HEALTH EDUCATION ON THE BENEFITS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS Research Paper

HEALTH EDUCATION ON THE BENEFITS OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS - Research Paper Example They may also show signs of withdrawal. This may be followed by overeating or loss of appetite, suicidal thoughts, lack of concentration and difficulties in making decisions which previously they could handle with ease. Depression can be treated by use of antidepressants. These drugs are not only effective in treating depression but also a host of other disorders. A study has suggested that antidepressants are effective in curing individuals with severe depression. In the study, 35 clinical trials were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of antidepressants on patients. Some of the antidepressants used in the trial include venlafaxine, nefadozone, fluoxetine and paroxetine (Reinberg 23). This study found that patients who were severely depressed greatly improved on taking the antidepressant drugs. According to the authors, the antidepressants seemed to benefit more those who had severe depression. The study concludes that there is need to try more than one depressant on a patie nt in order to find out the antidepressant that works best. However, the study emphasizes that treatment of depression using antidepressants is only effective when it is focused on a particular patient, and involving multiple approaches. This approach also requires that follow-ups on patients’ recovery are regularly conducted (Reinberg 24). The study found that once an antidepressant is matched to a patient, then it will work best in curing depression. Current research is aimed at matching antidepressant drugs to patients. This means that patients will soon be receiving antidepressants that will work on them quickly (Reinberg 24). Another study was aimed at evaluating the efficacy of using antidepressants in treating depression among adults, youths and geriatric populations. The participants included 4 geriatric patients, 12 adults and 4 youths on randomized clinical trials (RCTs) (Gibbons et al. 572). These were to be examined using the antidepressant fluoxetine. In addition , 21 adults were examined using venlafaxine. The results of the study showed that patients responded far better compared to placebo controls introduced into the study. Adults recorded an improvement rate of over 35% compared to the placebo controls (Gibbons et al. 573).Youths in the study recorded the highest treatment rates in comparison to the control. This study concluded that antidepressant drugs are effective in treating major depression, contrary to earlier suggestions that they were only effective in treating severe depression. However, the study concluded that antidepressants were more effective in youths and adult patients compared to elder patients. This study was conducted over a 6 weeks period. The study reports that 55.1% of adults treated with fluoxetine showed a positive response (Gibbons et al. 573). In controls, only a paltry 33.7% showed response. In addition to these figures, 45.8% of the patients showed subsidence in the depression levels. However, only 30.2% of the controls showed subsidence in depression levels. The drugs venlafaxine and fluoxetine produced similar results (Gibbons et al. 575).The study shows that antidepressants are effective in treating depression. Critics have raised a number of concerns about the effectiveness of antidepressants over placebos. However, more research continues to back antidepressants i