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5. Rebound Syndrome: When Drug Treatments Fail

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Shyness
This chapter is in the book Shyness
5REBOUND SYNDROME: WHEN DRUG TREATMENTS FAILRobert Spitzer’s task forces paved the way for the drug companies,creating seven new anxiety disorders that supposedly required medical at-tention. But the drugs approved to treat these disorders turned out to beas indiscriminate in their effects as Spitzer’s colleagues were in their initialjudgments.By failing to distinguish clearly between shyness and social anxiety dis-order, the task forces made every anxiety reaction fair game for medical at-tention. They lumped together routine traits that do not belong in a man-ual of mental disorders. And they quietly ignored the fact that shyness wasonce thought a positive characteristic, whereas anxiety can be a rational,even necessary, response to stress. Ironically, the drug the fdalicensed totreat social anxiety disorder, Paxil, is similarly all-inclusive, often blanket-ing the nervous system so completely it prevents the brain and nervous sys-tem from distinguishing between routine stress and chronic anxiety. Theresult is all manner of health risks that GlaxoSmithKline (gsk) now reluc-tantly acknowledges. Paxil’s side effects also explain why a substantialnumber of patients (16.1 to 20 percent) discontinue treatment after severalmonths and why, after doing so, they often feel worse than before.1The hasty, overmedicated handling of anxiety is a direct result of DSM-IIIand the large number of new disorders it created. But an alarming med-ical problem now faces many patients taking Paxil, in particular. Doctorscall it “rebound syndrome,” because its symptoms—which stem from dis-continuing drug treatment—can have a boomerang effect more intense139
© Yale University Press, New Haven

5REBOUND SYNDROME: WHEN DRUG TREATMENTS FAILRobert Spitzer’s task forces paved the way for the drug companies,creating seven new anxiety disorders that supposedly required medical at-tention. But the drugs approved to treat these disorders turned out to beas indiscriminate in their effects as Spitzer’s colleagues were in their initialjudgments.By failing to distinguish clearly between shyness and social anxiety dis-order, the task forces made every anxiety reaction fair game for medical at-tention. They lumped together routine traits that do not belong in a man-ual of mental disorders. And they quietly ignored the fact that shyness wasonce thought a positive characteristic, whereas anxiety can be a rational,even necessary, response to stress. Ironically, the drug the fdalicensed totreat social anxiety disorder, Paxil, is similarly all-inclusive, often blanket-ing the nervous system so completely it prevents the brain and nervous sys-tem from distinguishing between routine stress and chronic anxiety. Theresult is all manner of health risks that GlaxoSmithKline (gsk) now reluc-tantly acknowledges. Paxil’s side effects also explain why a substantialnumber of patients (16.1 to 20 percent) discontinue treatment after severalmonths and why, after doing so, they often feel worse than before.1The hasty, overmedicated handling of anxiety is a direct result of DSM-IIIand the large number of new disorders it created. But an alarming med-ical problem now faces many patients taking Paxil, in particular. Doctorscall it “rebound syndrome,” because its symptoms—which stem from dis-continuing drug treatment—can have a boomerang effect more intense139
© Yale University Press, New Haven

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Introduction: Bashful No More 1
  4. 1. The Hundred Years’ War over Anxiety 11
  5. 2. The Diagnostic Battles: Emotions Become Pathologies 39
  6. 3. A Decisive Victory: Shyness Becomes an Illness 71
  7. 4. Direct to Consumer: Now Sell the Disease! 104
  8. 5. Rebound Syndrome: When Drug Treatments Fail 139
  9. 6. A Backlash Forms: Prozac Nation Rebels 169
  10. 7. Fear of Others in an Anxious Age 194
  11. Notes 213
  12. Acknowledgments 249
  13. Index 253
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https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300150285-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Introduction: Bashful No More 1
  4. 1. The Hundred Years’ War over Anxiety 11
  5. 2. The Diagnostic Battles: Emotions Become Pathologies 39
  6. 3. A Decisive Victory: Shyness Becomes an Illness 71
  7. 4. Direct to Consumer: Now Sell the Disease! 104
  8. 5. Rebound Syndrome: When Drug Treatments Fail 139
  9. 6. A Backlash Forms: Prozac Nation Rebels 169
  10. 7. Fear of Others in an Anxious Age 194
  11. Notes 213
  12. Acknowledgments 249
  13. Index 253
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