Over Half Of Anti-Depressant Users
Stop Taking Them Independently

According to some Irish news sources, a new study has revealed that over half of all anti-depressant takers quit taking them independently, rather than finishing a full course. The report states that the high discontinuation rate was down to many factors, including patients feeling that they didn't need them anymore or feeling that the medication was doing them more harm than good, and the report also adds that a large portion of those who stopped had just simply forgot to keep taking them. One final note is also being added to the media reports, that half of the people were worse off after stopping the medications, and experts are saying that this is because if you don't finish a course of these drugs, depression has three times the chance of returning, than if you do. But, we should be very clear about one important thing. This report was compiled by a pharmaceutical giant, who have a vested interest in keeping people on these tablets.

September.02.2009 - George Valentine Corr, Blatant News Editor
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THE RECENT LUNDBECK REPORT
This recent report - possibly released in the past few days - was carried out by a company called Lundbeck Ireland Limited, and the big revelations include that 56% of anti-depressant users stop taking their medications mid-course, and the report concluded that 49% said that their depression returned with 29% saying that they felt worse after stopping their medications. According to the Irish Times... "Dr Jogin Thakore, consultant psychiatrist at St Vincent’s Hospital, in Fairview, Dublin, said the risk of depression recurring increased threefold if you stopped your course of medicine before it was complete", and the same newspaper is also quoting experts as saying that you need to finish a course of 6 months to a year to feel the full benefit of this type of medication. An article in the Irish Medical Times also includes some extra, and highly important, statistics. They say that... "When asked why they stopped taking their medication, 38% of those who have personally experienced depression said they felt better or didn’t need to take it anymore; 30% said they forgot to take it; 28% said they felt it was controlling them; 28% said it did not agree with them physically and 23% said it did not agree with them mentally". That is a whole heap of people who did not feel very good whilst taking these pills, but the Irish Times article seems to brush over that point for some reason, and concentrates mainly on the alleged side-effects suffered by users who independently stop taking them.

WHO ARE LUNDBECK IRELAND LIMITED?
They are part of the multi-national Lundbeck Pharmaceutical company, which is based in Denmark, and whose turnover was US$2.2bn in 2008 alone, with almost a half a billion dollars of that as profit. The vast majority of that turnover is attributed to sales of.... you guessed it, anti-depressants, and they are also heavily involved with medications for sufferers of Alzheimer's disease too. The Irish Times article also does another curious thing, it directs people to a new Lundbeck "information booklet on how to take antidepressant medication properly", which is available here (PDF, 0.3mb). I'm not sure if their reporter actually read the information booklet, all 20 pages of it, but if they did, they would have read this crucial line... "Antidepressant therapy is the most rapid treatment for depression", sold! Who wouldn't opt for them after hearing that? The Irish Times, however, have not included links to the recent report itself, and neither have Lundbeck Ireland Limited on their website, likewise it is not included in any other online publications which I have come across. If I can find out the name of this report, and where to grab it, I will add the link here, but I presume - coming from who it does - it will only surface if it is totally supportive of added anti-depressant sales. It is thought that there are close to half a million people suffering from depression at any one time in Ireland. That's a nice little market indeed.

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