Antidepressant medications are the standard treatment for common clinical anxiety disorders, such as depression. Anti-depressant drugs work for both major and minor depressions by restoring the brain’s ability to feel calm and happy. However, most studies on the pharmacological effects of antidepressants are scanty and do not tell clinicians whether patients would benefit from their prescriptions. The existing methodological researches on the use of anti-depressant drugs, such as fluoxetine show their benefits and harms in different patients.
Advantages
Prescribing antidepressants drugs to mildly depressed patients reduces the severity of the condition. Depending on the diagnosis categories of antidepressant drugs, patients with minor depressive symptoms respond positively to present positive health outcomes and show no relapse symptoms. Research studies on the positive effects of antidepressant drugs in youth found positive remission rates after 12 weeks of treatment (Kwon, 2017). The degree of benefits from the study shows that diagnosis of anti-depressant drugs for patients with anxiety disorders results in reduced symptoms of depression and the relapse rates.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Disadvantages
On the contrary, antidepressants are buffers of suicidal thoughts. The substantial harm of antidepressant drugs to patients is linked to increased suicidal effects among adults. Some clinical studies have reported labels for risks of aggression and hostile behavior as the outcome of antidepressant therapy in major depression. For instance, a meta-analysis report of the Food and Drug Administration in 2004 found that the prescription of antidepressant drugs is associated with suicidal elevation (Morley, 2017). Moreover, the analysis found that the level of depression plays a key role in the outcome of antidepressant drug use. The present findings show that therapeutic use of antidepressants increases the severity of depression in some patients.
Clinical data shows that the diagnosis of anti-depressant drugs enhance emotional health in patients with anxiety disorders. Similarly, patients show low relapse rate after short period of treatment. On the other hand, drugs manifest harmful effects, such as increased levels of behavioral and emotional difficulties. With the new drugs in the market, studies should establish the efficacy of treating anxiety disorders using different antidepressant drugs.
References
Kwon, D. (2016). The hidden harms of antidepressants. Scientific American Mind , 27 (3), 12-12. doi: 10.1038/scientificamericanmind0516-12
Morley, J. (2017). The effectiveness and harms of antidepressants. Journal Of The American Medical Directors Association , 18 (4), 279-281.
