PROZAC+2

= Prozac =   "In the 1960s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal." ~Author Unknown 

Introduction:
===In Aldous Huxley’s __Brave New World __, all the people living in the world state took a drug called soma in order to make them feel good all the time. Similarly, people in modern society take Prozac in order to deal with depression and make themselves feel better. However, unlike the __Brave New World __’s perfected drug, many of the medication being prescribed to people in today’s world have various side effects. How dependent will people become on Prozac? What risks are people willing to take in order to maintain happiness? (Kim 09). ===

What is it?:

 * Prozac is an example of a new class of drugs used to treat depression and other emotional problems.
 * Its chemical name is fluoxetine.
 * Prozac works as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
 * This means that the drug increases the amount of serotonin able to connect with the nerve receptor. Serotonin is the neuron that makes people feel happy.
 * It affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and is used to treat...[[image:prozac-button-712765.jpg align="right"]]
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">major depression
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">panic
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">anxiety
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">decreased interest in activities
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">changes in appetite (bulimia nervosa)
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">changes in sleep
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">loss of energy
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">feeling worthless/hopeless
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">difficulty concentrating
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">obsessive-compulsive disorder
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">thoughts of death (suicidal thinking)
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">Prozac was released in 1987 and it became the most popular antidepressant in the United States
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">14 million Americans have used Prozac so far

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Pros:

 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 42, 255);">4/5 of adolescents improve greatly after being severely depressed if they take medication, such as Prozac, and mix it with cognitive therapy (Elias).
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 42, 255);">People that have been able to get their life back on track after taking the right medication and doses of prozac (Elias).

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Cons:
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">The Food and Drug Administration ordered "black box" warnings for antidepressants in 2004, saying the drugs slightly increased the risk of suicidal behavior in children
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">In 2007, 233 million people were prescribed Prozac, making it the most prescribed medicine in the United States
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">There are more psychiatric
 * <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">If someone on Prozac comes off the drug too quickly, when they are not fully better, the feelings of depression will come back very quickly along with withdrawal symptoms.



<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Links:
[|Depression Lifts sooner with medication/therapy regiment] <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> This article states that a mixture of therapy and antidepressants is able to help depressed teenagers 80% of the time [|Prozac boy murders father]<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> A general practitioner prescribed 15 year-old, Edward Belben, anti-depressants after he was diagnosed with depression. The side effects of the anti-depressants linked to cases of violence and suicide. [|Drugged Up Nation] <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> This article discusses the over-prescription of Prozac and other psychiatric drugs in America [|Happy Ever After Prozac?] <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"> This article explains the struggles and potential dangers patients prescribed to Prozac, who depend and rely on this drug, that are trying to come off and stop taking it.

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<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">RSS Feeds:
New York Times rss url="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/prozac_drug/index.html" link="true" number="10"

<span style="color: rgb(128, 0, 128);">Media:
media type="file" key="Drugs_that_Treat_Depression.asf" This video is a Discovery Channel documentation on prozac. It talks about prozac's effectiveness in treating depression and the pros and cons of taking medication.