Depression, happiness & the medicalisation of society

[Elric]

Um, I think my tone was missed here…

Well then could you please explain what you meant then?

 

[hasikelee]

Well then could you please explain what you meant then?

It was a post to be taken at post-value. I know smilies can only go so far, so I chide myself and not you.

Now, sure, if I wasn’t about to have the research gene knocked out of me by this semester of school, I would probably start a thread on depression and abortion in America just to find out if my musings had any truth.

But, that will have to wait until summer! lol I ended up having to squeeze 21 credits into Tuesdays and Thursdays…that’s 7am to 10pm! And I take a class on Monday and a class on Wednesday at the community college.

So basically, I am trying to tell you that I am informed enough to know that biological reasons for depressive symptoms exist and are certainly as valid as any other type of illness or disease. I still like to bring a different perspective to the table, though, mon!

I mean, you have to admit that it is a viable hypothesis. The CDC estimates close to how many abortions since Roe V Wade? 48,000,000 or something like that? C’mon, any person of education has to admit that such a figure has an effect on someone, somewhere.

Furthermore, there are some studies beginning to conclude plenty, and these studies were conducted by pro-abortion scientists determined to prove anti-abortion laymen wrong.

Anyways, it is a thought that deserves at least a moment of thought.

 

[surfinpure]

DL82,

Speaking as one who has been twice hospitalized for severe depression and has spent months on anti-depressants at different times in life, I can testify that depression is far more complex than a mere decrease in or even complete lack of happiness. It is a biological, psychological, emotional, spiritual, and social condition that leaves no area of one’s life unaffected. And had it not been for the life-saving efforts of some people who cared about me, combined with the miraculous advances in medicine, I might not even be here tonight.

Having said that, I do think the overdiagnosis of depression, bipolar disorder, and ADHD is a huge problem in America. I personally know of one 17-year-old boy whose suicide can almost unequivocally be traced to the wrongful prescribing of the drug Zoloft, which should never be given to minors.

I do believe we place far too much emphasis on getting our “happy fix” here in the US, and far too little on the value of suffering. In fact, even many Protestants now believe that God does not wish us to suffer, that suffering is unnatural and unnecessary. These are such crafty lies of the devil, who would have us always dissatisfied with life, always reaching for more comfort, more pleasure, more gratification.

I thank God for the trials He has allowed me and the tests I continue to undergo. If all my troubles were gone, then what would there be left to mold me into a saint?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I dunno, folks. It’s a chicken and egg thing to me. Is a person depressed because of unbalanced brain chemistry, or is brain chemistry unbalanced because of depression?

I’ve experienced most of the symptoms mentioned in this thread and worse, pervasively over many years. I’ve been diagnosed in the past by some of the best. The meds occasionally seemed to help. (In reality, it was probably just placebo effect, as I wanted my doctors to believe they were helping me. I desperately wanted to trust modern medicine and science.)

Anyway, turns out my depression was caused by my terribly sinful and prideful life, making a mockery of truth by creating my own truth, based on the arrogant, “post-Christian”, self-centered, pleasure-centered, secular humanist philosophy being fed to me from every direction. I felt hopeless and worthless for many years, due to my persistence in following an insane life philosophy. I swear, it changed my brain chemistry. Why was I the one depressed, when everyone around me doing the same thing seemed happy? Simple. Because God, hallowed be His name, in his infinite grace and mercy kept me from achieving happiness in my evil pursuit.

I wonder how many others suffer from depression paradoxically not because they are ill, but because of the insanity of the world. Probably more than we think.

-Tim

I think there’s a lot to what you say. I know for a fact that people can, through effort, change their entire mood, just as I know for a fact that people can “will” endorphins to overcome pain. But I do believe there are people whose brain chemistry is simply askew, and there’s nothing they can do about it except live with it the best they can or take medication.

I absolutely believe a lot of people are experiencing a placebo effect. But that does not explain the fact that some fail to achieve a positive effect from med to med until the “right” one gets tried.

 

[surfinpure]

I absolutely believe a lot of people are experiencing a placebo effect. But that does not explain the fact that some fail to achieve a positive effect from med to med until the “right” one gets tried.

This was my experience, if I may chime in. Doctors put me on any number of SSRIs without any effects, or with adverse ones. Then they started me on a high dose of Effexor, and in two weeks I was back to the state I hadn’t enjoyed in two years. Is this a placebo effect? I hardly think so. The outcome was so striking and so different from what it had been with everything else I tried, that I knew it had to be working. And if anything, I was immune to the placebo effect, because I was so pessimistic and doubtful that anything could ever work by that time.

