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Antidepressants from a public health perspective: re‐examining effectiveness, suicide, and carcinogenicity
Author(s) -
Nassir Ghaemi S.,
Vohringer P. A.,
Whitham E. A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/acps.12059
Subject(s) - perspective (graphical) , public health , psychiatry , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , poison control , psychology , medicine , human factors and ergonomics , medical emergency , pathology , computer science , artificial intelligence
The widespread use of antidepressants has rarely been critiqued from a public health perspective. It is as although the medical profession has felt that depression in the community at large could be resolved by the widespread diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) in people with depressive symptoms and subsequent prescription of antidepressant medication. This broad approach to diagnosis and treatment grows out of the medical approach to illness. In this editorial, we examine the need for a public health approach to the prevention and treatment of depression, as well as a better understanding of the valid role of antidepressants in such treatment.