Antidepressants Fight Anxiety, But Risks Could OUTWEIGH Rewards 

United States: A comprehensive recent review showed that depression treatments successfully treat the medical condition called generalized anxiety disorder. 

Canadian and Italian scientists analyzed current evidence to evaluate the performance of Prozac as medical professionals administer this antidepressant drug for clinical use. 

Study details 

A Cochrane review included 12,000 participants to find that drug consumption resulted in a 41 percent more effective reduction of symptoms compared to placebo administration. 

Doctors believe that 2 percent or more people within British society endure generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) while the majority of patients are female. 

The primary symptom of GAD involves recurrent feelings of worry regarding daily activities, while other indications consist of sleep problems, concentration issues, indigestion, heart irregularities, faintness, and depressive symptoms, as Daily Mail reported.

Participants receiving the medicine qualified as effective treatments if they experienced at least a 50 percent improvement according to Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale scores during medication intake.

Through this assessment method, patients who have GAD rate the intensity of their 14 GAD symptoms from zero to a maximum of four.

Studies evaluated different antidepressant medications that included selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), tricyclic antidepressants, and specifically vilazodone and agomelatine.

Data revealed that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors operated with 15 percent greater efficacy than the drugs encompassing Serotonin and Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors, including duloxetine and venlafaxine.

What more are the experts stating? 

Medical experts doubt that scientists have sufficient proof to document the way mind-altering medications affect the brain during extended use periods.

Few antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) medications, as well as other antidepressants, have shown evidence in scientific research of causing prolonged sexual abnormalities and even complete sexual dysfunction, according to previous studies.

According to Professor Peter Tyrer, an expert in community psychiatry at Imperial College London,” The findings of this review are unequivocal – antidepressants are effective in the treatment of generalized anxiety in the short-term,” Daily Mail reported. 

“But in responding to this evidence, the long-term implications also have to be considered. Long-term treatment, as noted in the review, is often the norm, and there is increasing concern that patients have difficulties in stopping antidepressants because of withdrawal problems,” Tyrer continued.

‘Brief resolution does not effect a cure,’ he added.