The Emerging Area Of Cosmetic Pharmacology

There is a recently growing development in the field of psychiatry that not everyone likes. Like numerous other trends that have emerged from other fields, this development sees medications and methods normally used solely to help the sick being used on the perfectly healthy. Theoretically, this would not do any harm and actually improve the condition of the healthy person undergoing the treatment. In terms of mental health, the trend is known as cosmetic pharmacology.

Cosmetic pharmacology is the term used to refer to the practice of healthy people taking medications used for conditions like depression or anxiety, and using those drugs for something other than their formal pathology. Typically, the drugs are used to achieve some sort of enhancing effect on the cognitive abilities of the person in question. Many cases report the depression medication Prozac as seeing common use, and anecdotal evidence suggested that the people taking them seemed “better than well.” However, it is worth noting that the Food and Drug Administration, and the medical field in general, has never been a very big fan of using drugs in this manner.

Many experts believe the use of medications for conditions like depression in this manner is an example of naive consumerism, and a lack of understanding for how the medications might work in a healthy mind. There is much controversy regarding the veracity and the ethics involved in the cosmetic use of antidepressants like Prozac. The opponents of this believe that the use is unethical, and could pose numerous health risks. Others also say that if this becomes widespread, it could deprive the people who really need those medications from getting them. There are those who counter that the use of these medications in this manner is entirely up to the individual, but that may be blatantly ignoring the possible risks.