Instead of Treating Depression, Antidepressants May be Worsening It
Depression has taken a huge toll on society today. It affects over sixteen million adults in the United States, and our methods of treatment seem to be making it worse.
Due to the advancements of medical science and technology, we have been able to confirm that depression is, in fact, a neurological disorder. It is mostly said to be caused
by a neurological chemical imbalance. The neurochemicals that are considered to be imbalanced are serotonin and dopamine, but primarily serotonin.
In modern day America if you were to walk into a psychiatrist’s office and claim that you were depressed, you would probably be there for a max time of 20 minutes, and leave with a prescription for several different antidepressants. Antidepressants are also known as SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor’s). However, there has been many studies performed proving that these medications might actually be worsening depression. They have been treating patients with depression with SSRI’s since the 1950’s, and you would imagine there would be at least somewhat of a decrease in depressed people, but it has only risen.
A leading professor of psychology is arguing that we have not only been treating depression wrong the entire time, but we have also been served incorrect information about what depression really is. David Healy, Head of Psychiatry at the Hergest psychiatric unit in Bangor, North Wales claims that the entire drug market of antidepressants is fake.
Dr. David Healy wrote a report that was published in the journal of BMJ stating that “in the 1990’s no one even knew if SSRI’s raised or lowered Serotonin levels, but there was no evidence that the treatment worked as a treatment at all.” He says that depression should be reclassified as an infectious disease rather than an emotional disorder. He isn’t the only one that says this either. Dr. Turhan Canli of Stony Brook University in New York also believes that depression could be caused by parasitic, bacterial, or viral infection!
Dr. Canli argues that we need further research on this subject because scientists could potentially develop a vaccine against depression. After all, the method we have been using for half of a century isn’t doing any good at all. In fact, more people are depressed now than they ever have been.
Only 15% of depressed patients treated with antidepressants experience a long-term relief of depression. The other 85% experiencing continued relapses and can even become chronically depressed. In severe cases, antidepressants have even been thought to cause suicide. The commercials even say that it there is a chance of “increased suicidal thoughts.” That does not sound like a very educated approach to depression, does it?
While it could take years for them to ever be able to develop an appropriate treatment method for depression, there are many natural remedies that have much better results than antidepressants do. Natural remedies are always a good method, as they pose no harmful or adverse side effects! You can see a few natural remedies for depression below.
- Avoid Coffee – Caffeine does provide a temporary boost in mood, but the crash from it will not only cause you to feel fatigued, but it will also worsen your depression.
- Drink Green Tea – Green tea has proven to be an excellent natural mood stimulant. It contains psychoactive compounds that are able to cross the blood to brain barrier. It has also been shown to effectively reduce stress and boost your dopamine levels!
- Meditate – Meditation has been used to combat depression for thousands of years. It is effective and very easy to do. You can meditate anywhere, at any time. Simply close your eyes and find a relaxed state; think of nothing but serenity.