When Healthcare ignores Mental Health: 200 common prescription medications increase depression risk

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Many Amer­i­cans tak­ing com­mon meds that may cause depres­sion, study finds (CBS News):

“More than one-third of U.S. adults are tak­ing pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions that may lead to depres­sion, new research finds. The study, pub­lished in the Jour­nal of the Amer­i­can Med­ical Asso­ci­a­tion, warns that depres­sion is a poten­tial side effect of more than 200 com­mon­ly pre­scribed med­ica­tions, includ­ing beta block­ers for blood pres­sure, birth con­trol pills, antacids, and painkillers.

The researchers found that 37 per­cent of Amer­i­cans are tak­ing at least one these drugs. The like­li­hood of depres­sion also increased the more drugs peo­ple used.

For the study, the researchers ana­lyzed data from a sur­vey of more than 26,000 Amer­i­cans over the course of nine years. They asked the par­tic­i­pants to look at their med­i­cine cab­i­nets at the pre­scrip­tion drugs they had used with­in the last month and screened them for depression…

The bot­tom line? “Talk to your phar­ma­cist. Talk to your doc­tor,” Naru­la said. “Ask questions.”

The Study:

Preva­lence of Pre­scrip­tion Med­ica­tions With Depres­sion as a Poten­tial Adverse Effect Among Adults in the Unit­ed States (JAMA). From the abstract:

• Impor­tance: Pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions are increas­ing­ly used among adults in the Unit­ed States and many have a poten­tial for caus­ing depression.
• Objec­tives: To char­ac­ter­ize use of pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions with depres­sion as a poten­tial adverse effect and to assess asso­ci­a­tions between their use and con­cur­rent depression.
• Con­clu­sions and Rel­e­vance: In this cross-sec­tion­al sur­vey study, use of pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tions that have depres­sion as a poten­tial adverse effect was com­mon. Use of mul­ti­ple med­ica­tions was asso­ci­at­ed with greater like­li­hood of con­cur­rent depression.

The Study in Context:

• Rein­vent­ing Brain Med­i­cine, Phar­ma adopts Dig­i­tal Ther­a­peu­tics: Evi­dence-based videogames, smart­phone apps, and sensors
• Study shows how online mind­ful­ness inter­ven­tions can reduce work-relat­ed rumi­na­tion and fatigue, and improve sleep quality
• Six tips to build resilience and pre­vent brain-dam­ag­ing stress