That’s when I became a believer in the medical treatment of depression. When one drug did in two weeks what years of therapy had not.

 

[gam197]

originally posted by Elric
One of the reasons there are more people with depression is because a lot of the stigma associated with mental illness has reduced. Not that long ago, it was something that wasnt talked about much less admitting to having because it was amongst other things a sign of weakness. Now we are realising that it is an illness and like getting the flu or a broken leg, you go to a doctor for treatment.

There is still a great deal of stigma attached to it. In the newspaper, when someone kills someone, they will often say he was seen at a mental health facility recently, his medications were off, etc.

Scientology doesn’t like this over-medication of people. They produced a video call “Psychiatry An Industry Of Death” because they feel that many people have been harmed by being misdiagnosed and over-medicated, especially the young.

For those who get diagnosed properly and receive the right drug, I am sure it has restored many to a healthy state.

 

[estesbob]

It’s interesting that our society has a medical term “Depression” for people who are always far sadder than the average, but no medical condition describing the opposite. In Middle Eastern society, being the kind of person who walks around with a massive smile on your face and a really chirpy personality all the time would be seen as just as odd as a ‘depressed’ person in Anglo-American society. As I’ve said before from my own experience, even the cultural difference between the UK average and US average of happiness can be hard to handle, with Americans seeming annoyingly upbeat to me, while Britons come across as dull and negative to Americans.

Has our society gone too far in advocating a universal vocation to happiness instead of a universal vocation to saintliness? So many of our children are now heavily medicated (again, moreso in America than in the UK, but this country is getting just as bad) for all kinds of behavioural conditions from Asperger’s, ADHD, Depression, and labelled that way from an early age.

There’s a kind of joy in knowing that it’s not always all about being happy, though that very idea seems perverse to most people in our society.

It is easy to dismiss depression as just being unhappy until one suffers from it. Depression can suck the very life out of you and leave one in a constant state of fear,anxiety and hopelessness.

 

[estesbob]

This was my experience, if I may chime in. Doctors put me on any number of SSRIs without any effects, or with adverse ones. Then they started me on a high dose of Effexor, and in two weeks I was back to the state I hadn’t enjoyed in two years. Is this a placebo effect? I hardly think so. The outcome was so striking and so different from what it had been with everything else I tried, that I knew it had to be working. And if anything, I was immune to the placebo effect, because I was so pessimistic and doubtful that anything could ever work by that time.

That’s when I became a believer in the medical treatment of depression. When one drug did in two weeks what years of therapy had not.

I had the same experience although with different medication. it takes a lot of trial and error to see what works.

 

[surfinpure]

I had the same experience although with different medication. it takes a lot of trial and error to see what works.

Yes, I’m afraid it usually does. I believe this is why many people who suffer from depression give up on the medication route before arriving at the drug that will change their lives. It’s hard to understand unless you’ve been there, but when for the depressed person, seeking help, and continuing to seek help and try new methods after old ones have failed, is the hardest thing in the world to do. Giving up can be such an overpowering temptation.

But it’s because of experiences like the ones we’ve had that I kindly but firmly urge anyone I know who is going through a depression to continue to try new medications. It’s worth all the anguish, when you find that one.

 

[Elric]

There is still a great deal of stigma attached to it. In the newspaper, when someone kills someone, they will often say he was seen at a mental health facility recently, his medications were off, etc.

Oh yes there is still plenty of negativity attached to mental illness and we all know how the media just loves to ham things up as well as not letting the truth get in the way of a good story.

There is also the issue in the US where many mentally ill people are better off in prison because they recieve treatment for their illness and there are no affordable options for them in society. They will commit crimes so that they get sent to prison and get treatment but once their sentence ends, they get a two week supply of medication and I believe a prescription for a refill and are left to their own devices.

Scientology doesn’t like this over-medication of people. They produced a video call “Psychiatry An Industry Of Death” because they feel that many people have been harmed by being misdiagnosed and over-medicated, especially the young.

Actually scientology are completly opposed to psychiatry and believe that mental illness does not exist. They also have similar beliefs about neurological disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorder.

They are a very dangerous group, especally with a spokesperson like Tom Cruise who is a very public figure and people liseten to him.

For those who get diagnosed properly and receive the right drug, I am sure it has restored many to a healthy state.

That is true, unfortunatly it can be a trial and error process because of the very nature of mental illness.