RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL USE OF ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN THE REGION OF TETOVO
Driton SELMANI, Bekim ISMAILI, Ismail SAIDI, Nexhibe NUHII, Qahil IBRAHIMI, Agnesa EMURLI, Elona EMURLI, Afrim ALIU
Abstract
The main purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the attitudes and practices of using antidepressants, herbal products for the treatment of depression, as well as raising awareness about the use of antidepressants among respondents in Tetovo and the surrounding area. The target population randomly selected for the study was females and males aged 18 to 57 years.
The study was conducted through the survey process with the Google Questionnaire platform.
The vast majority of respondents used antidepressant with a doctor's recommendation with a figure of 71%, where the majority of antidepressant users were female, while 29% used antidepressant without a doctor's recommendation.
As pharmaceutical preparations most often used benzodiazepines for the treatment of depression which since these results as a recommendation should be taken to raise awareness of the population for the treatment of depression and not only for its simultaneous treatment.
Regarding the period of use of antidepressants without a doctor's recommendation according to the patient's need is very large from the study done and measures should be taken to raise awareness among the population not to use at all without a doctor's recommendation and if used follow the instructions given by the doctor.
The number of users of herbal products is very small and disturbing as most individuals choose to use benzodiazepines to manage their distressing symptoms and from this we can recommend raising awareness by pharmacists to patients when purchasing products and done a clarification on the use of herbal products as an alternative.
From the study, the majority of respondents think that the use of antidepressants as needed has been effective and that they are aware of the side effects of use, which should result in a massive awareness of the population including doctors, pharmacists and patients about the use of antidepressants.
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