The FDA announced that Norpramin (desipramine), an antidepressant made by Sanofi Aventis can cause disturbances in the heartbeat, including sudden cardiac death in people who have a family history of this or other heart rhythm disturbances. MedWatch, the safety information arm of the FDA and the manufacturer sent this new warning to healthcare professionals.
Dr. Brad Hagen, a clinical psychologist and faculty member at the University of Lethbridge, the reason for the skyrocketing rates of depression are a matter of heated debate. “Depending on how you look at it, depression either started becoming more common or recognized, or it became marketed,” says Hagen. Sales of antidepressant drugs worldwide are in the tens of billions of dollars each year. Dr. Hagen says the number of sales is actually quite “mindboggling.”
In the last decade or so, more than 500 people have undergone brain surgery for problems like depression, anxiety, Tourette’s syndrome, even obesity, most as a part of medical studies. In this country, at least one patient was left unable to feed or care for herself after botched surgery.
Joanna Moncrieff of University College London wrote an opinion piece recently for the BBC. Contrary to the impression promoted by the psychiatric and drug industries, psychiatric drugs do not work by correcting a chemical imbalance in the brain.
A questionnaire asking whether the psychiatrist would or did self-treat for depression was mailed to 830 members of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. In the past, 15.7% responders treated themselves for depression.