Drug-Resistant Depression Improves With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Reminder, nothing works for everyone but something will. You don't have to stay the way you are and you can heal the way thousands of other veterans did because they didn't give up. I know it is frustrating but keep trying different ways to heal until you find what works for you.

Drug-Resistant Depression Improves With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Patients unresponsive to antidepressants can benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy, and their depression may even enter remission, says a new study.
By Jessica Firger
Everyday Health Staff Writer
FRIDAY, Dec. 7, 2012

In the United States, depression is the leading cause of disability, affecting 15 million people each year, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. And while many people with depression who are prescribed antidepressants improve — and even go into remission — some remain unresponsive to drug treatment.

Researchers from the University of Bristol in Great Britain are reporting that a certain type of talk therapy had a dramatic impact on individuals in their study whose depression didn't respond to drugs. Based on their findings, they recommend that clinicians treating depression suggest cognitive behavioral therapy to patients as the next course of action, when antidepressants are ineffective.

Cognitive behavior therapy is a type of psychological counseling that teaches a person how to think in healthy ways.
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You will still have to be treated for PTSD but this may help with the depression part of it. Talk to your doctor.

Dr. Charles Raison looks at long term effects of antidepressants

What are antidepressants' long-term effects?
Asked by Sandra Connell, London, Ontario, Canada

What are the effects on your of health using antidepressants for 20 or so years?


Mental Health Expert
Dr. Charles Raison
Psychiatrist,
Emory University Medical School
Expert answer
Dear Sandra, I had already decided to answer your question this week when early this morning I saw a new study suggesting that serotonergic antidepressants may increase the risk of developing cataracts by 15 percent. How timely, in a bad sort of way, for the central message I wanted to leave you with, which is this: We don't fully know the answer to your question yet.

It might seem strange that we don't have more information about the long-term effects of antidepressants, given the millions upon millions of people around the world who have taken, who are taking, and who will take these medications. But humans can know only those things they've looked at, and the truth is that very few long-term studies have been done on antidepressants.

In the absence of long-term studies, we are left with data like the cataract findings that come not from a study per se, but rather from examining the health records of many thousands of people on antidepressants and looking to see which conditions are more common in these people than in folks not on antidepressants. If you think about it for a moment, you can see the weakness with this sort of approach.

The main weakness is this: People take antidepressants because they are already "different." Usually they have depression or some related psychiatric condition. As we are increasingly learning, these conditions are not "health neutral." Indeed, we now know that depression is a risk factor for later developing a host of medical conditions, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and dementia. So maybe depressed people not on antidepressants would be as likely, or maybe even more likely, than depressed people on antidepressants to develop cataracts. In this case, the blame would lie with the underlying mood disorder, but antidepressants "take the fall" by being associated with depression.
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What are antidepressants long term effects

Antidepressant use doubles in U.S., study finds

Antidepressant use doubles in U.S., study finds
1 in 10 are taking medication to improve mood, fewer going to talk therapy
By Maggie Fox

updated 4:44 p.m. ET, Mon., Aug 3, 2009
WASHINGTON - Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday.

About 6 percent of people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996 — 13 million people. This rose to more than 10 percent or 27 million people by 2005, the researchers found.

"Significant increases in antidepressant use were evident across all sociodemographic groups examined, except African Americans," Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32274077/ns/health-mental_health/

PTSD Veterans:Are antidepressants killing your sex life?

Given the choice of you being so depressed you don't want to get up out of bed, or having you not do something in bed besides sleep, your spouse would rather have you on medication. The problem is, if you are having a problem with your medication, there are other medications they can give you for both conditions. This is a problem for a lot of people on antidepressants, not just veterans. You need to talk to your doctor and be totally honest with them about your life so they know how to take care of you properly.

Blog: When antidepressants kill your sex life
December 15, 2008
What to do when antidepressants kill your sex life
Posted: 08:44 AM ET
Joanne, a 26-year-old nurse at the Cleveland Clinic, felt no sex drive for eight years. Nothing, nada, zilch. She wasn’t happy, and neither was her boyfriend.

