Prozac (fluoxetine) is the most widely prescribed antidepressant in history. By 2007 there had been over 54 million prescriptions worldwide, making a fortune for the manufacturer Eli Lilly.
As I travel around the world I am struck by the growing number of people I meet who have been prescribed Prozac. As I describe below, my experiences have given me concern that many people are being given this antidepressant as a matter of course.
Rising Prozac Usage
In the UK the number of antidepressant prescriptions in 2015 increased 7%, and had doubled over the previous decade. A huge proportion of these prescriptions are for drugs like Prozac. UK Government guidelines recommend that people should be offered antidepressants as a first treatment path for moderate depression. Critics believe it is safer to steer people towards discussion therapy to assist patients dealing with negative thoughts and emotions.
In the US antidepressant usage increased nearly 400% in the 20 years between 1988 and 2008. Most prescriptions were for women between the ages of 40 and 59. Currently over 10% of Americans are taking antidepressants. According to a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), between 1999 to 2012 the percentage of Americans on antidepressants nearly doubled, increasing from 6.8% to 13%. The IMS Vector One: National Total Patient Tracker Database for 2013 reported that more than 8 million American children between the ages of 0-17 are prescribed at least one psychiatric drug.
The philosophy of putting millions of adults and children on strong psychoactive drugs which are only decades old boggles the mind. This sad situation is made ridiculous by the Australian trend of prescribing Prozac to dogs.
I am sure many people have come to feel they need Prozac in their lives but this trend is worrying to me.
Prozac - The First Tablet
My first experience with Prozac was as a teenager living in Germany. My best friend's mother had recently been prescribed the drug and one morning he arrived on the bus with some tablets he had purloined. We swallowed them and forty minutes later, as we arrived at school we could both feel a boost in our mood. We called them "happy pills" and took them a few more times until the appeal wore off.
I am naturally a very positive and happy person and I didn't feel I needed Prozac to make me feel better!
My First And Only Psychiatrist
A decade later I was living in South East Asia and experiencing some serious personal problems. I had no family living near me and hearing my extreme distress my parents kindly offered to pay for me to see a psychiatrist. I agreed and this was the only time in my life I have had psychiatric consultation.
We searched for the best psychiatrist in the land who also happened to be the most expensive. His 40 minute consultation fee was USD $120. To put things in perspective this equated to a weeks worth of my salary. I made an appointment and went to see this overweight, Indian psychiatrist.
Pushing Prozac
Within the first 10 minutes of our consultation the psychiatrist was advising me that I needed to start taking Prozac. That it would take at least 3 months before I felt the benefits and I should start immediately. I knew from personal experience that I did not need Prozac, only someone to talk to. I told him that the issues I was facing needed to be discussed. That changing the chemical balance of my brain was not going to help me.
I repeated quite firmly:
"Please never mention Prozac again! I don't want it and I am not interested. Lets not waste this expensive consultation discussing it!"
We spent the next 20 minutes discussing Prozac. He made it very clear that I should purchase the "official" version of Prozac directly through him. When I returned for the second consultation I had the same experience. He spent the majority of the session promoting Prozac's benefits. Again I left confused about why this Doctor could not understand me.
On the third and final visit the session started with another discussion of Prozac. This guy had taken USD $240 from me and all we had discussed was Prozac! I had expressly told him I did not want to discuss Prozac or take it. At this final straw I exploded. I picked up the box of tissues on his desk and threw them at this charlatan.
I called him a couple of rude names and stormed out of his office promising not to pay for the last session!
I Did Not Understand Medical Corruption... Yet!
This incident occurred before I had seen first hand the way in which the Big Pharma corrupts our medical industry. I have posted about my personal experiences profiting from medical corruption.
Especially in the case of young children I think we need to have a long look at how frequently these drugs are being prescribed/pushed and who profits from them!
Photos courtesy of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
This post only reflects my personal experiences. Jockey loves you All!
I'm glad you were able to stand up for yourself. Sad reality not all are able too. I hope other people facing mental illness find other alternatives before submitting to these harmful drugs which have great negative effects if relied on entirely. I believe with discipline; change of lifestyle & mindset one can succumb to this quick fix.
Resteemed. Upvoted. Follower
Great article! I myself work in the healthcare industry and I actually have a few articles pertaining to my work that have been on ice.... I just had the issue of how to word it better. With your post, I now have a better idea! Thanks.
I am glad you liked it. I have followed you because I am very interested in any information from inside the industry. For your reference here are some other posts I have written on medical corruption:
https://steemit.com/life/@jockey/my-partricipation-in-corruption-of-the-medical-industry
https://steemit.com/health/@jockey/children-vaccinated-at-birth-for-hepatitis-b-in-australia
https://steemit.com/health/@jockey/vaccination-and-corruption-a-steemit-survey
https://steemit.com/health/@jockey/big-pharma-paying-for-30-000-doctor-events-per-year-in-australia
https://steemit.com/health/@jockey/the-multi-billion-dollar-business-of-insecurity-whitening-creams-4-asians-and-tanning-sprays-4-caucasians
I hope they will inspire you to tell your stories! Upvoted! =)
Just finished my first one ! https://steemit.com/life/@mrbearbear/drug-company-buyouts-the-worst-thing-to-happen-in-healthcare
I'll shorten the story. Holmes got paid phat bank for those RXs. Resteemed.
lol - repeated 1000's of times each day. My chronic illness groups are full of these stories and terrible outcomes. Such a mess.
