有沒有戒掉抗抑鬱藥的好方法?

Antidepressants can save lives. At best, they work. At worst, they are a sticking plaster, hopefully enabling people to hold it all together until they get other help in the form of talking therapies. Either way, they are not supposed to be long-term medication. But whether depression is now better diagnosed or we live in sad times, more and more people are taking the pills and the weeks extend into months and years. In some cases, the users find they can't stop.

抗抑鬱藥可以救命。往最好處說，抗抑鬱藥能起到作用。往最壞處說，它們像膏藥一樣，能讓人們暫時性的振作直到獲得談話療法等其它形式的幫助。但無論如何，都不應長期服用抗抑鬱藥。但不知是抑鬱症更容易診斷還是因爲我們生活在傷感年代，越來越多的人都在服用抗抑鬱藥，從一開始服用幾周到後來的服用幾個月甚至幾年。在某些情況下，患者發現他們無法停藥。

"I am currently trying to wean myself off," one told researchers, "which honestly is the most awful thing I have ever done. I have horrible dizzy spells and nausea whenever I lower my dose."

"目前，我正嘗試戒藥，"一位患者對研究員說道，"說實話，這是我做過的最糟心的事情。只要降低劑量，我就會感到頭暈、噁心。"

"The withdrawal effects if I forget to take my pill," another reported, "are severe shakes, suicidal thoughts, a feeling of too much caffeine in my brain, electric shocks, hallucinations, insane mood swings … Kinda stuck on them now cos I'm too scared to come off."

"如果我忘記吃藥，"另一位說道，"停藥反應包括劇烈的震顫、產生自殺念頭、感覺腦中咖啡因過多、電擊、出現幻覺、強烈的情緒波動……現在我有點被困住了，因爲我太過害怕而無法停藥。"

"While there is no doubt I am better on this medication," said a third, "the adverse effects have been devastating when I have tried to withdraw - with 'head zaps', agitation, insomnia and mood changes. This means that I do not have the option of managing the depression any other way."

"雖然毫無疑問，服用抗抑鬱藥的確讓我好了很多，"第三位患者說道，"但戒藥時的不良反應着實令人崩潰--'頭痛'、激動、失眠和情緒波動。這意味着我無法通過其它方式管理抑鬱。"

These anonymised accounts come from a report last year to the all-party parliamentary group for prescribed drug dependence and published in the journal Addictive Behaviors. They give a flavour of the reality of dependence on modern antidepressants, the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

英國全黨議會團體一項關於處方藥物依賴性的報告引用了這些匿名用戶的話，這份報告發表在《成癮行爲》（Addictive Behaviors）雜誌。這讓人們瞭解到患者對現代抗抑鬱藥（選擇性血清素再吸收抑制劑（SSRIs））依賴性的現實情況。

The most famous is Prozac, AKA fluoxetine, once portrayed as a wonder drug that would make the world rosy and shiny again for all of us, without the dangerous dark side of Valium and the rest of the benzodiazepines. Not only was it harder to overdose on SSRIs than on "benzos", the experts said; it was also easier to come off them.

最普遍的就是百憂解，又名氟西汀，曾一度被描繪成奇蹟藥--讓所有人都感受到世界的美好、燦爛，而且不會像安定劑及其它苯二氮卓類藥物帶來危險的副作用。專家表示，不僅過量服用SSRIs類藥物比苯二氮卓類藥物更難，而且戒掉SSRIs類藥物也比苯二氮卓類藥物更容易。