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Medicine No Cure-All

Recent findings with patients receiving anti-depressant medication have not been entirely good. Although many patients report an increase in positive feelings and a renewed sense of hopefulness, others experience entirely new problems by taking the medicine. Many patients who experience a positive sense of well-being initially, also tend to develop new issues around the fact that the medicine doesn’t cure everything. This means that, although they are feeling better, they don’t feel so good about the fact that there still are problems in life.
Patients report a new sense of hopelessness in the face of the fact that medication is likely to be the only thing that can help them and it isn’t completely working. The problem might be seen as the ‘catch-22’ of anti-depressant medication and doctors are taking note.
The recent study appeared in the Journal of General Hospital Psychiatry as a team studied 573 patients with depression. Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft were amongst the medications tested and all were assessed after various periods of treatment.
Although patients reported more positive emotions, better work functioning and easier social functioning, improvements with head, back and stomach pain leveled out after the first month and were rarely seen to improve after that. This served as a reminder to the patient that a complete cure was not available and it contributed to further psychological issues in the patients. More successful treatments, however, incorporated cognitive-behavioral strategies such as teaching the patients to identify and challenge their negative thoughts and to encourage them to engage in positive activities.

Source: Journal of General Hospital Psychiatry

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