It’s hard to know if today’s gloomy headlines are driving more people to drugs. But medical experts say reaching for meds isn’t always a wise idea. “If you don’t need it, don’t use it,” says Glen Hanson, the acting director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Spokespeople for the companies that make Xanax and Prozac agree, saying their drugs are not indicated for everyday stress and should be taken only in consultation with a doctor.
Antidepressants and anxiety-fighting medicines were designed to treat distorted thoughts and fears that seem to come out of nowhere and interfere severely with everyday activities–with symptoms like inexplicable crying jags, and an inability to leave the house or get out of bed. That doesn’t fit the profile of most people with legitimate worries about the state of the world, or their finances. “Medicine’s job is not to prescribe at the first sign of anxiety–it is to prescribe at the first sign of disease,” says University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist Arthur Caplan. “Worrying about terrorists, war, a lousy economy and losing your job is not a disease. It’s normal.”
It’s always a matter of degree. If someone is paralyzed by fears about a terrorist attack, doctors would be more likely to prescribe drugs. But in those rare cases of extreme reaction, experts say, there is likely an underlying issue of mental health. In general, for well-adjusted people who are simply burdened with logical worries, the risk of taking drugs may outweigh the benefits. Prozac-like drugs can cause nausea, sedation and sexual dysfunction. Drugs like Xanax can cause mild amnesia and impairment of physical coordination. Some people can also become dependent on Xanax, with severe withdrawal symptoms like panic and shakiness, even seizures.
Only a patient and doctor can judge any particular case to determine whether drugs are appropriate. While they may not help people worried for weeks and months at a time about some future calamity, drugs like Xanax can be effective for occasional, short-lived episodes, like panic attacks, says University of Pennsylvania psychiatrist Karl Rickels. Pills also have different effects on different people. Xanax-like drugs work in 70 percent of patients; drugs like Prozac work in somewhat less, says Rickels. So how do we cure our worried state? Maybe we don’t. Maybe, given the realities of today’s world, learning to live with a dose of low-grade anxiety is the healthiest approach.
