http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png http://jezebel.com/tag/paxil http://jezebel.com/tag/paxil

A new study has found that the benefits of antidepressants increase the more depressed a patient is, and that for those with mild symptoms, the drugs may be no better than a placebo. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5441417&view=rss&microfeed=true

Susie and Aretha Bright believe that mother-daughter teamwork is the answer - or maybe the last resort - for your sex advice needs. Send us questions! Mail to sexperts@jezebel.com. Today, SSRIs Killed My Sex Life- and Too Fat For Sex. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5360750&view=rss&microfeed=true

There's a major backlash a-brewin' against the use of psychotropic medication to battle depression, and the forthcoming book Comfortably Numb by Charles Barber, could easily be called the bible of that backlash. Barber, a psychiatrist, cautions against over-medication, and argues that, "anger, greed, laziness, impulsivity, as well as jealousy, lust, anguish, and so on, are simply part of the human predicament" and should not be treated with medication. Barber is attempting to draw a line between "real" depression and just being bummed out, suggesting cognitive behavioral therapy or other forms of talk therapy to combat depression. I think no one can argue that anti-depressants are over-prescribed — horror stories about five-year-olds on Zoloft litter anti-drug literature and Scientology screeds — but without prolonged talk therapy, how can you draw that line? And even after thorough psychiatric investigation, won't each therapist's discretion be subjective? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=350209&view=rss&microfeed=true

A dozen popular antidepressants don't work nearly as well as the "data" doctors cite to tell you they do, according to an FDA review. (The whole graph is after the jump.) The biggest grade inflators were Serzone, Zoloft, Remeron, Wellbutrin SR, Paxil and Cymbalta. Effexor, the drug that shame-ridden shrink confessed to shilling unethically in the New York Times Magazine last fall came in seventh. Which brings me back to an important part I was trying to make when I posted insensitively about fibromyalgia the other day. See, it is often times the people who think they're least susceptible to advertising — ahem, doctors — who turn us all into suckers. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=346050&view=rss&microfeed=true

Psychology Today has a trio of articles about antidepressants and love/sex that I feel uniquely qualified to comment on since I am both on antidepressants and in love (and having sex). [Braggart! -Ed.] The main article, "Sex, Love, and SSRIs" wonders whether selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (the class of drugs that includes Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and others ) "compromise the ability to feel love," because SSRIs inhibit dopamine, which is also responsible for the feelings of elation and ecstasy that accompany falling in love. The author uses the anecdotal evidence of "Megan," whose sexual side effects ruined her relationship with high school sweetheart "Neil." The anecdote felt so weak (a high school love affair dissipating when the pair goes to separate colleges? You don't say!) that I wasn't surprised when she also used a seemingly dubious statistic to back it up: "Approximately 70 percent of people taking SSRIs suffer from sexual side effects." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=334096&view=rss&microfeed=true