The issue with mental health and medications is that different root causes can create different symptoms in different people, and different medications have different effects in different people. The understanding of what those root causes even are is very limited, let alone trying to figure out what the root causes are in a specific person.
We know that certain medications have certain effects on symptoms, generally speaking, but identifying which one, at which dose, suits that specific person with a collection of reported symptoms that look like depression or anxiety or whatever, often in combination, is trial and error.
Of course, in the US, where healthcare is “fuck you, I got mine,” cost does also play a role. Shouldn’t, but does. Another thing to take into account is what other medications you’re taking, and whether they interact poorly with one another.
Sertraline is the generic for Zoloft, and it’s been FDA-approved since 1991. That’s a good long time, and if you’re going to prescribe an SSRI, it makes sense to give more weight to something that has a long history, for the sake of both effectiveness and side effects.
The issue with mental health and medications is that different root causes can create different symptoms in different people, and different medications have different effects in different people. The understanding of what those root causes even are is very limited, let alone trying to figure out what the root causes are in a specific person.
We know that certain medications have certain effects on symptoms, generally speaking, but identifying which one, at which dose, suits that specific person with a collection of reported symptoms that look like depression or anxiety or whatever, often in combination, is trial and error.
Of course, in the US, where healthcare is “fuck you, I got mine,” cost does also play a role. Shouldn’t, but does. Another thing to take into account is what other medications you’re taking, and whether they interact poorly with one another.
Sertraline is the generic for Zoloft, and it’s been FDA-approved since 1991. That’s a good long time, and if you’re going to prescribe an SSRI, it makes sense to give more weight to something that has a long history, for the sake of both effectiveness and side effects.