Letters to the Editor
speeder
Published Letters: 128 Editor's Choice: 12
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@Tina
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All I'm trying to say is, if these meds are addictive, and I think the evidence proves that they are, then the "testimonials" of people in the grip of the addiction may not be the most reliable. They may not know or want to face the addiction, and so may not be the best people to ask about anti-depressants.
Well, yes, the testimonial of an addict may not be reliable, but on the flip side, if we are not addicts then you must admit that are anecdotes may indeed be valid. The only thing you seem to base this on seems to be your opinion, and other anecdotal evidence.
As some one else pointed out earlier, there is a big difference between dependence and addiction, and I have seen no evidence that supports the theory that SSRI's are generally addictive.
Do SSRI's have withdrawal symptoms? Absolutely, and sometimes they are pretty intense. But the "drug seeking behaviour", and the denial of a problem that are inherently part of addiction are not present in those who suffer SSRI withdrawal symptoms. Many people who suffer those symptoms do not even realize that they are being caused by discontinuation. People who are heroin addicts know they want more heroin.
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@Tina again
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Frankly, it also bothers me that so many people on meds are women. This is the biggest category of user. Second biggest category is older people. This would suggest a depression that has some cause in lifestyle or environment, at least to me. Empty nests, dead marriages, overwork (for women),everything that's wrong with living in suburbia--all of that.
Or it might suggest the following. Because of social expectations attached to gender roles women are more likely to seek help for depression, or be willing to talk about it to their doctor than men.
It might also mean that women and the elderly are more likely to have insurance or medicare and thus the ability to get these medicines.
Men live in the suburbs too, and are just as likely to experience the existential ennui that is life in modern society. But this basic emotion is not depression.
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@Persia
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]But here's the thing-- if the chemicals in the water give you cancer, you still have cancer.
Brilliant. You get a red star in my book!
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@Patrick
[Read the article: Don't be happy, worry]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And who put the chemicals in the water?
Who knows? The power plant? Dow Chemical? An overabundance of cows pooping in the water? The point is, before I can go out and deal with whether or not its chemicals causing my depression, I have to get out of bed and leave the apartment. For this, I need to fight my depression. Look, it is entirely possible that there are environmental factors to blame for the rise of mood disorders. But when your in the throws of it, you kind of have to triage. Trust me, if I ever see concrete evidence for a certain chemical causing depression, I will tell everyone I know.
As for something else you said.
. I say the human mind cannot really be sick, for us to presume so shows the hubris of our ignorance. The oracles are telling me this: we are trapped in an undesirable reality that is not in actuality bettering us but destroying us. All this is the name of profit and global hegemony.
Why can't the human mind be sick? It, like the rest of our body is a product of evolution. Evolution does not proceed towards "perfect" it proceeds merely towards "just good enough to out reproduce your competitor." And has a pretty high level of acceptable losses (think infant mortality in the pre industrialized world)
To sort of move away from something as loaded as the human mind, let's look at the human back. It is a pretty crappy design for the most part. It is just good enough to get us to stand upright so that we can spend the first forty or so years walking upright around the savannah. After that it is a pretty quick downhill spiral. And very often, the slightest injury or strain even in youth will plague the user of said back with a lifetime of pain.
To some extent back pain is one of the defining traits of the human condition (not one of the most important mind you)
But yet there is no hubris attatched to saying all of this, nor of offering people basic pain meds, back surgery for slipped disks, or braces.
And while this may sound a bit existential or just plain out there, there is no more reason to think that the brain is inherently well designed than there is to think the human back is well designed.
To think that if we lived in a better reality that we would no longer have mental illness would be the equivalant of thinking that if we lived back on the savannah we would have less back pain.
Perhaps the average person would experience less back pain. But that would only be because the pain would be overpowered by hunger or thirst or cold or heat, or more likely the initial injury that caused said back pain may have not been treated correctly and thus left the person a bit to vulnerable to other predators, or just not able to keep up.