depressive disorders are among medical students. According to one psychiatrist I spoke to, it is about 20%. So I'm making this poll out of interest.

Also, if you have any experience with any psychiatric problem or medication, it would be nice to hear your general opinion.

--I should have also added. "No, but I was once on one.".

 

[meerkatmd]

I guess I'll be the first brave soul to say yes.

 

[Doctor D]

This is already well documented in the literature. Here is a study I found with a simple google search that is consistent with the 20% figure..

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp058183

 

[facetguy]

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5409.full?ijkey=j6tz27Nh7K08YJi&keytype=ref

"Worse still, several analyses show that antidepressants are no more effective than placebo in mild or moderate depression,8 9 with the placebo response in depression huge, as high as 80%.9 But even assuming antidepressants do have an effect, a Cochrane review found that for every person who benefits, seven gain no benefit.10 In truth, for the overwhelming majority of depressed patients, the drugs do not work."

 

[surftheiop]

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5409.full?ijkey=j6tz27Nh7K08YJi&keytype=ref

"Worse still, several analyses show that antidepressants are no more effective than placebo in mild or moderate depression,8 9 with the placebo response in depression huge, as high as 80%.9 But even assuming antidepressants do have an effect, a Cochrane review found that for every person who benefits, seven gain no benefit.10 In truth, for the overwhelming majority of depressed patients, the drugs do not work."

I dont know anything about you, but with the name and this being the first post ive seen of yours in this subforum, Im going to assume your a chiro?

 

[VisionaryTics]

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5409.full?ijkey=j6tz27Nh7K08YJi&keytype=ref

"Worse still, several analyses show that antidepressants are no more effective than placebo in mild or moderate depression,8 9 with the placebo response in depression huge, as high as 80%.9 But even assuming antidepressants do have an effect, a Cochrane review found that for every person who benefits, seven gain no benefit.10 In truth, for the overwhelming majority of depressed patients, the drugs do not work."

A NNT of 8 is not horrible, considering how disabling mental illness can be and how benign most modern antidepressants are.

 

[link2swim06]

http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e5409.full?ijkey=j6tz27Nh7K08YJi&keytype=ref

"Worse still, several analyses show that antidepressants are no more effective than placebo in mild or moderate depression,8 9 with the placebo response in depression huge, as high as 80%.9 But even assuming antidepressants do have an effect, a Cochrane review found that for every person who benefits, seven gain no benefit.10 In truth, for the overwhelming majority of depressed patients, the drugs do not work."

So get ECT then...you can treat depression effectively w/o pharm.

 

[CaptainSSO]

So get ECT then...you can treat depression effectively w/o pharm.

Are you aware that ECT can induce amnesia?

 

[link2swim06]

Are you aware that ECT can induce amnesia?

Almost always temporary amnesia. But the way it is administered today causes much less amnesia than years prior. I think it has to do with the electrode pad placement and unilateral vs bilateral shock if I remember correctly from when I saw it done in psych.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

Almost always temporary amnesia. But the way it is administered today causes much less amnesia than years prior. I think it has to do with the electrode pad placement and unilateral vs bilateral shock if I remember correctly from when I saw it done in psych.

The only amnesia you get is from the benzo they give you before you get shocked. Like a colonoscopy, you don't want to remember that anyway.

ECT is the best treatment for depression (Step 2 Pearl)

 

[link2swim06]

The only amnesia you get is from the benzo they give you before you get shocked. Like a colonoscopy, you don't want to remember that anyway.

ECT is the best treatment for depression (Step 2 Pearl)

Right...although I don't think they use benzos (at least where I saw it)...that would make it much harder to start a seizure.

 

[Rothbard]

nm

 

[alamo4]

http://scienceninja.posterous.com/the-epidemic-of-mental-illness-the-illusions

Part 1 & Part 2 have some great material to ponder

 

[FunnyCurrent]

I am interested in how prevalent psychiatric/depressive disorders are among medical students. According to one psychiatrist I spoke to, it is about 20%. So I'm making this poll out of interest.

Also, if you have any experience with any psychiatric problem or medication, it would be nice to hear your general opinion.

--I should have also added. "No, but I was once on one.".

^ GladifImakeit?

 

[facetguy]

I dont know anything about you, but with the name and this being the first post ive seen of yours in this subforum, Im going to assume your a chiro?

Not sure where you've been, but I've posted in here plenty of times before. I've made it very clear that I'm a chiro, but I'll give you props for your detective work nonetheless. Are you using my chiro-ness to somehow sidestep the issue raised in my post? The guy who wrote the piece isn't a chiro, he's an MD. And the BMJ isn't a chiropractic journal. And the BMJ piece is far from the first time anyone has brought this issue to the fore. So how is chiropractic relevant here?

 

[alpinism]

An NNT of 8 is not only not horrible, but is actually very good when compared to most meds on the market today. As others have said, ECT is even more effective.

You guys heard about ketamine?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/201...epression-drugs-offer-hope-for-toughest-cases

 

[surftheiop]

Not sure where you've been, but I've posted in here plenty of times before. I've made it very clear that I'm a chiro, but I'll give you props for your detective work nonetheless. Are you using my chiro-ness to somehow sidestep the issue raised in my post? The guy who wrote the piece isn't a chiro, he's an MD. And the BMJ isn't a chiropractic journal. And the BMJ piece is far from the first time anyone has brought this issue to the fore. So how is chiropractic relevant here?

Chiro's seem to have bought into the scientology campaign against psychiatry so I think your training background is certainly relevant to how you will interpret the literature given that the baseline assumption of readers is that posters in this forum are either MD's or training to be MD's.

Its one article, if people routinely ceased medical treatments based on one article, then nobody would ever get treated for anything. (I haven't read the article, nor do I have any psychiatric training, just giving the benefit of the doubt to those that are actually trained in the field to interpret the research literature)

Im sure I could find plenty of articles in journals similar to the BMJ saying aspects of chiropractic care aren't efficacious, would you stop practicing based on those articles?

 

[facetguy]

Chiro's seem to have bought into the scientology campaign against psychiatry so I think your training background is certainly relevant to how you will interpret the literature given that the baseline assumption of readers is that posters in this forum are either MD's or training to be MD's.

Interesting. I've heard a lot of crazy things about chiropractors, but that's a new one. (Are you also implying you don't watch Tom Cruise movies? 😉)

Its one article, if people routinely ceased medical treatments based on one article, then nobody would ever get treated for anything. (I haven't read the article, nor do I have any psychiatric training, just giving the benefit of the doubt to those that are actually trained in the field to interpret the research literature)

Im sure I could find plenty of articles in journals similar to the BMJ saying aspects of chiropractic care aren't efficacious, would you stop practicing based on those articles?

There's more than one article out there on this. Like you, I don't have any psychiatry training either and don't claim any expertise in this area. But this has been written about for several years at least. When a popular, almost ubiquitous, medication has been shown to have little or no effectiveness advantage over placebo, that should be of interest. For goodness sake, 2 and 3 year old kids are being prescribed these medications! If these meds don't work, let's figure out what does.