IS PROZAC AN EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR ANXIETY, PTSD AND OTHER DISORDERS?
Yes—if the anxiety is secondary to depression, as it often is. Evidence clearly suggests that Prozac and the other SSRIs are as effective as tricyclic antidepressants in decreasing the anxiety felt by depressed patients. It is not approved for primary anxiety disorders, which are best treated with a combination of tranquilizers and psychotherapy.
For a small percentage of patients, Prozac can increase anxiety. In clinical tests, 9.4% of the patients reported feeling anxiety as a side effect, and 14.9% complained of nervousness.
Once known as shell shock, post-traumatic stress disorder afflicts the survivors of dire catastrophes such as childhood abuse wartime battles, confinement in concentration camps, assault, rape, being in a fire, or seeing another person killed. People suffering from this syndrome feel numbed, irritable, anxious, and depressed, in part because the memory of the trauma plays over and over in their mind and is often so vivid that it may feel real for years after the event. Several reports have indicated that patients treated with Prozac show a lessening of PTSD symptoms.
In patients with PTSD, I consider psychotherapy the major treatment modality. Medications, while helpful, are secondary.
Does Prozac effectively treat disorders other than depression? In July 1993, the FDA approved Prozac for obsessive-compulsive disorder. OCD causes people to become obsessed with certain thoughts and indulge in time-consuming behaviors such as repeated hand-washing, checking and rechecking that the doors and windows are locked, counting or touching compulsively, being inordinately concerned with arranging objects in specific, often symmetrical ways, and many other irrational actions. The best treatment is behavioral therapy combined with one of die three most effective medications: Anafranil, Prozac, and Luvox.
In April 1994, the FDA also approved Prozac’s use for bulimia, a psychiatric disorder characterized by vomiting and binge eating.
How effective Is Prozac in long-term prevention of depression and other diagnostic entities?
Although a sufficient number of carefully controlled long-term scientific studies of Prozac in recurrent depression have not been completed, early scientific reports, observations, and case histories from individual psychiatrists including myself have suggested that Prozac is as effective as earlier antidepressants in preventing the reappearance of depression, which usually returns in cycles. To keep this from happening, Prozac, like the other antidepressants, must be given on a long-term basis;
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