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Antidepressants in treating depression essay
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Antidepressants in treating depression essay
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Thesis: The use and impact of drugs in Brave New World mirror the use and impact of drugs in society today.
In Brave New World, soma is a governmentally provided drug to the people living in the World State.
Soma provides a way for the characters to escape the feeling of any negative human emotion, such as jealousy, depression, pain, discomfort, anger, embarrassment, or anxiety. It causes the characters to experience the feelings of joy and well-being.
Numerous characters throughout the novel, such as Lenina, Bernard, and Linda turn to soma when they face difficult obstacles and emotions.
After witnessing the disturbing events that took place at the Savage Reservation, Lenina does not hesitate to take soma. (Lenina Example)
“Lenina felt
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herself entitled, after this day of queerness and horror, to a complete and absolute holiday. As soon as they got back to the rest-house, she swallowed six half-gramme tablets of soma, lay down on her bed, and within ten minutes had embarked for lunar eternity. It would be eighteen hours at the least before she was in time again” (Huxley 140). Bernard turns to soma after the Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury insults him. (Bernard Example) “Bernard was all alone. Punctured, utterly deflated, he dropped into a chair and, covering his face with his hands, began to weep. A few minutes later, however, he thought better of it and took four tablets of soma” (Huxley 176). After returning to civilization, Linda decides to live off of soma. (Linda Example) “So the best people were quite determined not to see Linda. And Linda, for her part, had no desire to see them. The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting, without ever being made to feel as you always felt after peyotl, as though you’d done something so shamefully anti-social that you could never hold up your head again” (Huxley 153-154). The World State distributes soma to the individuals in numerous ways. “The dedicated soma tablets were placed in the centre of the table” (Huxley 80). “The loving cup of strawberry ice cream soma was passed from hand to hand and, with the formula, ‘I drink to my annihilation,’ twelve times quaffed“ (Huxley 80).
In society today, antidepressants are very similar to soma in Brave New World. Both soma and antidepressants take the same approach of trying to improve one’s mood.
People take antidepressants when they are suffering from depression which is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. [6]
Although antidepressant drugs increase steorin levels in the brain, there are other factors that contribute to depression. The biological factors that contribute to depression are “inflammation, elevated stress hormones, immune system suppression, abnormal activity in certain parts of the brain, nutritional deficiencies, and shrinking brain cells. Social and psychological factors—such as loneliness, lack of exercise, poor diet, and low self-esteem—also play an enormous role” (Melinda Smith, M.A., Lawrence Robinson, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D.).
Antidepressants not only have positvive effects, but they also have negative ones. [2]
The short-term effects include: sleeping problems, nausea and dizziness. Long-term antidepressant use may lead to an icreased risk of Type 2 Diabetes.
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[8] The safest and most effective antidepressants available today are the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs).SSRIs include: Celexa, Lexapro, Luvox, Paxil, Prozac, & Zoloft.
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“SSRIs are also used for generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and bulimia nervosa (only fluoxetine). Usually, results come in two to 12 weeks depending on the condition and severity of symptoms” (Pendleton James).
SSRIs are available in oral tablet forms. [5]
In Brave New World, those raised in civilization perceive soma differently than those who were not raised in civilization.
Those raised in civilization, such as Bernard, Lenina, Linda, and Helmholtz, are conditioned to take soma.
“Evil’s an unreality if you take a couple of grammes” (Huxley 251).
“Lenina shook her head. ‘Was and will make me ill,’ she quoted, ‘I take a gramme and only am’” (Huxley 104).
Those who were not raised in civilization, such as John the Savage, refused and despised soma.
At the Park Lane Hospital for the Dying, John yells at the Deltas for taking their rations of soma. He tells them that it is a poison meant to enslave them, and he asks them to choose freedom.
“‘Don’t take that horrible stuff. It’s poison, it’s poison’” (Huxley
211). “‘I come to bring you freedom,’” (Huxley 211)
Treating depressive and bipolar disorders with antidepressants remains a popular option in clinical practice. Most clinicians choose the drug or class of drugs, usually selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, SSRI's, that is most effective and best tolerated with fewer severe side effects. These drugs are beneficial because they specifically target serotonin-based areas of the brain without affecting other neurotransmitter systems. SSRI's largely replaced tricyclic antidepressants which work by blocking the absorption (reuptake) of the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine, thereby increasing the levels of these two neurotransmitters in the brain. Tricyclic antidepressants present severe side effects and thus are usually only used when other treatments have failed. If SSRI's or tricyclics are not effective Monoamine oxidase inhibitors may be prescribed. MAOI's, enhance tyramine to increase norepinephrine and serotonin. While taking MAOI's you must abstain from foods and alcohol that contain tyramine such as, yogurt, aged cheese, and substances such as cold medications. This is because a potential toxic reaction could occur. Additionally, other antidepressants may be utilized such as Wellbutrin (bupropion) an NDRI-
All these “wrongs” to John, were making him upset. John tried to give the hospital workers freedom. He threw away their soma, and made them more upset. The workers rioted against John, and he realized he could not change society. John argued with the Mustapha Mond about the way society was, but it seemed Mond had a response to everything. John decided to indulge himself in the Brave New World’s lifestyle. John tried sex, and soma, and enjoyed it. John knew he had sinned to his own religion, and he felt so wrong, that he murdered himself.
