And, if at its worst, they only met the restrictive usefulness described in this headline, medications that helped with moderate and severe depression would be a uncomplicated good.
That said, many of all of the medications pushed out by PharMA are marginally helpful and sold because equally effective but much less profitable compounds are off of patent protection. The first question you have to ask anymore is, "Is this name brand yuck any better than something on the Walmart $4 list?" many times the shocking answer is no.
Prozac that is one of the drugs targeted in this article has been proven over and over and over as safe and effective against numerous specific problems but is not a silver bullet and no drug will cure the underlying problem of the "cause" of the depression they treat.
Anti-depressants treat the symptom of depression rather than the cause, which can be as varied as human suffering. Talk Therapy can be more helpful because someone can suggest on a regular basis.. "If you whack your hand it hurts, so perhaps lets not do that this time."
Also, anti-depressants are not the only or best way to treat especially mild depressions which may yield much better to exercise, social interaction, and "dare I say it?", a trip to your local church or synagog.
Excellent post, my FRiend.
“no drug will cure the underlying problem of the “cause” of the depression they treat.”
Absolutely true. As you stated, talk therapy, behavioral changes and social interaction will provide a bigger part of the solution to getting through depression.
The best analysis I heard came from a shrink friend, who said the anti-deps will alleviate perhaps 20-30% of the depression symptoms, but will not “cure” depression. it takes more than swallowing a pill.