Antidepressant Essay

The debate over antidepressants has waged on for over more than half a century. Two heads of the Department of Psychiatry in Washington University discovered that depression was just as much biological as it was physiological meaning that people with depression had an abnormal chemical make-up in the brain. This discovery increased the demand for research on methods to alter this abnormality effectively and efficiently. Thus antidepressants were created, sparking a psychiatric revolution. Antidepressants work by blocking the reuptake of serotonin. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for controlling human emotions. Our bodies make serotonin naturally but some particles are lost on the neuron, which is called reuptake. Antidepressants block the reuptake by placing a protein wall on the neuron, enabling a greater consumption of serotonin in the brain (Greenburg Manufacturing). From their creation, antidepressants have given people a chance to recapture the enjoyment they once, or never, had. They help people find their goals, rediscover their futures, and enjoy special moments in life that should be cherished. Antidepressants should be prescribed to individuals suffering from depression because they are simple, safe, and effective. In years prior to the development of antidepressants, depression was treated through drastic hospitalization. Hospitalization involved patients enduring painful treatments such as electrotherapy and/or a lobotomy (Richard 54). In electrotherapy, an individual is pinned down to a bed and shocked whenever a negative or suicidal thought comes to mind. A lobotomy is an unpleasant form of brain surgery that involves a surgeon using a long rod to rewire brain functions. While these forms of treatment are grueling and pose a great risk to the health of the patient, they are successful in reconstructing the chemical make-up in one’s brain, which is a necessary component in curing most forms of depression. These forms of