Study suggests depression is being overdiagnosed on a remarkable scale

Let's say I accept this premise entirely? Ok, so what? If taking a medication that increases the level of serotonin in the brain allows some people to be happier, why is this a crisis? Even if you think it's totally bogus, why would you want to restrict people from attempting to improve their outlook on life. It's strikes me as an obnoxiously moralistic outlook.

Also, much like the debate over ADD, this presupposes there`s some sort of easy diagnosis for mental illness. Like you take a blood test and it comes back positive or negative.

That`s what amuses me about the alarm over alleged "abuse" of Adderall by kids who use it to cram for test. If you say the right things to a doctor or shrink, you're given a piece of paper that magically turns this "dangerous drug" into "medicine." Even though it's used for the same purposes by both "patient" and "abuser."

So is it all a sham? Maybe. But if that really bothers you so much, maybe you should ask why? Why does it make you so upset that someone, somewhere might not be overwhelmingly depressed, yet still using a drug to make themselves happier?

 

Black dude, the problem is what if it doesn't help? Then you have people adding another drug and often creating an entire cocktail of them, plus washing it down with liquor or something harder. And the prescriptions themselves can create long-term physical problems (liver being the biggie) and addictions too.

 

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I'm not going to go into a lot of details here, mostly because I don't feel like typing everything up, but I was massively depressed earlier this year and after going through a doctor, I was put on anti-depressants.
The medicine took about three weeks to fully kick in, during which time I had a total breakdown that took me out of work for two months.
I thank the heavens for those meds because, when they did kick in, they slowly changed my mood and allowed me to feel a little bit better each day.
Now, five months after my breakdown, I'm completely anti-depressent free and have been for a while.
Not once did I think about staying on the meds. I went on them with the intention of eliminating a problem that happy thoughts alone couldn't solve and, once they served their purpose, I weened myself off of them. I've been tempted to go back once or twice but I have no intention of ever regularly taking pills again.
The meds themselves aren't the problem. The people on the meds are. I venture to guess a lot of the folks on anti-depressents are just looking for a way to get through a tough time in their life and if the meds help, who cares?

 

I don't doubt that these stories about overdiagnosis are true, but it feels like there's a tone of "people shouldn't be taking these medications, it's shameful not to manage your own emotions without pills" to them.

There's different types of depression. What schiezainc is describing sounds like adjustment depressive disorder, which is short-term and usually triggered by some kind of stress.

I went through it last year when my son was diagnosed with autism. I thought I was handling things pretty well, then one day it just hit me and it was like a light went out in my brain. Stuff that used to make me happy suddenly had no effect, I would panic over just about any bad news, and I was just constantly obsessed with death. I managed to get through it without seeing a doctor, but I did just about every depression-fighting technique I could find and did take St. John's Wort, an herbal antidepressant you can get OTC. I still have good days and bad days, but I mostly stay on top of it with diet, exercise and a concerted effort to think positively.

My wife, on the other hand, suffers from major depressive disorder. It's got all the same symptoms as adjustment disorder, but it never, ever goes away. She was barely functioning for years because of it, and we had no idea that's what it was. Then one day, I was reading an article about depression and realized it was describing her almost word-for-word. She went to a doctor, got on antidepressants, and the difference was so dramatic I could hardly believe it. Then she felt like she was doing better and tried to go off the pills, but within weeks it all came back. She hasn't gone off them since, and I wouldn't ever recommend she try.

 

Myself, my mom and my grandmother all have the same thing.

 

I blame swimming.

 

Like Schiezainc, I have been diagnosed with depression and I can assure the doubters it isn't just something one makes up. It's far, far more than I had a flat tire, got a speeding ticket, got laid off and my girlfriend dumped me all in a really bad day.

I have no doubt that there are very real physiological factors at work, some which are only beginning to be understood. Yes, sometimes medications can be life-savers. But each person is different, which is why a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work. It may take trial and errors of more than a dozen different kinds of medicines before finding the right one for an individual. That stuff takes time and money.

All that being said, however, I would agree that a large number of people are overmedicated. Anti-depressants are to lay persons what PEDs are to elite athletes. They seem to be the "in" thing to do and if you have money or insurance that covers them, they are readily available. Too often they are seen as a "magic bullet" or cure-all, which, of course, they are not.

Did medication help me? Yes. Did it completely cure me? No. Did I suffer some side effects? Yes.

There are many reasons people become depressed and many of them are quite rational and logical. Sometimes counseling helps, sometimes medication helps. I'm all for whatever works for each individual.

 

I would have blamed soccer but Dooley beat me to it. On a serious note, I have a brother who has autism and lives in a group home. He is on numerous medications, so I have mixed feelings about this thread.

 

About six years ago the boss really screwed me over and I was also a bit concerned about finances. My family tells me "you seem depressed. You should see your doctor and see if he'll give you anything." It takes a little prodding but I go. My doctor is also a friend on my bowling team. He says, "Well, it does sound like you could be mildly depressed" and he writes a prescription for Wellbutrin. I started taking it and about the time I noticed I was feeling a little better, I found out that my insurance wouldn't cover the doctor visit because it didn't cover depression. It also covered jack shit of the prescription, leaving my portion of the bill at just over $100. So, in the end, part of my worry was about money and the trip to the doctor and the prescription cost me about $250. I didn't ask for a rewrite of the prescription when it ran out.

 

That sucks OT. What a bunch of bullshit. Don't get me started on insurance companies.

 

Oh, come on, we can just toss all those crazy people in a padded room at some psych hospital and be just fine. Right? Right?