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Antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes:
Mental health
9% of the Swiss population uses antidepressants – Antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes
The long -term effects of the stop of antidepressants are widely unknown despite a widespread use of these drugs. Consequently, Experts denounce a lack of studies on the taboo of weaning.
“The pharmaceutical industry. Nevertheless, the drug control authorities have neglected to study the long -term effects of antidepressants,” explains Michael P. Meanwhile, Hangartner, manager of the study.
IMAGO
- Withdrawal symptoms affect 44% of patients who stop their antidepressants.
- The long -term effects of antidepressants remain widely unknown for lack of studies.
- About 9% of Swiss consume antidepressants, including 57% for more antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes than two years.
- Experts recommend a gradual decrease to avoid post-treatment disorders.
Vertigo. Consequently, sleep disorders, electric discharge sensations in the head (or “Brain Zaps”), anxieties, it is not uncommon for people who stop taking antidepressants are confronted with disorders of this type. Consequently, Specialists are strongly advised not to stop the medication of your own. However, They recommend what they call a “diminution progressiveWhich implies a gradual reduction in the dose over several weeks.
When the disorders are not caused by a relapse of the initial depression. Therefore, they are called a symptoms of stop or withdrawal. Similarly, They generally appear in a few days and persist for two to six weeks.
What remains uncertain is to what extent it causes persistent problems. However, Swiss researchers have recently published a summary antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes of existing knowledge in the specialized journal “Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences».
The result is disappointing. For example, “Based on scientific data, we can say with certainty that long -term withdrawal symptoms exist,” said Michael P. However, Hangartner, study manager and researcher at the Kalaidos specialized school in Zurich. Due to the lack of figures. however, it is not possible to reliably assess the extent, duration and consequences of these disorders. It is also impossible to identify the factors that increase the risk of long -term effects.
Antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes
9% of Swiss take antidepressants
“The situation is distressing,” said the expert. The clinical psychologist denounces insufficient recognition of post-sued symptoms, both in clinical research and in medical consultations. “Medicines have been prescribed for many decades. but the pharmaceutical industry and the drug control antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes authorities have neglected to study long -term effects for lack of interest,” added the researcher.
The subject is however of capital importance. Antidepressants are among the most frequently prescribed drugs. According to Helsana health insurance figures, 9% of Swiss consume antidepressants. Among them, 57% have been taking this medication for over two years, which places them in the long -term user category.
THE antidepressants are effective in dealing with many disorders and also play a preventive role. They are prescribed not only against depression. but also, in some cases, to treat sleep problemssymptoms related to menopause or anxious disorders. After effective treatment, it is important to stop these drugs due to their undesirable side effects.
However, despite this recommendation, reality is often another. According to a Cochrane scientific network antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes study Made in 2021. between 30 and 50% of the antidepressants prescribed over a long period are without real medical justification. This figure probably conceals, in many cases, arrest tests that have failed.
Long -term effects: few results. great uncertainty
In their recent synthesis on persistent symptoms, Swiss researchers have only been able to rely on seven scientific studies, essentially case reports and testimonial analyzes of affected people. The duration of persistent withdrawal symptoms varied considerably, ranging from a month and a half to 14 years.
One study of 20 patients revealed that 15% of them suffered from persistent effects after stopping their antidepressant. “The study was carried out very rigorously. but the result has a great margin of uncertainty due to the small number of participants,” said the specialist.
Experts do not agree on the importance of the effects that persist after stopping antidepressants. According to Sebastian Olbrich. chief doctor and director of the center for depression and anxious diseases at the university psychiatric clinic in Zurich, “scientific evidence of post-supine symptoms after stopping antidepressants are very low”. As with other treatments. for example hypertension drugs, symptoms sometimes appear, especially in the event of an overly brutal stop of antidepressants, the psychiatrist continues. In clinical practice, this problem can be avoided by gradually decreasing the doses of drugs. In the depression treatmentit is essential to choose an approach adapted to each.
New symptoms. return of depression
Sebastian Olbrich considers that the symptoms occurring after stopping medication, whether immediate or deferred, generally result from a reappearance of depression initially treated by these drugs. In these cases, it would antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes be wise to resume drug treatment. “But the distinction is often difficult to do,” he admits.
In general. it is considered that the symptoms which occur quickly within days of the stop of antidepressants are due to drug withdrawal and not to underlying depression. The same is true if the symptoms disappear quickly when the initial antidepressant resumes.
Data reveal that acute withdrawal symptoms are frequent. A meta-analysis of randomized. controlled trials, published in the revue «Molecular Psychiatry»recently revealed that around 44% of patients develop withdrawal symptoms after stopping antidepressants. In without interruption control groups, 17% had similar symptoms.
Last year, a team of German researchers published a synthesis offering slightly lower values, but their methodology was criticized. According to this study, one in three people indicates symptoms after ceasing an antidepressants: 9% swiss population takes antidepressant treatment. However. comparison with control groups shows that half of them are due to a placebo effect, which means that withdrawal symptoms are actually manifested in one in six people.
Translated from German by Emmanuelle Stevan
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