ntidepressants 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.

抗抑郁药可以救命。往最好处说，抗抑郁药能起到作用。往最坏处说，它们像膏药一样，能让人们暂时性的振作直到获得谈话疗法等其它形式的帮助。但无论如何，都不应长期服用抗抑郁药。但不知是抑郁症更容易诊断还是因为我们生活在伤感年代，越来越多的人都在服用抗抑郁药，从一开始服用几周到后来的服用几个月甚至几年。在某些情况下，患者发现他们无法停药。

"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 nausea¹ whenever I lower my dose.""目前，我正尝试戒药，"一位患者对研究员说道，"说实话，这是我做过的最糟心的事情。只要降低剂量，我就会感到头晕、恶心。""The withdrawal² 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.""如果我忘记吃药，"另一位说道，"停药反应包括剧烈的震颤、产生自杀念头、感觉脑中咖啡因过多、电击、出现幻觉、强烈的情绪波动……现在我有点被困住了，因为我太过害怕而无法停药。""While there is no doubt I am better on this medication," said a third, "the adverse³ effects have been devastating⁴ when I have tried to withdraw - with 'head zaps', agitation⁵, insomnia⁶ and mood changes. This means that I do not have the option of managing the depression any other way.""虽然毫无疑问，服用抗抑郁药的确让我好了很多，"第三位患者说道，"但戒药时的不良反应着实令人崩溃--'头痛'、激动、失眠和情绪波动。这意味着我无法通过其它方式管理抑郁。"These anonymised accounts come from a report last year to the all-party parliamentary group for prescribed drug dependence⁷ and published in the journal Addictive⁸ Behaviors. They give a flavour of the reality of dependence on modern antidepressants, the SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).

英国全党议会团体一项关于处方药物依赖性的报告引用了这些匿名用户的话，这份报告发表在《成瘾行为》（Addictive Behaviors）杂志。这让人们了解到患者对现代抗抑郁药（选择性血清素再吸收抑制剂（SSRIs））依赖性的现实情况。

The most famous is Prozac, AKA fluoxetine, once portrayed⁹ as a wonder drug that would make the world rosy¹⁰ 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.

最普遍的就是百忧解，又名氟西汀，曾一度被描绘成奇迹药--让所有人都感受到世界的美好、灿烂，而且不会像安定剂及其它苯二氮卓类药物带来危险的副作用。专家表示，不仅过量服用SSRIs类药物比苯二氮卓类药物更难，而且戒掉SSRIs类药物也比苯二氮卓类药物更容易。