Suicidal thoughts and behavior frequently accompany depression. You would think that drugs created specifically to treat depression would be effective for preventing such thoughts and behavior.
On the contrary, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a Public Health Advisory about the relationship between antidepressants and suicide. The advisory states that adults being treated with antidepressants should be watched closely for worsening of depression and for increased suicidal thinking or behavior.
How could a class of medications that is supposed to prevent depression and suicide possibly be causing or worsening the adverse effects?
In my book, Drugs That Don’t Work and Natural Therapies that Do,I write, “You can’t poison a crucial enzyme or block an important receptor for the long term and expect a good result.”
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) work by poisoning an enzyme that is responsible for reabsorbing serotonin at its receptor. For the vast majority of people treated with these drugs, it cannot be healthy to continually block the reuptake of serotonin.
So if you have depression, what can you do? Here are some natural therapies that can treat depression without the adverse side effects.
Psychotherapy — also called talk therapy — has been shown to have potent antidepressive capabilities without the risk of adverse side effects associated with medications. Psychotherapy has also been shown to reduce the rate of relapse often associated with depression.
My clinical experience has shown that psychotherapy can be a very effective treatment for a depressed patient. Finding the right therapist can take some time, but in my opinion, it’s well worth the effort. Before rushing to take an antidepressant drug, I suggest working with a qualified therapist.
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