is it feasible to evaluate antidepressants in animals? is there any standare procedures in evaluating thesame?
458441
My guess would be that no, you could not evaluate the efficicacy of antidepressants in animals.  This is because depression isn't something you can measure objectively and there are no lab tests you can do to see if someone (animal or human) is depressed.  Depression is more subjective or experiential, and diagnosing it relies on the patient's narrative.  Since you can't ask a rabbit how they're feeling today compared to yesterday, or if they have hope for the future, you're not going to be able to see if the drugs were effective.\n\nHowever, you probably could look at side effects alone.  You wouldn't know if it was working against the depression, but you would know if it caused any serious side effects.  But I don't like the idea of testing on animals (inhumane).
524598
First things first: I am against animal testing for cosmetic and vanity purposes. Yay for the Body Shop. I buy not-tested-on-animal shampoo etc., I'm vegetarian, and I don't wear leather.\n\nBut...\n\nI'm also a doctor. And was a lab scientist, until I decided I personally didn't like the rat killing, even though I understood the rationale. Almost *every* advance in medicine today is built on preliminary tests in animals. Dissolvable sutures? New antibiotics? Cancer treatments? Vaccines? Balloons and stents instead of open heart surgery? Heck, anti-bird-flu drugs??\n\nAll of these are tried out first in animals. Because when it comes right down to it, people are selfish. And if I personally was asked if I'd rather have something tried on me first in the world, or if I'd rather it were tried in a rat to see if it killed it - I'm sorry. I want to live. I vote to try it on the rat. And if it were a question of my child or a rat? Rat. Your child or a rat?\n\nWell, that's your call.\n\nHaving said that - yes, there are limitations to animal tests. Yes, there are some tests that can be done in cell culture, computer models, or donated cadaver tissue. But, and PETA don't point this out, there are lots that can't. I don't know if a new method for stapling the gut back together after cancer surgery (which, if it works, is vastly preferable to sutures) is going to leak and kill my patient. You can't test that in cell culture. It has to be an animal model. Or a real patient.\n\nIf you personally wish to volunteer for these tests - good for you. Perhaps we should start a website, collecting names of people who are willing to be guinea pigs, rather than using actual guinea pigs. \n\nNo, wait. That's been done. Experimenting on black men with untreated syphilis. Experimenting on condemned prisoners. Experimenting on concentration camp inmates. There have been lots of cases where humans were used as primary test subjects. I disagree with this philosophy, myself.
842963
You become tolerant of the effects so you may need a review of either dose or drug.  I had clinical depression for a number of years and was on 225mgs of amitripyline daily (a massive dose!!).  I started having Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, and over the next couple of months I felt well enough to bein a planned decrease in meds.  It took 6 months but I did it and it was the theapy which allowed it to happen.  I have not had any problems now for several years.  CBT becomes a way of life, and a way of dealing with the first signs of depression...ask to be referred for treatment.  I recommend it...;
230391
Below is the "official" answer, here is the information from one who used to suffer from depression. If you have a slight case of the blues, get the St. Johns Wort. If you have a mid to heavy case of depression..like a bone crushing, energy sapping, constantly crying life ain't no fun attitude get to a Mental Health Professional for help. If you need "instant" relief from depression only a qualified professional can direct you to a drug that can help you live a better life. Note the time table for St. Johns Wort to be effective. Can you wait the 4 to 6 weeks for relief? Only you can make that call.  Depression is NOT laziness or a sign of weakness, it's a treatable disease. I made it and so can you! \n\n\n\nSt. John's Wort is believed to combat depression by boosting the levels of certain chemical messengers in the brain. Like the prescription antidepressant Prozac, it seems to increase the amount of serotonin available to the nervous system. It also tends to promote higher levels of the chemical messengers norepinephrine and dopamine. In some clinical trials, daily doses of 800 to 900 milligrams of St. John's Wort have proven to be as effective as 20 milligrams of Prozac or 75 milligrams of the antidepressant Tofranil. \nFor depression, the typical dosage of standardized extract is 300 milligrams taken 3 times a day. The extract is available in tablet, capsule, and liquid form. Common brands are made by Celestial Seasonings, Centrum Herbals, Nature's Way, and Schiff. Strengths of commercial preparations may vary. Follow the manufacturer's labeling whenever available. \n   A treatment regimen of 4 to 6 weeks is typically recommended for depression. If you feel no improvement, check with your doctor. You may need a different therapy.
