all right....but you asked for it :P
as I said, I agree that the vast majority of people with depression should not be using medications. Their first and foremost treatment should be cognitive/behavioural, not drugs. I personally think doctors are way too quick at prescribing medications (and drug companies should take a lot of the blame for this). In these instances the drugs are pointles, they don't fix the problem (a shitty marriage is still going to be shitty no matter how much prozac you take) and they do have some nasty side effects.
However it has to be noted that for some people (and I emphasise SOME - nowhere near the amount of people who are on drugs currently) actually have a physical deficit - like a heart condition. There are lots of things you can do for a heart condition to help relieve it - good diet, cardivascular excercise to keep fit, don't smoke, don't drink, avoid stress. However without medication a heart problem (say angina or a leaky valve) is very risky. This is becasue the excercise good diet etc haven't fixed the actual problem...the heart is still not functioning as it should.
The same goes for people who have a physical problem with the parts of the brain that regulate mood. For these people even those activities which do improve mood don't do it anywhere near as well for them becasue that part of their brain just isn't functioning normally.
It's a matter of individualising treatment. Some (I would say MOST) people will be best with cognitive behavioural treatments for their depression - drugs just won't be anywhere near as effective. However where these IS a problem with the brain, there is no situational factor to work on - just the brain. Therefore cognitive behavioural treatments (self treatment included by the way) can help (particularly those that increase good chemicals like sex and excercise -however keep in mind that if their neurochemical systems aren't functioning properly, they may not react in the exactly same manner) but like a heart problem, it still doesn't fix the physical problem.
Currently the understanding of depression is that it is due to not enough seratonin and that this imbalance could possibly be caused by 1) not enough seratonin being produced 2) seratonin being reabsorbed too quickly so it's not being used or 3)which I forget. The most popular antidepressants currently are called Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors which stop the seratonin being removed from the system before it is used therefore effectively increasing seratonin levels. (I won't bore you with a 3 hour lecture on the most spectacularly interesting workings of the neuron :x )
In most people seratonin levels can be increased by cognitive/behavioural stuff like bitching about that asshole with your girlfriends with a heap of scrummy chocolate. BUT if your brain isn't working the way it should it might not be ABLE to produce more seratonin than it is or it may not be ABLE to stop reabsorbing it, so that no matter what you do your brain is always working against you. In these instances the drugs act a bit like a pacemaker - they take on the job of the busted bit.
I feel like a parrot, but again I emphasise that this is the minority of depression. The majority (in my humble opinion) is mostly situational ( situational eg: your wife just walked in and said "um I think I might have had a little accident with the draino on your new all pure leather interior")
of course it's still not entirely clear exacly how the brain works and we still don't know what all the neurochemicals do....in fact they're still not entirely sure precisely how seratonin works but at least they have a fairly good idea of what it's involved with.
The point I'm trying to make is that most depression which is what most of you would be familiar with is caused by circumstances. If your dog just died on the day you lost your job and they posted a demolition notice on your house it's no bloody wonder you're depressed. Don't take a pill, talk to some friends, go out and spurge on something, get a therapist, have a good cry and beat your pillow up (assuming it didn't get demolished with the house yet) cause after you stop taking the pills your life will still be crap. If you really have to take pills, only take them while you need to stay calm enough to work on your problems and in the mean time WORK ON THEM. But you should still be aware that there are OTHER kinds of depression out there...not just that, there are kinds of mental problems other than depression and they should all be treated individually.
Now I've finished my tirade i'll let you know that I just burnt dinner. I'm sooooo depressed.........
:x
