The Controversy Over the Use of Prozac Because of Side Effects

Abstract

Prozac, also known as fluoxetine, is a new class of serotonin reuptake blocker (SSRI) oral antidepressant that works by inhibiting serotonin reuptake by the central nervous system. This drug has the advantages of wide application (depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bulimia, etc.) and relatively light side effects, so it has become a popular psychological drug in contemporary times. However, there are still many debates about the wide use of Prozac in the academic world. Some people are strongly opposed to the widespread use of Prozac as a psychological drug and argue that it has huge negative effects on patients. For example, Prozac can lead to more depression, increase the risk of suicide, increase anxiety, and doctors forget to tell patients that it doesn't work immediately and the side effects can be severe. After summarizing and analyzing several cases, the current conclusion of this article is that Prozac can cause some side effects, such as increased anxiety and diarrhea, but can be mitigated with positive cues and cognitive behavioral therapy. The research methods used in the cases from references in this paper are: open field experiment, cross elevated experiment and control variable method. The authors analyzed the experimental results and tabular data to come to their own conclusions.