https://brownstone.org/articles/antidepressants-for-everyone/
In a recent STAT article, Roy Perlis, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, argued that antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), should be made available at US pharmacies without a prescription.
Perlis called on the drug manufacturers to “engage with the FDA and invest the necessary resources” to make it possible because SSRIs have “repeatedly been shown to be safe and effective for treating major depression and anxiety disorders.”
It comes off the back of a recent FDA ruling that allows the purchase of the oral contraceptive Opill (norgestrel) over-the-counter, without a prescription at drug stores, convenience stores, and grocery stores, as well as online.
Roy Perlis, Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Perlis, who treats patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, failed to declare his ties to the pharmaceutical industry in the article, sparking anger among academics online.
While his concerns about patients’ limited access to doctors and treatment services are valid, doing “everything possible” to make antidepressants more easily available is not the answer.
Antidepressants are among the most prescribed treatments in the world. In fact, many experts have argued they are overprescribed.
In February 2024, the journal Pediatrics published new research that revealed monthly antidepressant prescriptions to adolescents and young adults jumped more than 66% between January 2016 and December 2022.
And following pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, prescriptions rose 63% faster due to soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicidality – so limited access to antidepressants is not the problem.
Perlis acknowledges that antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide in people under the age of 25, but he also claims there’s “clear evidence” the risk of suicidality is reduced in older people.
In a recent STAT article, Roy Perlis, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, argued that antidepressants, known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), should be made available at US pharmacies without a prescription.
Perlis called on the drug manufacturers to “engage with the FDA and invest the necessary resources” to make it possible because SSRIs have “repeatedly been shown to be safe and effective for treating major depression and anxiety disorders.”
It comes off the back of a recent FDA ruling that allows the purchase of the oral contraceptive Opill (norgestrel) over-the-counter, without a prescription at drug stores, convenience stores, and grocery stores, as well as online.
Roy Perlis, Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Perlis, who treats patients at Massachusetts General Hospital, failed to declare his ties to the pharmaceutical industry in the article, sparking anger among academics online.
While his concerns about patients’ limited access to doctors and treatment services are valid, doing “everything possible” to make antidepressants more easily available is not the answer.
Antidepressants are among the most prescribed treatments in the world. In fact, many experts have argued they are overprescribed.
In February 2024, the journal Pediatrics published new research that revealed monthly antidepressant prescriptions to adolescents and young adults jumped more than 66% between January 2016 and December 2022.
And following pandemic lockdowns in March 2020, prescriptions rose 63% faster due to soaring rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicidality – so limited access to antidepressants is not the problem.
Perlis acknowledges that antidepressants can increase the risk of suicide in people under the age of 25, but he also claims there’s “clear evidence” the risk of suicidality is reduced in older people.
Antidepressants are like emotional morphine. They kill the pain, but they don't solve the problem. If you broke your leg in six places, it hurts. It's supposed to hurt. If you try to walk on that broken leg, it's really going to hurt. That's your body telling you not to walk on that leg. Typically, the way that morphine is used is immediately before treatment to reduce the suffering of the patient, or after treatment to help manage the pain while the body is healing.
In the same way, antidepressants turn off the pain receptors, but it doesn't mean you're ok. It just means the injury doesn't hurt at the moment. Therefore, in the same way it should be used immediately before treatment to reduce the suffering of the patient, and during treatment to help manage the pain while the mind is healing.
Both opiates and antidepressants have negative side effects. Opiates are addictive narcotics, and antidepressants turn down many emotions not just pain. A heavily medicated individual will have an increasingly monotone voice because everything's getting that volume turned down. Many become increasingly unambitious, since the drivers have ambition also get the volume turned it down.
Now there's definitely people who make an argument that all drugs should be legal, but I think that if we go down that path it needs to be something that changes on a societal basis not on a piece by piece basis. If individuals are fully aware that just because something's on the shelf doesn't make it safe then there's a good chance there'll be a lot more careful than if there's one or two things the government says are okay but an entire universe of things that they regulate.
So having said that, it only makes sense under the current regime to keep antidepressants regulated because they need to be used carefully and wisely and usually as part of other treatment that should be aiming and getting you to the point that you don't need to take them anymore.
In the same way, antidepressants turn off the pain receptors, but it doesn't mean you're ok. It just means the injury doesn't hurt at the moment. Therefore, in the same way it should be used immediately before treatment to reduce the suffering of the patient, and during treatment to help manage the pain while the mind is healing.
Both opiates and antidepressants have negative side effects. Opiates are addictive narcotics, and antidepressants turn down many emotions not just pain. A heavily medicated individual will have an increasingly monotone voice because everything's getting that volume turned down. Many become increasingly unambitious, since the drivers have ambition also get the volume turned it down.
Now there's definitely people who make an argument that all drugs should be legal, but I think that if we go down that path it needs to be something that changes on a societal basis not on a piece by piece basis. If individuals are fully aware that just because something's on the shelf doesn't make it safe then there's a good chance there'll be a lot more careful than if there's one or two things the government says are okay but an entire universe of things that they regulate.
So having said that, it only makes sense under the current regime to keep antidepressants regulated because they need to be used carefully and wisely and usually as part of other treatment that should be aiming and getting you to the point that you don't need to take them anymore.
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