More Info On Anxiety And Depression

Directly or indirectly, most people are affected by these problems at some point in their lives.

Worldwide, more people suffer from anxiety than any other health problem. At the same time, major depression has become the leading cause of disability around the globe.

Anxiety and depression often overlap, and are related genetically, neurologically and behaviorally. Studies have shown that human stress responses are overactive in patients with both anxiety and depression, causing damage to the brain.

More and more evidence is indicating that these are really two manifestations of one disorder. SPECT and fMRI imaging show some similarity in the brain scans of patients with some forms of both depression and anxiety.

Half of anxiety disorder sufferers also have symptoms of clinical depression. Well over 60 percent of major depressions are accompanied by varying levels and types of anxiety. In one study, 92 percent of depressed patients who had attempted suicide were also plagued by severe anxiety.

In developed countries, the number one treatments for both disorders- the medical first line of defense- are antidepressant drugs like SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors). Anti-depressant and anti-anxiety medications sell in excess of $11.7 billion worldwide, and more of these drugs are in development.

Antidepressants have long been known to work only as well as placebos. In fact, antidepressants only work for 30% to 45% of depressed patients. Furthermore, they are dangerous, as any cursory reading of the manufacturer's warnings and documented side-effects will show.

Antidepressants with the exception of Prozac have been banned in Britain for children. SSRIs such as Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, have been shown to have serious risks, and are linked to suicide, violence, psychosis, abnormal bleeding and brain tumors.  In one study Paxil was shown to be a higher cancer risk for women than smoking.

Yet over 90% of patients who complain of depression to their doctors- some 25 million a year in the U.S.- receive a prescription for an SSRI or other antidepressant medication. Adult use of antidepressants in the U.S. almost tripled between 1988-1994 and 1999-2000. Ten percent of women eighteen and older and four percent of men now take antidepressants. The United States has become the most medicated nation on earth. Britain, Australia and Canada are not far behind.

This site investigates and reviews the wealth of scientifically supported alternative treatments for anxiety and depression that are available today, as well as the research behind them.

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