22 Comments

    1. I agree that a percentage of Depression cases are based on underlying feelings, issues, etc. And I do NOT support Big Pharma in the least. But, not all depression is caused by treatable psychological thought processes or brought on by life conditions.

      There are those whose depression results from a chemical imbalance in the brain. Their lives are good, they have no issues, yet there is depression.

      I know. I'm one of those people.

      I'm merely pointing out that to ever "rule", there are exceptions. And this article seems to suggest ALL depression can be managed by counseling. Not so.

      1. Hell's Enforcer says:

        I know exactly what you mean. Depression, for me, is caused by genetics, brain injury due to childhood battering, diabetes since childhood for many years, rotten self-image beginning in childhood, rotten living environment, endless failures & poverty. For some reason, I see this depression as being very deep.

    2. Hi James
      Thank-you for the link, I will check it out. It sounds like it would be a helpfull addition ti our links page at "www.jonnyslaw.org."
      I would also like to invite you to comment on our "citizen advocates "section or wherever else you feel called to do so
      Sincerely: Michael

  1. I concur with the statement that antidepressants cause suicidal thoughts. I was depressed because of loss of income leading to eviction from my apartment and told the shrink this was the reason for my depression. But instead of putting me in touch with services which could have helped me he prescriped Celexa. This drug didn't help me find a new job nor a new apartment. During the time I took it I thought about suicide more often than I ever did before. Actually I *never* considered it before taking Paxil but this drug made it look like ending one's life is no big deal, one feels detached from normal emotions. Very scary.

  2. Vitamin D3 is no joke … unlike these horrible pharmaceuticals! Mood lifting is just one of the great things vitamin D3 does. It makes me wonder how much longer big pharma will allow it to remain on the market.

  3. great article!! will pass this on to a friend taking depressants.

    ironic as this idea seems,why not ask doctors to 'prescribe'….old TV shows now on the internet,like seinfield-third rock from the sun-married with children etc. then ,make the drug gangsters/big pharma pay for them.

    and vitamin d-3 should be touted and provided for free via big pharma,who stole all those billions in depressants pills that knowingly didn't work.

    next, imprison all FDA officials whom approved these drugs for depression,which were bogus.that would be a small start to right the wrongs…

    1. Seinfeld, Third Rock From The Sun, Married With Children, Pardon me?!! You want there to be mass suicides amongst sane individuals? Just make them watch one episode of one of those garbage shows. Those horrible, egregious, offensive shows should only be used as a means of interrogation. And even that use is a bit extreme.

  4. Shrinks are a dead loss. Avoid!

  5. Oh yeah, forgot to say, exercise has been shown to be far more effective for depression than any so called "medication".

    1. kimberlee says:

      Twenty years ago, after the birth of my first child, I went into a bad depression and the doctors put me on medication and I had been taking them ever since. One pill would appear to stop working and they would put me on another. Last year, after a bad bout of worsening symptoms and a suicide attempt, I said to he** with them all and stopped taking everything. I feel SO much better!! I have blue times, but nothing bad and I no longer have the mania and anxiety that had been happening in the last few years. How much money and time I wasted on their bullsh**! I've never been happier than I have in the last year.

  6. There is no happy pill. Life is what you make it there is no cure for how you feel.

  7. Unfortunately chemical imbalance has never been proven it's just a theory. Much easier to make people take mind-numbing meds than to address the real causes of major depression, which seems to be abject poverty.

    1. If there are natural alternatives for depression, does that apply to major depression and Bipolar disorders. It is nice to be able to see a homeopath, but on Medicaid there are no choices. Have ideas

      1. It's been found that some bi-polar disorders are brought on by SSRI's. I've met people personally that are living with this reality.

  8. HatePushers says:

    Is there anything worse than Big Pharma drug pushers? What type of "human being" would KNOWINGLY sell products that cause people to commit suicide? These creatures are SUB-HUMAN and should be treated as such. Leagalize pot and send these leeches to prison instead.

  9. Its true that some suicides and violent acts can be because of the ineffectiveness of the SSRI that they were taking and that they can be helpful for people with certain serotonin uptake problems where an uptake inhibitor is appropriate but there are many people who have attempted or succeeded in killing themselves or others with tons of data behind it that's being intentionally covered up along with the thousands of people that are being pumped with SSRI's intentionally mislabeled as sleep medication resulting in harm or death to themselves or others. AND THAT'S NO JOKE! Mabey you will have to become a victim or loose someone you care about before you can take your head out of the sand!

  10. SoSaysSunny says:

    I was looking for information about nutritional supplements but stopped to read this article because I know from experience that your premise is incorrect.

