Essay broken brains

Submitted By corey291113
Words: 456
Pages: 2

Rebuilding broken brains
Depression is a terrible thing and can affect close to one in six people. The symptoms can be cruel, insomnia, hopelessness, loss of interest in life, chronic exhaustion and even increased risk of ailment such as heart disease. Depression can also lead people to cut themselves off from others, a tendency exacerbated further by the continuing stigma surrounding the condition, thought to deter over half of depressed people from seeking treatment. Untreated depression can lead to suicide; it is believed there is one suicide every forty seconds. The dominant theory is that depression results from a chemical in balance in the brain. Many trails have linked depression to low levels of serotonin. The first drug used was fluoxetine (Prozac) most anti depressions have kept to the same principle of keeping the levels of serotonin high. Clinical trials in the 80s and 90s indicated that 80 to 90 per cent of people should go in to remission after taking these antidepressants, but studies show that only 60 to 70 per cent worked. To approve a given antidepressant then US food and drug administration only require two large scale studies to verify that the drug is superior to a placebo. However pharmaceutical companies are under no obligation to supply the FDA with every study they do only the positive. Well known antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin announced in 2010 that it would halt research into depression. After most drug treatment and behavioural therapy failed for one person who even tried took an overdose of sleeping pills they were saved by a ground breaking therapy called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) it’s the stuff of movies they would put a cap on their head for 20 minutes while