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In Reply to: What started this Thread is this posted by Daniel on February 20, 2006 at 00:31:50:
It is much clearer now that you provided personal context to what originated this thread. Briefly:
1) these substances have serious effects on (brain) chemistry. They should ONLY be administered after an accurate diagnosis, by a GOOD psychiatrist, and with short and long term monitoring.
At first the monitoring is real close. A GOOD psychiatrist will at first prescribe small doses and see the reaction the first few days and after one of two weeks. Of course this is NOT what happens most of the time and this is the problem. BAD medicine in a very bad health system. There is no time for anything in this for profit rat race, and the quick fix helps the drug companies and also mediocre to bad doctors. (I have met my share - I have also met very good physicians - they are a minority.)
2) From all I have read and from talking to close friends in the field, "the effectiveness of SSRI's in treating PTSD" is a rather broad statement.
Severe and complex PTSD has the problem of not responding very well to a lot of things. I know people who have had some benefits, and people who cannot touch SSRI's at all as they have very bad reactions to them.
Of all the SSRI's the one that seems to be preferred by most patients and physicians for its versatility is Lexapro (citalopram - used to be Celexa) -- I would say that is the one that seems to be most helpful to a lot of people.
3)I have heard and seen horror stories of Prozac (fluoxetine) and Paxil (paroxetine). I am sure there are good stories as well, but go back to my first point concerning the assumption and administration of SSRI's. I have no doubt that the unmonitored assumption of SSRI's can drive someone already on the edge over the edge especially when one's biochemistry reacts badly. There also what are called paradoxical reactions, which means reactions where the person has opposite reactions to those one expected. Biochemistry is a highly complex thing.
