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!
