I know a few people who are on meds and they basically need them to get through the day. I know a lot more people who are prescribed anti-depressants for “mild depression” by doctors who see them for 15 minutes every few months and don’t prescribe any other form of treatment. In my view, it’s a money racket - it has nothing to do with the health or well-being of the patient.

I am appalled at how easy it is to be given medication that affects one’s brain - with no additional work done to address the underlying issues. But it’s not surprising to me. Physical ailments are treated much the same way. For example, I would never suggest a person be denied critical or urgent care, but prescribing someone blood pressure medication and doing nothing to address their diet, fitness, and nutritional needs seems irresponsible - and potentially harmful.

Fluoxetine has been a life-saver for me. Just my $.02.

I’ve a family member who went on… got herself unkinked… and came off, and is better off for it. But facts are that she never went on a serious dosage. She needed and got some help–assistance.

I know a young woman who has been diagnosed since a young age (known her since then). She needed the meds. Without them she ends up hospitalized. Period. She needs and will need the meds. Always. Her issue isn’t needing therapy; her family has a history, and she drew a couple of genetic short straws on this… and needs the meds.

Period.

I know one person who needed meds for an extended period, and they likely saved his life. Given time, AND therapy, as well as meds… he was eventually able to write a better story, and is now fine without them.

Cases vary. Experiences vary. This is an area where few rules are really reliable….

“Consumer Reports has consistently stated that drugs are no more effective than psychotherapy. It has been shown that psychotherapy can alter brain chemistry.”

I wouldn’t get your facts from Consumer Reports on this one. There is certainly a placebo effect for depression drugs, but we don’t understand brain chemistry well enough yet to make hard and fast conclusions on either side. And yes, the brain is definitely plastic in the sense that we seem to be able to make physical changes by changing our thinking patterns (but yet our thoughts are physical? huh? causation!?).

Anyway, my interest in the topic is in part because I know quite a few 1) depressed people on and not on SSRIs and 2) neurologists, neuropsychologists and philosophers of mind.

So I think that the drug reps have had an effect, yes… but that perhaps we’re also more aware of biological propensities towards depression. I think that the topic is immensely complex and recourse to meds or Jung, without a holistic approach, is rarely helpful.

I believe it was about 10 years ago when it was estimated that 54 million prescriptions for antidepressants were filled in the U.S.

Consumer Reports has consistently stated that drugs are no more effective than psychotherapy. It has been shown that psychotherapy can alter brain chemistry.

I wouldn’t hand a book on Jungian phychology to a depressed person, but I would suggest that there is more than one way to treat the problem.

I am a student of the Enneagram, and my personality type is one of those that can easily fall into depression. The Enneagram offers suggestions for dealing with depression.

However, for some individuals, SSRIs give them a clearing ground to do the cognitive work necessary for a better life. Most reflective people who have struggled with depression (and those who treat them) recognize that there are biological and mental causes. (Whether one reduces to the other is a question for another day!)

If your internist doesn’t suggest you get involved in cognitive behavioral therapy, start exercising, modifying your diet, etc, but instead hands you some Zoloft, be concerned. But, whether the med is a placebo or genuinely influencing brain chemicals that impact behavior, some people cannot get going on those things without them.

Handing someone Jung if they haven’t the energy to turn a page, or to even consider meaning as an option, isn’t helpful. (Which may not be what you are saying–just wanted to get that out there, as an echo to what Chutney’s saying.)