At first she wasn’t quite sure what was to blame for this sudden change, but her psychiatrist knew instantly. Her antidepressants were the culprit, he told her. Studies show antidepressants cause a decrease in sex drive in about one out of three people who take them.

But she says her doctor didn’t give her any advice about what to do. “My psychiatrist just kind of shrugged her shoulders,” Joann says. “It was just like, well, that’s a side effect of the drug. That’s just the way it is.”

Some 118 million prescriptions for antidepressants are written each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, and studies show about one in three people who take these drugs experience a decrease in libido. Here are some tips from experts on what to do if it happens to you, whether you’re male or female.
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Company asks pharmacists, hospitals to return 65 drugs

Company asks pharmacists, hospitals to return drug
Associated Press
Published: Friday August 1, 2008


WASHINGTON -- A New Jersey company is asking pharmacists and hospitals to return all prescription drug products made at one of its facilities because it did not pass health authorities' standards.

A Food and Drug Administration inspection at the Little Falls, N.J., facility of Actavis Totowa LLC "revealed operations which did not meet the FDA's or Actavis' standards for good manufacturing practices," according to a company statement issued Friday.

The recall, only on the pharmacy and retail level, includes about 65 different prescription drugs, such as pain killers, antidepressants, diet medication and drugs for blood pressure and hypertension.

Only pharmacies and hospitals should return the prescription drugs. Patients who may have the drug should continue to take them in accordance with their prescriptions, the Morristown, N.J. company said in a release. The company said that suddenly stopping needed medication before obtaining replacement drugs may place patients at risk.

For more information on the recall, consumers can visit
(go here to see the list)
http://www.actavis.us/en/media+center/newsroom/articles/RecallFAQ.htm
Linked from RawStory

Miracle Drug, Poison or Placebo?

Miracle Drug, Poison or Placebo?
Do antidepressants work?
Effectiveness may vary from person to person
By Maia Szalavitz for MSN Health & Fitness


Modern antidepressants have been blamed for deadly shooting rampages and violent suicides. At the same time, they’ve been hailed as miracle drugs that transform baleful Eeyore-types into bouncing Tiggers.

Now the latest review of the research claims that the effects of the drugs are only marginally different from those of placebos or sugar pills.

It seems impossible that the same substances in the same dosage ranges could simultaneously be poison, miracle drug and placebo. But the diversity of responses is remarkable—and it points to the possibilities and pitfalls of personalized medicine.

For example, Stacy*, a 48-year-old woman who works in public relations in Ohio, describes her experience with Zoloft like this: “It felt like water after being in the desert. It wasn't an experience of elation or anything bi-polar … I'm far happier, more confident, far more relaxed.”

Lisa*, a 33-year-old business consultant from Maryland, had experienced severe suicidal thoughts as early as kindergarten. She says of taking Effexor, “My entire life is different and I finally feel like a normal person with normal emotions. These days I can honestly say I am a happy, well adjusted person.”

But JoAnne*, a 35 year-old educator and dancer living in the Washington, D.C. area, reported that both Zoloft and Prozac produced muscle weakness and excessive sweating—and no benefits.

And Bernice*, a 53-year-old science journalist in California, described her experience with a Prozac-like antidepressant this way: “It made me feel disconnected from myself and my family, so that I no longer felt any empathy and did not really care what happened to them or to me. It was a terrifying sensation of flatness and I definitely felt depressed and hostile in a way that I had never felt before.”

Bizarre experiences abound as well: Bernice had “a vivid nightmare of being shot in the head,” and the sensation she felt of dripping blood did not immediately disappear on awakening. Others report elimination of sexual desire, weight loss, weight gain, heart palpitations and elevated blood pressure.

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http://health.msn.com/health-topics/depression/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100202836&GT1=31009