有沒有戒掉抗抑郁藥的好方法?

Antidepressants can save lives. At best, they work. At worst, they are a sticking plaster, hopefullyenabling people to hold it all together until they getother help in the form of talking therapies. Eitherway, they are not supposed to be long-termmedication. But whether depression is now betterdiagnosed or we live in sad times, more and morepeople are taking the pills and the weeks extendinto months and years. In some cases, the users findthey can't stop.

抗抑郁藥可以救命。往最好處說，抗抑郁藥能起到作用。往最壞處說，它們像膏藥一樣，能讓人們暫時性的振作直到獲得談話療法等其它形式的幫助。但無論如何，都不應長期服用抗抑郁藥。但不知是抑郁癥更容易診斷還是因為我們生活在傷感年代，越來越多的人都在服用抗抑郁藥，從一開始服用幾周到后來的服用幾個月甚至幾年。在某些情況下，患者發(fā)現他們無法停藥。

"I am currently trying to wean myself off," one told researchers, "which honestly is the mostawful thing I have ever done. I have horrible dizzy spells and nausea whenever I lower mydose."

"目前，我正嘗試戒藥，"一位患者對研究員說道，"說實話，這是我做過的最糟心的事情。只要降低劑量，我就會感到頭暈、惡心。"

"The withdrawal effects if I forget to take my pill," another reported, "are severe shakes, suicidal thoughts, a feeling of too much caffeine in my brain, electric shocks, hallucinations, insane mood swings … Kinda stuck on them now cos I'm too scared to come off."

"如果我忘記吃藥，"另一位說道，"停藥反應包括劇烈的震顫、產生自殺念頭、感覺腦中咖啡因過多、電擊、出現幻覺、強烈的情緒波動……現在我有點被困住了，因為我太過害怕而無法停藥。"

 

 

"While there is no doubt I am better on this medication," said a third, "the adverse effectshave been devastating when I have tried to withdraw - with 'head zaps', agitation, insomnia and mood changes. This means that I do not have the option of managing thedepression any other way."

"雖然毫無疑問，服用抗抑郁藥的確讓我好了很多，"第三位患者說道，"但戒藥時的不良反應著實令人崩潰--'頭痛'、激動、失眠和情緒波動。這意味著我無法通過其它方式管理抑郁。"

These anonymised accounts come from a report last year to the all-party parliamentary groupfor prescribed drug dependence and published in the journal Addictive Behaviors. They give aflavour of the reality of dependence on modern antidepressants, the SSRIs (selectiveserotonin reuptake inhibitors).

英國全黨議會團體一項關于處方藥物依賴性的報告引用了這些匿名用戶的話，這份報告發(fā)表在《成癮行為》(Addictive Behaviors)雜志。這讓人們了解到患者對現代抗抑郁藥(選擇性血清素再吸收抑制劑(SSRIs))依賴性的現實情況。

The most famous is Prozac, AKA fluoxetine, once portrayed as a wonder drug that would makethe world rosy and shiny again for all of us, without the dangerous dark side of Valium and therest of the benzodiazepines. Not only was it harder to overdose on SSRIs than on "benzos", the experts said; it was also easier to come off them.

最普遍的就是百憂解，又名氟西汀，曾一度被描繪成奇跡藥--讓所有人都感受到世界的美好、燦爛，而且不會像安定劑及其它苯二氮卓類藥物帶來危險的副作用。專家表示，不僅過量服用SSRIs類藥物比苯二氮卓類藥物更難，而且戒掉SSRIs類藥物也比苯二氮卓類藥物更容易。