Drug in the American Society is a book written by Eric Goode. This book, as the title indicates, is about drugs in the American Society. It is especially about the misuse of most drugs, licit or illicit, such us alcohol, marijuana and more. The author wrote this book to give an explanation of the use of different drugs. He wrote a first edition and decided to write this second edition due to critic and also as he mentioned in the preface “there are several reason for these changes. First, the reality of the drug scene has changed substantially in the past dozen or so years. Second much more information has been accumulated about drug use. And third, I’m not the same person I was in 1972.”(vii). The main idea of this book is to inform readers about drugs and their reality. In the book, Goode argued that the effect of a drug is dependent on the societal context in which it is taken. Thus, in one society a particular drug may be a depressant, and in another it may be a stimulant.
Antidepressant are a form of pharmacotherapy treatment developed to treat the symptoms of major depression. Antidepressants are used for many other types of conditions including anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, dysthymia, eating disorders, sleeping disorders, and substance abuse, pain syndromes, gastrointestional disorders. Antidepressants usually require several weeks to notice significant effects. There are no antidepressants or any medication that is completely free of adverse effects. This article explains that the adverse effects of antidepressant can decrease compliance and slow down the rate of recovery. It is important for one to take note of potential side-effects before choosing the best antidepressant to suit their personalized needs. Statistics show that about 28 percent of patients sto...
Antidepressants are FDA approved drugs given to patients to alleviate symptoms, most commonly anxiety and depression. There are many people who are skeptical about the use of these drugs and if they really work as a benefit toward the people taking them. There are many pros to taking the medications, but there are also cons. This is why users of these drugs have to be aware of the side effects in order to get the full use of the medicine. Research shows that the benefits of antidepressants outweigh the negative long term effects, but only if they are taken in moderation.
Depression is a mental illness, which affects millions of Americans each year. Currently there are many prescription drugs, called anti-depressants that have been proven to successfully treat it. The causes of depression are somewhat of a medical enigma, however, it is known that depression is associated with a change in the brains chemistry involving the function of neurotransmitters (Reichert). This chemical change occurs in healthy brain’s, which experience sadness, but ends after the unpleasant stimulus is removed. In people suffering from depression this chemical change does not correspond to any particular stimulus. Symptoms of depression are often incapacitating and include severe and extended sadness, feelings of worthlessness, feelings of emptiness, irritability and anxiety (Reichert, Spake).
Drugs are used to escape the real and move into the surreal world of one’s own imaginations, where the pain is gone and one believes one can be happy. People look on their life, their world, their own reality, and feel sickened by the uncaringly blunt vision. Those too weak to stand up to this hard life seek their escape. They believe this escape may be found in chemicals that can alter the mind, placing a delusional peace in the place of their own depression: “Euphoric, narcotic, pleasantly halucinant,” (52). They do this with alcohol, acid, crack, cocaine, heroine, opium, even marijuana for the commoner economy. These people would rather hide behind the haze than deal with real problems. “...A gramme is better than a damn.” (55).
There are two levels of participation within The Crying of Lot 49: that of the characters, such as Oedipa Maas, whose world is limited to the text, and that of the reader, who looks at the world from outside it but who is also affected the world created by the text.3 Both the reader and the characters have the same problems observing the chaos around them. The protagonist in The Crying of Lot 49, Oedipa Mass, like the reader, is forced to either involve herself in the deciphering of clues or not participate at all.4
Soma and its many distracting uses are all directed to Huxley’s view on the future through symbolism. Soma is a drug issued by the World Society as implementation of a totalitarian omniscient government’s plan to dictate citizens through the absolute ideology that there is no need for god and sex is great. Through this mind control, deleting suffering, therefore an need for a higher being to seek help, the government can and will have full access over its citizens’ minds and decisions.
The war on drugs in our culture is a continuous action that is swiftly lessening our society. This has been going on for roughly 10-15 years and has yet to slow down in any way. Drugs continue to be a problem for the obvious reason that certain people abuse them in a way that can lead to ultimate harm on such a person. These drugs do not just consist of street drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy), but prescription medications as well. Although there are some instances where drugs are being used by subjects excessively, there has been medical research to prove that some of these drugs have made a successful impact on certain disorders and diseases.
”(Spark Notes) Mond tells John that if there are no losses than there is no need for religion and soma prevents losses. Soma is “Christianity without tears” (“Brave New World”) Soma, is used to block out thoughts of individuality and to haze the past. In a “Brave New World” John is so unpleased with the absence of religion or spirituality and individuality, so in order to find a way out he inflicts pain on himself just to feel something.
Drug abuse has changed over the years due to the trends that Americans face from the encouragement of different cultures. The abuse of substances creates many health problems. The following will discuss the past and current trends of drug use and the effects these drugs have on the health of the individuals who abuse the drugs.
"Fresh Challenge Against Drug Abuse." allAfrica.com 11 Apr. 2011 , NEWS: NewsBank. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Introduction: For my research project I would like to explore the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs. Antidepressant drugs are used are used to treat major depression and other conditions, some of which include anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, chronic pain and other disorders. Around the world antidepressants are used to cure these types of mental illnesses. It is argued by both medical professionals and other people whether or not they believe that antidepressants work. According to Mayo Clinic one in ten Americans take an antidepressant. Today, antidepressants have became the most common way around the world to treat major depression
The use of drugs is a controversial topic in society today. In general, addicts show a direct link between taking drugs and suffering from their effects. People abuse drugs for a wide variety of reasons. In most cases, the use of drugs will serve a type of purpose or will give some kind of reward. These reasons for use will differ with different kinds of drugs. Various reasons for using the substance can be pain relief, depression, anxiety and weariness, acceptance into a peer group, religion, and much more. Although reasons for using may vary for each individual, it is known by all that consequences of the abuse do exist. It is only further down the line when the effects of using can be seen.