Are there any serious consequences of SSRI antidepressant treatment?
All potent drugs have important side-effects. The chief danger of SSRIs, which in general are very safe, is that they are given to the wrong patient. The disasters recorded are not so much disasters from the side-effects of the pill swallowed but a sequel of a sloppy diagnosis when the true nature of the depression affecting the patient hasn’t been analysed. One of the most potentially dangerous mistakes is to confuse what used to be known as endogenous depression with the depressed phase of a patient who is manic depressive (now known as bipolar). Ordinary antidepressants, when used alone to treat a depressed patient who is bipolar, may precipitate violence, aggression, suicide or wildly inappropriate behaviour. Do depressive illnesses affect all classes and types of people or only the inadequate? Depression can be a symptom of troubles that could affect anyone. The obsessionally hard working, striving type A personality or the aesthetic genius are rather more likely to suffer than th
