Antidepressants—A Remedy for All Ailments?

Posted by Raena Morgan:

“They don’t work,” says Dr. Timothy Scott, author of “American Fooled – The Truth About Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and How We’ve Been Deceived.” He was quite emphatic about it when I recently interviewed him for iHealthTube. Not only don’t they work, he contends, but these “mind drugs” can cause brain damage and other health repercussions which he documents in his thoroughly researched book.

 
“What about the chemical imbalance problem?” I ask, since that is the alleged reason behind the prescribing of such popular depression-lifting drugs like Zoloft, Cymbalta, Celexa and a dozen or so other antidepressants being advertised on TV these days.

 
“Few American are aware of the fact that the chemical imbalance theory of mental and emotional health issues has been purposely promoted by drug companies,” Dr. Scott states with full gravity. “And furthermore,” he adds, “most physicians use pharmaceutical marketing literature as their main source of knowledge when it comes to prescribing these mind drugs.”
 

A Professor of Psychology for over 20 years, Dr. Scott is sounding the alarm, and he is passionate and sincere about getting the message out to the public. We are being overmedicated. Our children are being overmedicated. We are being medicated for every little ailment and situation. And medicated indefinitely too—sometimes for years! “A drug-based treatment for mental and emotional health issues has emerged as the norm,” Dr. Scott warns us. (Read more about Dr. Scott's book at Amazon.com)
 

Many people will recall that in the past a person suffering with emotional or mental issues had to go to a psychiatrist to get these kinds of drugs. Dr. Scott concurs, indicating that interest in psychiatry has presently fallen into some disfavor as a treatment for depression and mental anxiety. Today people can go to their family doctor and easily get these drugs dispensed without having to go through a lengthy process like counseling or therapy. A prescription will cover it. Thus, our collective emotional and mental well-being is now being handled by general practitioners who get their research data from pharmaceutical companies. Sounds a bit unsavory to me.
 

How about the studies? Certainly there must be studies on antidepressants and antipsychotics—after all, they have to get approved by the FDA, right? According to Dr. Scott, the studies are scanty and sketchy and are seldom carried out for an adequate length of time before these drugs hit the market. Not only that, interpreting research studies requires an expertise that few people have, allowing serious holes in the research to go undetected.
 

What about all of the warnings that accompany an advertisement for an antidepressant telling us of a multitude of possible side effects from taking such a medication? Isn’t that a reflection of FDA regulation at work? Certainly the pharmaceutical industry wouldn’t be that up front if they didn’t have to be. “They do that to avoid lawsuits,” Dr. Scott states flatly. “They were getting sued.”
 

Despite all this negative information about the pharmaceutical industry, I’m happy to note that “America Fooled” is not just a long, laborious indictment of the drug companies. This is a complex book, and a good portion of it is devoted to both defining depression and overcoming it. Dr. Scott talks about the role of diet and nutrition in emotional well-being, citing exercise as having a significant impact on depression.
 

Community is a big part of the picture in Dr. Scott’s recommendations for lifting depression and resolving other mental problems. Quite simply, people need to help each other. “Moral Treatment” is how he refers to it, citing an article that appeared in 1954 in Reader’s Digest about how ordinary citizens in Kansas banded together to help the mentally ill in state hospitals become healed and reintegrated into society. It was entitled: “They Go Home Again in Kansas.”
 

Finally, Dr. Scott points to the current level of narcissism in our culture, as well as our constant focus on self-esteem as culprits in depression. He feels that a sense of purpose and a focus away from the “self” can greatly benefit individuals suffering with depression and anxiety. We need to stop dwelling on our problems and self-woe and become involved with society. Help out. Be engaged. At the end of his book he cites the opening paragraph in a best selling book currently on the market—“The Purpose Driven Life” as his best advice. It states simply: “This is not about you.”
 

Posted by Raena Morgan