Savannah Mello Introductory Psychology Antidepressants vs The Placebo in Treatment of Long-Term Depression There is often a lot of mixed emotions as to the effectiveness of antidepressants on a long term basis. The article, "Are Antidepressants Effective in the Acute and Long-Term Treatment of Depression?" by Ronald Pies address the main topics of, the effectiveness of antidepressants vs. the placebo in treatment of major depression, if antidepressants are more effective than the placebo for long term maintenance of depression, and if antidepressants are being over-prescribed for inappropriate reasons. Each topic having both positive and negative aspects to them. After analysis of the three topics, the supporting article, "Adjunctive antidepressant treatment with quetiapine in agitated depression: positive effects on symptom reduction, psychopathology, and remission rates."
Most mental health experts agree that when depression is severe, medication can be helpful, even life saving. Other studies show that the benefits of depression medication have been exaggerated. When it comes to mild to moderate depression, antidepressants are only slightly more effective than Natural Cures. They altar chemicals in the brain like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine causing the body to be more prone to side
Prescription drugs are just as addictive as illegal drugs and are easier to acquire. The only difference is that if you have health insurance, you are only paying a co-payment for your medication and not the street price for it. The more you use a prescription drug the more of a tolerance your body builds up to it, thus leading to an increase in dosage and a possible addiction. There are many prescription drugs available today and some classes of drugs are more abused than others such as opioids, central nervous systems depressants, and stimulants. Let us look deeper into these prescription drug classes along with who is at higher risk than others and possible ways to treat and prevent addiction.
OPTION LISTING. The crux of the options lies in how to differentiate Datril from Tylenol in the eyes of the customers. There are 2 broad strategies: 1. Option 1: Datril as a Premium Drug. This option essentially positions Datril as a premium analgesic drug with better efficacy but with less side effects than aspirin.
Critically evaluate the extent to which the placebo effect is just a nuisance variable to be controlled The placebo effect is a simulated or a useless treatment for a medical or mental condition which deceives the patient into thinking it is curing them. Usually, these patients will find their health and wellbeing will improve over time, whether it actually does or they just perceive it doesn’t matter, this is called the placebo effect. Common examples of placebos are sugar pills, homeopathy and ‘psychic surgery’. While it sounds as if the deception is the cause of the patient’s improved health, it has been shown that placebos can have a positive effect on a patient who knows they are being given a placebo, when compared with a control group who received a placebo but were not informed of the deception (Kaptchuk TJ, Friedlander E, Kelley JM, et al, 2010). The most common procedure for using a placebo is when a patient is given a useless pill and is told that the pill will improve their condition.
There may be a few reasons why prohibition of oxycontin would be bad but I feel as though the main reason is because if that occurs, it is going to cause people to resort to harder drugs, such as heroin. People compare oxycontin to heroin and say that it has similar effects; therefore, if the oxy is no longer available, naturally they will go to the next option that’s comparable; heroin. On a local drug forum, called “Topix”, username ang81 tells us, “heroin and oxys have around the same 1/2 life, well actually heroin should metabolize quicker being an accelerated form of morph, so the stoned feeling after the euphoria may last longer, but only because oxys are also a stimulant which counter acts that groggy, stoned feeling you get from morphine”. Another reason why we shouldn’t prohibit the use is because Oxycontin is much safer than many other drugs out there. Oxycontin contains a large amount of oxycodone which means oxycontin is way more pure and known simply because it is a prescribed controlled substance you get right over the counter at your nearest pharmacy (Prescription Drugs).
Suffering from chronic pain is a burden. With the help of medication, the burden is not as bad. Introduced in 1995, the pharmaceutical drug OxyContin was a breakthrough for pain management. OxyContin’s ability to subdue pain produced by chronic illnesses is very effective. For many, OxyContin showed an increased level of activity and drastic decline of pain.
Drugs can be delivered directly under the skin (subcutaneously). It is useful for efficient, slow, and even absorption for sustained effects on the body but drug substance can be irritating. Inhaling drugs can be a great way of administering a drug considering the rapid absorption and avoidance of hepatic first pass metabolism. But there is not really a good way of regulating the dose. Intrathecal drugs is a rare way of administering drug directly into the CNS but there is a higher risk for systemic toxicity.
7, 22-23 McCaffery and Passero’s article discusses the benefits of how Methadone can manage chronic pain. The article shows positive and negative aspects of the drug. The authors suggest that in a study for pain management that Methadone can be more effective than Morphine. One drug is longer lasting than the other, and, the risks of drug abuse are lower in Methadone.
While this may be true, it is crucial to acknowledge that one of the reasons behind the high rates of drug abuse is the ease of availability (Simon 2005). In fact, many people get addicted to prescription drugs thanks to their availability. The writer also argues that the prohibition in the use of these drugs is wrong since the drugs are immensely useful. Falling under the category of nootropics (a Greek word that means “act upon the mind”) smart drugs are said to improve memory consolidation, learning as well as memory retrieval devoid of other effects on central nervous system, not to mention the low toxicity even when high doses are taken. While these effects are evidently desirable, it is crucial that the writer examines the flip side of the so-called smart drugs.