58556
Signs of Depression\n\nQ:  What are the warning signs of depression (other than "feeling sad") and what can be done about it? Also, please tell us about the herb St. John’s Wort and if it can be used to treat depression. \n\n\n\nA:  Depression, for many, is a slow, almost imperceptible process in which life, in varying degrees, begins to lose its meaning. Research demonstrates a measurable depletion of certain chemicals in the brain; this is the foundation for many of the drugs used to treat this condition. \n\nThe following are warning signs of depression and should be taken seriously if one regularly experiences them:\n\n\nDepressed mood \n\nLoss of appetite for food \n\nDifficulty sleeping or sleeping much more than usual \n\nA sense of helplessness and hopelessness \n\nThoughts about suicide \n\nLoss of interest in the activities of daily living (work, play, time with family and friends) \n\nUnusual irritability \n\nFeelings of worthlessness or inappropriate guilt \n\nDiminished ability to think or concentrate\nIf you are experiencing up to five of these symptoms for more than two weeks, this may represent a serious depressive episode. If so, see your doctor as soon as possible. Treatment may include counseling, medication, and in severe cases hospitalization. \n\nSt. John’s Wort has been historically used as a mood elevator and some research has demonstrated a positive effect on the brain chemistry of depression. In some limited studies benefits were shown like reducing anxiety and feelings of worthlessness, as well as improvements in quality of sleep. \n\nI would discourage anyone reading this from self-diagnosis and consequently running down to the health food store to arrange treatment. A depressive illness can be serious, necessitating evaluation by an objective professional. \n\n\nArticle Created: 1997-12-15\nArticle Reviewed: 2005-01-24\n\nDr. Russell Robertson is Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His biweekly column of medical advice also appears in the CNI Community Newspapers throughout metropolitan Milwaukee. \n \n \ngood luck
1041754
I've done Prozac....This is a while back when I was going through\npsych/alcohol rehab. I guess the stuff works. Thought it make me kinda wound up . I thought it gave sense of euphoria at times.\nA sensation I did not trust when I considered the circumstances.\nI stopped taking meds altogether. Told shrink(nice guy from NYC) that I thought  my best course of action would be to stay away from booze for a couple of years and then see where my head was at. Issues were being mixed up and I finally got it in my head that my main issue was alcohol.\nI had been in psych/rehab a number of times previous to that and was looking for way to be sane drunk.\nDidn't work.\nread a book called Churchills Black Dog Kafkas Mice\nhere review of book\n__\nChurchill's Black Dog\nOne of the things smart essayists do is read and ponder the writings of other essayists. Some time ago, I read a book by Anthony Storr titled Churchill's Black Dog, Kafkas's Mice & Other Phenomena of the Human Mind, in which Dr. Storr talked about the way the demons of certain historical figures become angels for the rest of us, since they impel their sufferers to rise above themselves - and we lesser mortals get taken along on their peculiar and soaring rides. He doesn't put it quite that way, but that's the idea. The principal figures he examines in some detail are Churchill, Kafka, and Newton; and since I find Churchill the most compelling, I'll recap some of Storr's essay while inserting my own thoughts and biases. \n"Black Dog" was Churchill's name for his depression, and as is true with all metaphors, it speaks volumes. The nickname implies both familiarity and an attempt at mastery, because while that dog may sink his fangs into one's person every now and then, he's still, after all, only a dog, and he can be cajoled sometimes and locked up other times.\n\nThe man was in lustrous company - Goethe, Schumann, Luther, and Tolstoy to name but a few - all of them great men who suffered from recurrent depression. Who doesn't have at least a passing familiarity with the notion that depression sometimes acts as a spur to those of a certain temperament and native ability? Aware of how low they will sink at times, they propel themselves into activity and achievements the rest of us regard with awe. \n\nStorr takes the approach that a "depressive nature" and feeling unloved goes hand in hand, and that Churchill's thinking he was unloved was a reasonable supposition, given his parents' neglect and disinterest. Step Two in Churchill's journey to leadership was compensatory, i.e., "If I can't be loved, I'll find a way to be admired." Another name for this decision is ambition, and the P.M's was apparently legendary. Ambition of such proportions is laden with fantasy - which, oddly enough, may have been exactly what was needed in that particular time, place, and circumstances. "The kind of inspiration with which Churchill sustained the nation is not based on judgment, but on an irrational conviction independent of factual reality. Only a man convinced that he had a heroic mission, who believed that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, he could yet triumph, and who could identify himself with a nation's destiny could have conveyed his inspiration to others." \n\nAnother bit of fall-out from being unloved is hostility, and in a brilliant and amusing argument, Storr suggests that never has any depressive had such a wonderful opportunity for venting his aggressiveness as did Churchill. He had an enemy worthy of the word, an unambiguous tyrant whose destruction occupied him fully and invigorated him totally year in and year out. If all depressives could battle obvious and external wickedness in this way, they'd cease being depressed. To conclude: "...in 1940, his inner world of make-believe coincided with the facts of external reality in a way which ver
497686
Euthanasia is not a drug. It´s the name of the process of putting down someone to end his/her/its suffer. Vets use a highly concentrated general anaesthetic (tipically a barbiturate derivative) that provokes a respiratory and cardiac arrest. Pets don´t feel anything at all.
