Prozac Being Overprescibed Essay, Research Paper

“Prozac is the world’s most widely prescribed antidepressant; it has been used by more than 35 million people worldwide. Chances are, someone you know is getting better because of it.” In our society of quick fixes and fast food restaurants, it is not surprising to find an increasing amount of people over-prescribed with antidepressants such as Prozac. This prescription drug is becoming alarmingly popular in today’s society. People in almost every age category are being prescribed this drug in the thousands. Just two years after the drug first appeared it was being prescribed 650,000 times a month (Kramer xvii). The drug has encountered unprecedented popularity and has “enjoyed the career of the celebrity.” Although the drug is very helpful in curing some patients, many leading psychologists and students with undeclared majors, such as myself, believe that this drug is being over-prescribed.

Prozac and other antidepressant drugs like it are classified as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. These drugs increase the levels of serotonin in the brain by blocking its reception in cells. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter, a molecule that sends chemical messages between nerve cells. Once a cell receives a neurotransmitter, it responds by sending another neurotransmitter back. This process of sending and then receiving a neurotransmitter is known as re-uptake. Prozac inhibits the re-uptake of serotonin, causing levels in the brain to increase. Serotonin is a potent neurotransmitter in the brain. Insufficient levels of this chemical are associated with certain mental disorders such as depression, and schizophrenia.

In addition to these major disorders, doctors are now prescribing Prozac to patients with other common and less serious disorders. After it became popular in the early 1990’s people began “taking the drug for weight loss and for binge eating, for premenstrual tensions and postpartum blues”(Kramer xvii). Some people were even being prescribed the drug for shyness and backpain. This drug was intended to help people with disorders associated with serotonin levels, not common everyday problems. Prozac became the quick fix for short-term problems and other unrelated disorders. The drug went from serving those with serious clinical disorders to serving people with a slight case of the blues.

The pharmaceutical company that produces Prozac has a website with information about Prozac and its use. The site includes the “Zung Depression Self-Assessment Test” for online determination of your condition. The Zung Depression Self-Assessment Test is a widely used depression-screening tool that is recognized by physicians worldwide. The test includes twenty questions about symptoms that you answer with a range from “None OR a Little of the Time” to “Most OR All of the Time.” The questions cover topics such as sleep, constipation, irritability, and general outlook on life. After you complete the twenty questions, and agree to a waiver, the Zung test gives you a score. Anything above a 50 is considered to be depressed, and anything below is considered normal.

For curiosity’s sake, I took the test to see how I would do. The first time I took it I exaggerated on things that I felt were characteristics of depression, in order to fail the test. For example one question asked if I felt tired more than usual. Instead of answering “some of the time” I beefed it up and answered “most of the time.” After everything was said and done a scored a surprising 63. To my surprise I pretty much aced the test; I was depressed. The second time I took the test I answered the questions truthfully and to an even greater surprise I scored a 54. This was another big surprise because I consider myself to be very happy, and the whole time I was taking the test I was singing.

For a comparison I asked one of my friends to also take the test. He was a college freshman and someone who I considered to be happy. I had known him since middle school and thought he would make good example as a reference. This mostly jolly and cheerful person, who I expected to score well below the 50-point mark, received a 47. Although this is technically passing, a couple bad events and a little exaggerating and he could be considered clinically depressed and prescribed Prozac.

Scoring above a 50 does not guarantee that you are depressed, and also it does not guarantee that you could be prescribed Prozac. After you take the test, its urges you to print the results and show them to a doctor. Not all doctors are always correct or properly trained to prescribe such drugs. Some of them are just too hasty and under-trained to give the proper work up and diagnoses. Newsweek Magazine found that an alarmingly high number of pediatricians were prescribing Prozac in careless ten-minute visits (Kalb 35). The use of this drug in children is a hot topic in today’s news.

Much of the negative news about Prozac concerns it being over-prescribed in children. This worries many psychologists because children are not fully mentally developed. Yet still many doctors are giving children prescriptions for Prozac. “The numbers are small, but in a study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers reported that the use of certain psychotropic drugs, like antidepressants and stimulants, in 2- to 4-year-olds doubled or even tripled between 1991 and 1995″(Kalb 35). Parents fed up with disruptive behavior and looking for the quick fix turn to the new miracle drug without thinking. Today over 6 million kids are taking Prozac or another type of psychotropic drug.

A recent study conducted by Pediatrician Jerry Rushton of the University of North Carolina on doctors who prescribed Prozac to these children gave some shocking results. The study found that most doctors did not feel comfortable prescribing the drug and had not received proper training to diagnose children. The study also found that “67% said they prescribed the drugs for mild to moderate childhood depression.”(1) Prozac is a serious and relatively new drug and should only be prescribed “when there are indications that one is significantly depressed”(2) The most startling aspect of the survey was that some doctors had prescribed Prozac for bed-wetting, or aggressive conduct disorder. Although bed-wetting can be distressful for children it should be treated with medicine to stop the disorder and not medicine to stop the distress.

Although Prozac has been prescribed to many children, the long-term effects on them are still unclear. According to Ray Woosley, chairman of pharmacology at Georgetown University the drug may cause abnormal development of the central nervous systems. Not much is known about the effects of Prozac on children. The drug is being prescribed to children assuming it has the same effect on kids as it does on adults. Today children using the drug are essentially being used as guinea pigs. Until more is known about the drug and its effect on children, it should not be prescribed to them.

Prozac is a powerful and useful drug if used in the right manner. It is very effective in curing patients who need it, although it is often over-prescribed by doctors without proper diagnoses. Many people use Prozac because they are mildly depressed and just need a quick fix. Millions of people today are being unnecessarily prescribed Prozac and chances are you know one of them.

Bibliography

Friend, Tim. “Prozac use turns children into test subjects.” USA Today February 5th 1999 http://www.usatoday.com/life/health/drugs/lhdru039.htm

Kalb, Claudia. “Drugged-Out Toddlers.” Newsweek March 6, 2000: 35-37

Kramer, Peter. Listening To Prozac. New York: Viking, 1993.