PRESENTATION OUTLINE
What are the effects of antidepressants?
Noel; Our project is what are the effects of antidepressants.
Amanda; To start we are going to talk about what antidepressants are. They are a class of drugs that reduce symptoms of depressive disorders by correcting chemical imbalances of neurotransmitters in the brain. Some of the conditions they are used for are depression, ocd, anxiety, and many more.
Noel; I’m sure that you have all seen commercials of antidepressants. They usually include a video of someone who seems all sad in the beginning and then show them all happy and joyful because they are taking the pills. But while all of this is going on, there is a huge list of side effects. Some of the side effects listed are increased risk of suicide, which is really strange that these are supposed to help you feel less depressed and happier but it could increase the risk of you wanting to commit suicide.
Amanda; There have been studies that show that people who are taking them have an increase in suicide with certain types of antidepressants. When compared with a placebo, antidepressants seemed to double the risk of suicidal thinking. When a person is taking these, their depression may start to lift so they start to feel less hopeless and helpless. This may sound like a good thing, but if they feel less hopeless but are still depressed they may think of suicide as a way out.
Noel; Some other symptoms are physical things like insomnia, skin rashes, headaches, joint and muscle pain, nasea or upset stomache. Some more include muscle spasms, parkinsonism (rigid and trembling limbs, a shuffling gait, loss of fine motor control), which could also cause severe anxiety.
Amanda; For our last topic we are going to cover how antidepressants effect children. There was a study that showed that when children and adolescents are taking antidepressants are twice as likely to have suicidal thoughts than those who were taking a sugar pill. Paxil, an antidepressant, isn’t approved for children under 18 because it shows no benefit and can harm them. Another study also showed that violent behavior was higher for adolescents taking them
