SSRI effect on AS symptoms

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I hate SSRI's....

Everyone I know that started taking them is not themselves anymore, they are without life. I'd rather be dead when take an SSRI lol.

Try ST John's Wort.

It's natural and it works for anxiety/depression, doesn't kill your libido and turn you into a fake shadow of yourself.

The active compound in St. John's Wort is an SSRI.

Criticism
See also: Biopsychiatry controversy and Biological psychiatry
In late 2004 media attention was given to a proposed link between SSRI use and juvenile suicide. For this reason, the use of SSRIs in pediatric cases of depression is now recognized by the United States FDA as warranting a cautionary statement to the parents of children who may be prescribed SSRIs by a family doctor. The FDA's currently required packaging insert for SSRIs includes a warning (known as a "black box warning") that a pooled analysis of placebo controlled trials of 9 antidepressant drugs (including multiple SSRIs) resulted in a risk of suicidality that was twice that of placebo. At the same time, in adults SSRIs do not increase the risk of suicide.[63]

Critics of SSRIs claim that the widely-disseminated television and print advertising of SSRIs promotes an inaccurate message, oversimplifying what these medications actually do and deceiving the public.[64]

The criticism stems from questions about the validity of claims that SSRIs work by 'correcting' chemical imbalances. Without accurately measuring patients' neurotransmitter levels to allow for continuous monitoring during treatment, it is impossible to know if one is correctly targeting a deficient neurotransmitter (i.e. correcting an imbalance), reaching a desirable level, or even introducing too much of a particular neurotransmitter. Thus it has been argued that SSRIs can actually cause chemical imbalances and abnormal brain states. Hence it is purported that when a patient discontinues an SSRI, they may have a chemical imbalance due to the rapid cessation of the drug which is causing the discontinuation syndrome.[65]

One possible mechanism is by inhibition of dopaminergic neurotransmission.[66]

Biopsychiatrists believe that, among other factors, the balance of neurotransmitters in the brain is a biological regulator of mental health. In this theory, emotions within a "normal" spectrum reflect a proper balance of neurochemicals, but abnormally extreme emotions, such as clinical depression, reflect an imbalance. Psychiatrists claim that medications regulate neurotransmitters, and many if not most psychiatrists also claim they treat abnormal personalities by removing a neurochemical excess or replenishing a deficit (though the efficacy of antidepressants and antipsychotics is not undisputed[67]). On the other hand, Elliot Valenstein, a psychologist and neuroscientist, claims that the broad biochemical assertions and assumptions of mainstream psychiatry are not supported by evidence.[68]

One controversial critic of antidepressants, Peter Breggin, a physician who opposes the overuse of prescription medications to treat patients for mental health issues, predicted iatrogenic issues that SSRIs incur on a significant percentage of patients. Another prominent SSRI critic is David Healy.

A widely-reported meta-analysis combined 35 clinical trials submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before licensing of four newer antidepressants (including the SSRIs paroxetine and fluoxetine, and two non-SSRI antidepressants nefazodone and venlafaxine). The authors found that although the antidepressants were statistically superior to placebo they did not exceed the NICE criteria for a 'clinically significant' effect. In particular they found that the effect size was very small for moderate depression but increased with severity reaching 'clinical significance' for very severe depression. The relationship between severity and efficacy was attributed to a reduction of the placebo effect in severely depressed patients, rather than an increase in the effect of the medication.[69] [70] [71] [72] [73] [74]

A study in the New England Journal of Medicine on a possible publication bias regarding the efficacy of SSRI medications in the treatment of depression suggests that their effectiveness and risk-benefit ratios may be greatly exaggerated. Of 74 studies registered with the United States FDA, 37 with positive results were published in academic journals, while 22 studies with negative results were not published and 11 with negative results were published in a way that conveyed a positive outcome (one positive study was not published and three negative studies were published with results that were portrayed as negative). Overall, 94% of studies actually published were positive outcomes; when published and unpublished studies were included for analysis, the percentage of positive outcomes was 51%.[75]

According to Sharav (2004), the Food and Drug Administration produced two Acts: The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 and extended version of Better Pharmaceuticals for Children Act of 2002. In these acts, sizable financial incentives and patent extensions were given to companies who performed drug research on children. Specialists in trials earned over a million a year. In addition, regardless of laws and acts stating unethical to do so, physicians still received 2-5 thousand dollars for each child referred to trials. Since these Acts, child research participants grew from 16,000 in 1997 to 45,000 in 2001. Adverse side effects often times remain unreported. In Pfizer (1996) clinical study on sertraline (Zoloft), 9% of the children tested attempted suicide (as cited in Sharav). One of those cases mutilated himself before his attempt; however, the published report said, "Sertraline was well tolerated by both child and adolescent patients" (as cited in Sharav).

AUTISM: THE CINGULATE STRIKES AGAIN

The second subgroup of OC spectrum disorders, those involving neurologic diagnoses, is represented by autism, which is characterized by striking social deficits, speech and language problems, and—of relevance here—repetitive behaviors and a narrow range of interests. "We think of this disorder as having multiple, different genetic components, each coding for a different symptom dimension," Dr. Hollander said.

There does appear to be a substantial genetic component to the OC symptoms in autism. First-degree family members of autistic individuals have high rates of OCD, and they often have subtle social deficits and language problems, Dr. Hollander noted. Rates of OCD and OC symptoms are highest among first-degree relatives of autistic probands with severe repetitive behaviors.

In crossover trials comparing fluoxetine and placebo, the SSRI was effective in reducing global autism severity; the improvements may have been due to reductions in repetitive behavior and perhaps impulsive/aggressive symptoms. Individuals with the greatest metabolic activity in anterior inferior regions of the cingulate had the most severe repetitive behaviors, but also the best response to fluoxetine, "so again anterior cingulate activity may be a predictor of SSRI response across different disorders," Dr. Hollander said.

The active compound in St. John's Wort is an SSRI.

with me, its love hate, love how it stops my OCD, hate how it screws up my libido and causes me to become depressed.