This drug is a strong contender for the most unnecessary medication taken by seniors
Too much, too late
It’s like an involuntary reaction. You tell your doctor you don’t feel like yourself and, without thinking, his hand seems to magically write you an Rx for Zoloft (or his antidepressant of choice).
Problem is: you’re not depressed. And you certainly don’t need some HMO-quack who barely remembers your name to declare that you are.
And the last thing you need is whatever he wrote down on that piece of paper.
Dangerous reruns
These days, you can barely go two minutes without seeing a drug ad on TV. And a huge chunk of those ads are hawking antidepressants.
Nope –toughing out a bad patch is not the way it’s done anymore. We have a pill for everything. If you’re feeling blue, if you miss someone, if you’ve got the Monday morning blahs –take this! Ask your doctor if this pill (or that pill or ALL THE PILLS) are right for you.
Unfortunately, those relentless ads do just what they’re supposed to — condition too many people — and too many doctors — to think that pills should be used to treat even the mildest depression.
That’s why a lot of expensive pills are going down the gullets of people who don’t really need them.
In fact, researchers interviewed more than 5,600 subjects who had been diagnosed with depression.
Can you guess what they found? I bet you’re way ahead of me…
More than ONE THIRD of all those “depressed” subjects weren’t medically depressed at all.
That’s an outrage. But it gets even worse…
Six out of seven patients over the age of 65 didn’t meet the accepted criteria for depression. And the vast majority of them were prescribed antidepressants.
With lazy doctors doling out pills like that, it’s no wonder most seniors are taking so many drugs every day.
Don’t swallow the antidepressant propaganda. It’s a knee-jerk reaction by doctors who are trying to shuffle you in and out in a 15-minute slot — and make their monthly quota.
Medicine sure ain’t what it used to be.
Sources:
“A Glut of Antidepressants” Roni Caryn Rabin, The New York Times, 8/12/13, nytimes.com