Numbing the mind for psychiatric purposes is sorcery. Shame upon men who think this is the answer.
Prozac is Flouride, Flouride is in our water. We are all mind-numbed to a degree. @ironshield
"We spent the next 20 minutes discussing Prozac. He made it very clear that I should purchase the "official" version of Prozac directly through him." Sounds more like a USED car sales man than the protector and savior!!! FK That!
Did you notice something Jockey? I don't see world's biggest countries, India and China (by population) and most Asian/Latin American countries are missing...do you know why?
These cultures have frequent gatherings, sharing meals with family, drinking and partying with 100s of occasions to call for such gatherings that help to take the steam off...
I agree with you - a simple companion related issue is now a billion dollar profit industry for big pharmas...
the more virtual we become the more these 'anti-depressants' flourish!
There is sunny side to this...whenever I feel low, I switch on Stephen Colbert or Trevor Noah or John Oliver and my mood is instantly shifted...may be that is better solution without side-effects than these toxic concoctions!
Thanks for sharing!
But then you open yourself up to mind control! I like your sitting around with the family idea better :)
You got a point there!!
This is the world we seem to be living. Physician don't want to fix the problem. They want to treat it by giving medication. If you were allowed to speak , your problem would have been resolve and doctor profit dissolve. Is very sad to know these are the people who we turn to when were at our most vulnerable stages of our life. They take advantage of us. I'm glad that you were an advocate for yourself. Therefore didn't allow this doctor to stare you down the wrong path. They wonder , why so many people are addicted to prescription meds.
Thanks for the info.
Loved your comment...so true. Upvoted it.
Thanks. I always look forward to hear from you.
Talk to your friends or family, people close to you.
Mother Natures Vibrations will help as well. Literally give all your heart to the tree and it actuals takes your burdens aways. You are transmitting greatness. Your mothership is arriving. Yours Truly
#Theeillgloryfactory 🚀
Great article! I know exactly what you mean with them just pushing drugs on people. Can't tell ya how many other doctors I went to were just trying to give me drugs for my problem when all I wanted to do was let go and talk to someone. This corruption needs to end with the medical field in bed with big pharama.
Thank you for sharing :)
Remedies of medicine in the water are a big problem too.
You don"t need to take any medicine. Take a bath in the river Rhine and you get it all: SSRI,NSAID, hormons, antihypertensiva and so on.
I had my own Pharmacy business 6 years ago and I know how companies pay doctors, offer them luxurious rewards , money, foreign trips and things that we even can't imagine. Even there is a local company who used to pay a doctor by depositing his son's school fee every month and he kept prescribing antibiotics to children in return. This is the biggest mafia, even bigger than the drugs!
Oh that is horrible. If the providers would speak out - maybe the house of cards would tumble but the money is just too big of a draw.
Sadly, so few people are as informed and determined as you were when you met that "doctor". Most people reach for the happy pills, hoping that they would miraculously solve all their problems. Good for you that you didn't fell for it.
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STOP@jockey
Maybe better choose to smoke marijuana no ???
It would be a better way to not choose chimical product?!!!
What you think about this alternatif choice ???
@geemo-from-paris
If your doctor turns out to be a pharmaceutical salesman, dump em as fast as possible.
@jockey It profounds me to this day how "medication" is like the new eating your greens for dinner to be healthy and snacking on an apple instead of a coffee... just ridiculous.
Great post!
This is a great post that highlights a big and growing problem in (mainly) Western society. The tendency to 'park' people, particularly children on psychoactive drugs without addressing underlying psychological issues is akin to treating a gunshot wound with a Band Aid. This is exacerbated by doctors on commission to push patients towards using particular treatments, something that is sadly becoming more prevalent in here in the UK.
Having taken antidepressants (Citalopram) for a couple of years to counter the effects of anxiety and depression, I can say that my experience of them was mainly positive, but only as a tool through which I was able to engage with therapy rather than a treatment of those conditions in and of itself. In fact I also rejected the offer of drugs from several GPs outright, until I was sure that I was on a waiting list to receive psychotherapy. And once the therapy ended, I wound down my dose to come off the drugs, rather than build a psychological dependency on them, simply to feel normal.
I hope you are feeling better, and your problems have not returned. Thank you again for sharing your experience and bringing the problem to light. Followed and resteemed!
Thanks for sharing this story. it's sad how this is a reality for so many people and you're fully correct. Across the world and in the US especialy we've become slaves to big pharma and drugs. They push this stuff like it's candy and it's as corrupt as possible.
There are some studies that suggest that antidepressants are as effective as placebo for mild to moderate cases (which is to say they can be not very effective). Regardless of one's view on this (and one might work with doctors or other health advisors to make a good decision about that), a lot of the basics of exercise, diet, cultivating an attitude of gratitude, and other things like that can really help cases of people who struggle with emotional or mental ills!
Thanks for posting your personal experience with Prozac...I have my own story and you have given me the strength to someday write about it. Thanks @catagossier for resteeming your post...you now gained a follower. Upvoted and resteemed this post.