412325
My best friend and boyfriend's antidepressants had one of those rare side effects on him and he ended up killing himself by sticking a knife to his throat.\n\nI found him on his kitchen floor in a pool of blood and that is pretty much the worst thing that I can think of to happen to anybody. \n\nI would never wish the sight on my worst enemy... and the only reason I can even talk about it now is because I want people to be aware that anti-depressants need to be taken responsibly! Check warning labels, read the side effects, make sure you look out for signs.
784426
I believe that testing on animals for medical reasons is an unfortunate necessity. We all want advances in science to cure terrible diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Cancer, HIV etc, and without the use of animals for this purpose we will never be able to achieve this.\nAnimal testing will continue until a new model could be found. The use of Cell and Tissue culture is used for drug testing, but medicinal drugs are not allowed on the market until animal testing has been completed. This is then backed up with human testing once the drug is deemed safe. This does fail, and people can get hurt (eg thalidomide) but without the animal testing these cases would occur more frequently. \nAlso laboratories for testing on animals have to work to highly stringent guidelines, and are frequently checked by officials that the animals are not being mistreated. In the UK at least.
515560
It is an anti-depressant. For chronic depression.
825667
My view is that if it can save a human life by killing a few dogs and cats then im all for it.\n\nIf you are talking about dogs and cats used in beauty test ... i say let humans test em, lol.\n\nok some big words coming but bear with it and keep reading.\n\nnow seriously, if you want to make a case for pro-animal test, then look up "Something the Lord Made."  It is a film about the first doctor(s) who did open heart surgery. The main doctor in the film was able to find a cure/treatment for Traumatic Shock that has saved countless lives. This procedure was tested on animals. Later this same doctor tested on animals to try and cure "Blue Babies," AKA children born with the tetrology of Ferlo (i didn't spell that one right). His procedures were once again only able to be tested on animals. This to has saved countless lives as today there are about 130,000 heart surgeries done yearly. All possible by the poineers who tested on animals first.\n\nSorry i don't remember their names out write but looking up the movie you will be able to find their names.  Your teacher might even let you use the movie as one of your sources for your essay.
193096
Yes, it depends on the what you are researching, if its animal testing then you need to consider the animal's rights, if it deals with testing drugs using patients - then you need to consider side effects and such and various legality measures for those who get involved with the study.\n\nIf you are studying or using some other researchers material or mechansim, you need to get authorisation for use of that especially if its a copyright material. If its public material - referencing this study may be sufficient.\n\nAlso the way you deal with outliers in your study, and also you need to set out your assumptions. If these are not reasonable and you proceed with a conclusion - this can be misleading to readers - as such be unethical behaviour.
863049
take these tests, it might be of some help.\nhttp://depression.about.com/cs/diagnosis/l/bldepscreenquiz.htm\nhttp://www.depression-screening.org/screeningtest/screeningtest.htm\nhttp://www.lessons4living.com/depression_test2.htm\nhttp://www.psychtests.com/tests/health/depression_access.html\ngoodluck!
1116230
Nothing to do with depression and homeopathy..Unfortunately.,if you suffer from OCD( Obssesive Compulssive Disoreder) you need to be patient and the best working SSRI antidepressants in those cases is Venflaxin..Prozak don't give satisfying results on OCD..Also of help is the Cognitive and Group Therapy..Wish you luck!!
503082
I am an alternative medicinal therapist and i can tell that if you go to the sites 'alternative medicine' then type in veterinary you should come up with what you are looking, i do know that there is a pet section, I;ve seen it.\n\nGloria(BSYA)
485817
I am not actually on any antidepressants. but since I have realized that you really need an answer I thought you may like to see the following link:\nhttp://www.depression-guide.com/nardil.htm\n\nsorry ...:(
1024962
Yes. \n\nOr if you are taking anti-depressants diarrhea can be a side effect of those.