    Many people with everyday blues may recover after talking through their problems, or addressing nutritional deficiencies, or meditating on positive thoughts, or switching away from unrelated medications that have mood-depressing side effects, or even after no intervention at all.

    HOWEVER …

    People with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) will not completely recover with these therapies because they simply do not address the root cause: demonstrable, chronic brain chemical imbalances.

    If you’ll go back and read the research again, you’ll see those drug studies show lack of improvement for _mild_to_moderate_ depression, cases those meds were never intended to treat.

    The distinction between these two groups is absolutely crucial: Use of a blanket term like depression is a generalization that by definition makes any advice incorrect. But worse than misinformation, you may be sending them down a rabbit hole, chasing every new supplement and increasing their despair with each new failure.

    You want to equip your readers with information, right? Don’t prejudice them against a valuable tool of last resort. And don’t feed the pervasive attitude that depressed people are at fault for their condition, that they’d get better if they just exercised more, ate better, and focused on happier thoughts. Guilt is already a crippling symptom of MDD and adding to it is absolutely cruel.

    If you really want to serve your reader’s needs, you should *educate* them about the difference between MDD and regular blues: Sure, encourage them to try the natural route — because those suggestions will help the vast majority of people — but don’t discount the medications necessary to treat the worst cases. Make your readers aware of the *fact* that for some people the natural route won’t be enough, that they may need to seek professional advice.

    Yes, antidepressants are too often prescribed improperly. Yes, many have awful side effects. But the fact is — for some people — the benefits may outweigh the risks.

    The drug companies aren’t evil, they’re trying desperately to solve what the WHO predicts to be the #2 cause of disability by 2025. Can you imagine the outrage if they weren’t even _trying_ to ease the suffering of so many people? And the brain’s a complicated hunk of technology: each new drug study improves our understanding and helps some people but an actual cure may not exist at all. Don’t discourage an earnest effort.

    If you want to place blame, it must be shared between the rushed doctors and their disinterested patients. People need to take an active role in their health — That’s one of your goals, right? Educate your readers to ask if they *need* to be medicated … if they need *this* medication … if they need *this* dosage … *when* they should expect improvement … and *when* they can come off of it. Engage the physicians to ensure that the prescription isn’t just a get-out-of-my-office pass.

    I only bothered to write such a thorough response because it looks like you have a powerful role to play and I want to direct that power to good ends.

    1. You are correct, MDD requires professional help, however since no actual physical tests (brain scans, blood samples, etc.) are taken to evaluate and diagnose this, then no chemically made compound thought up by a pharmaceutical company should be administered.

      The thing that many people overlook is many have depression, for valid reasons, their lives are a boring routine filled with stress. People have forgotten how to be happy. People consume and try to fill an emptiness inside them instead of building rewarding relationships, connecting with others, and doing rewarding, fulfilling, work. Most people are very unhappy, running in endless circles in this tiny rat race getting nowhere, and then one day pausing to find they have done nothing they wanted and feel like the wasted their lives. There are no magic pills in the universe to repair this damage.

      We have not even begun to explore properly addressing these kind of health issues on the scale that is necessary, because big pharma is making billions every year passing out pills, with awful side effects (including depression and suicide) and walks away happily with fattened pockets. Drug companies are not trying to end suffering, they are selling expensive band aids, and yes they are evil because they are not preaching for people to eat healthy and banning the so called food people shove down their throats, because they are not taking action and cutting out toxins in our lives, which are lining store shelves, because they are not telling people to be active, to walk, to be exposed to sunlight at certain hours for proper vitamin D exposure. The list goes on. They do not care, as long as people buy their pills, pills which often are renamed and sold again, pills which are in our water systems and are being absorbed by everyone. Our system is set up in such a way where people are kept uninformed, where people rush about, often self-obsessed, no real sense of community or caring beyond their own family, and turn to their media so they know which clothes to have, what car to drive, what movies to see, what food to eat, and what pills to swallow. We live in a society where people ignorantly step over the homeless. Pretty soon they will probably make a pill for that, too (to be completely blind to it and lack all compassion).

      Health is not the same as our “medicine”. Knowing you need help is a great, and often difficult, step, and unfortunately we just aren’t there yet but articles such as this are certainly trying to get people to become more aware and live again.

      I can guarantee you, a peaceful walk on a beautiful day is far more medicinal then any pill for depression any lab ever made.

  11. HilarityBribo . says:

    I disagree with you that the drugs “dont work”
    I’ve taken some that have pulled me up out of a depression.
    The other side effects are very real.

    However, they are being strangely pushed by the government, psychs, etc….

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