terest or pleasure in activities once enjoyed.3. Changes in weight or appetite.4. Changes in sleeping pattern.5. Feeling Guilty, hopeless or worthless.6. Inability to concentrate, remember things, or makes decisions.7. Fatigue or loss of energy.8. Restlessness or decreased activity noticed by others.9. Thoughts of suicide or death.Dr. Brian K. Martin, President of the Mental Health Association of Hawaii, recommends that anyone who has suffered five or more of these symptoms for two weeks or longer see a doctor (7). Nationally, the Mental Health Association estimates that only one-third of those suffering from depression actually seek help. Most are restrained, according to the association, "by fear, lack of knowledge, misinformation, and stigma." Depression is also the leading cause of suicide. It is estimated that 15 percent of seriously depressed people take their own lives (7).The cons of ProzacHistorically, the use of drugs as fixers of the world's private ills has run into serious, if unanticipated, snags. At the turn of the century, the medical community thought that Cocaine was a completely appropriate, nonaddictive drug, and widely prescribed it. In the 1950s and '60s, first barbiturates and then amphetimines were recommended for various psychological ailments. It is now known that each of these drugs came with significant risks. So what yet-to-be-imparted knowledge may cause science, once again, to admit sheepishly that the exuberance over Prozac was somewhat premature, if not wholly overblown?Possibly, the biggest argument against this drug is merely the fact that it is prescribed for just about anything. It is estimated that it brought in over 1 billion dollars last year to Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company that brought us this wonder drug about ten years ago. It is prescribed for everything from eating disorders to panic to helping with premenstrual syndrome (PMS). David Dolan, Clinical director of one of the p...
