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Anti-Depressants Used Against StarCraft Addiction
dotarray writes "Hope may be at hand for the poor souls addicted to video games. Recent research from South Korea has shown that a common anti-depressant, Bupropion (sold as Welbutrin, Zyban and Voxra) can 'decrease craving for Internet game play' as well as the brain activity triggered by video game cues. This is a drug often used to help quit smoking, to lose weight or to recover from drug addiction, in addition to typical anti-depressant and anti-anxiety uses. And, with Korean scientists already on-board, how better to test this theory than to gather up a bunch of StarCraft players?"
Cocaine is an excellent anti-depressant. Prozac and similar are Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors... Cocaine is a Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor. Not selective, and damn powerful.
There's a world of difference between addicted and dependent. If you're using it for short-term off-label usage to kick an addiction (like smoking), you're unlikely to become dependent.
However, if you've got a wildly varying or raging depression going on, you're quite likely to become dependent, including physical dependency. (See SSRI discontinuation syndrome)
I don't think you can get addicted to anti-depressants.
Oh my, no.
I have a pal who forgot to take his Zoloft with him on vacation. The three days it took to refill his prescription were, according to him, horrible. He didn't suddenly get depressed--he got vertigo and his skin felt itchy and prickly. No fun at all.
When he finally came off the Zoloft, he had to be weaned off it, a little at a time. It look months IIRC.
If that's not physical addiction, I don't know what is.
Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
"Zoloft shock" is not the same as an addiction. If you decrease your dose over time, you wean yourself off of it. A precipitous drop in Zoloft messes with your brain chemistry, it's not the same as a withdrawal craving.