Depression...an epidemic?

[johnnie]

I know that this is a touchy issue with people, but I was wondering why does there seem to be an epidemic of depression in our society. It seems to have been rising in the last decade and it also seems to be out of control.
I just got off a phone with a friend of mine who said she was talking to her niece. Her niece seems to have been having anxiety issues lately so my friend told her she should see her doctor and get on elexor. Both of her sisters on on antidepressants as well as her.
My father went for a standard check up lately and the Dr. prescribed Zoloft. After a week of taking them my father called and told them he doesn't want to take them and had no idea why they put him on them.
I would estimate that 1 in five people that I know are on some antidepressant medication and it is startling to me.
So, I don't intend to start a flame war here, but I was curious on your thoughts. Why are there so many people who are depressed? I know everyone gets depressed at times and we have things to deal with, but are doctors over prescribing or not treating the periods of depression correctly? I have had my share of depression that lasted for quite a while, but I just always thought of it as normal. I have thought of going to a doctor just to get some meds, but I was too lazy to do it. But the depression goes away after a while.
Have we become that depressed of a race?

[shoelace414]

1. I was depressed for about 8 years growing up

but I didn't get perscribed anything because I never saw a shrink and there were no anti-depressants

[mrboba1]

2. I think people have always been depressed

its just that now, you can get medication for it.

[johnnie]

3. I believe that too

I guess what I mean is, as the post above yours says, we just went thru it. Now everyone is getting the meds and a lot of them are depending on it to make them "happy". Will they have to take them the rest of their lives?

[TrustingDog]

26. I happen to think that some crap we eat and breathe, makes us depressed...

like antibiotics in meat, like the crap we eat from fake news channels like CNN. possibly deliberately fed to us to push up those pharm sales of pills.

I would worry more about people who are not depressed over what the freak is happening over the last couple decades - and especially since 2000.

[TrustingDog]

27. viagra.... for eg.

why do so many men think they need viagra lately? ...erm, it's not like the world has a population deplosion...so getting it up doesn't seem to have been a problem until 'now'. why?

because the pharms tell them they do? because we're eating and breathing and listening to too much fake crap?

[Maddy McCall]

4. Are we "a race?"

And there is a vast difference in clinical depression and "the blues."

Good doctors evaluate the patient against the criteria of clinical depression. Good doctors don't prescribe meds to people with "the blues." And good doctors advise their patients to seek counseling along with the prescription.

Brain disorders that require treatment with meds should not be distinguished from other diseases that require treatment with meds. Why is there a stigma against people who need medicine for brain disorders, when there is no stigma against people who need meds for high blood pressure?

[johnnie]

6. race ...as in human race, has that become a non-pc term?

I don't think that prescribing the proper medications and treatments for people with disorders is wrong at all. I am in full support of that and have seen it work quite well.
As for it being a stigma, I think that the acceptance of the fact that there are mental disorders have come a long way in the last few decades, and more people are understanding that it IS a disease and should be treated as such.
The point I am making is the over prescribing of these meds for "the blues" and the "bad doctors" prescribing them. It is like when they used to hand Valium out like it was after dinner mints at one time.

[Maddy McCall]

9. Sorry. The anthropological training in me hates that word.

It isn't about PC-ness, whatever you mean by that, but about the fact that there is no such thing as biological race. That's my anthropological discipline talking. I think of us as a species instead of a race. No attempt to force PC on you.

[johnnie]

12. Oh ok

I wasn't trying to being a smartass :) I never thought of it as anything more than a term and not classification.

[Maddy McCall]

15. Sorry if I am coming across as a smartass.

I have been argumentative with EVERYONE in the past couple of days. My kid started school, and it's time for me to go back, too, so I am feeling a little bitchy. :-)

[tigereye]

14. very well put

True clinical depression can be very debilitating and often requires medication and therapy. It is also quite common, some call it the common cold of "mental illness." But I also think that we as a society are in a hurry to want "quick fixes" to problems, even if there are no such things, instead of making the life-style and other changes that are needed or do the behavioral work, before we ask for medications. And I think that the drug companies encourage this view.

[Maddy McCall]

17. I agree that pharm. companies are partially to blame...

Anti-depressants shouldn't be advertised on television the way they are...they are advertised as a quick remedy for temporary "blues."

Same with many other meds. After a day of television viewing, one might thing he or she has depression, penile dysfunction, GERD, irritable bowel syndrome, blood clots in the legs, and the list goes on.

I think advertising for meds should not be allowed.

[johnnie]

18. I agree

Advertising makes it seem like just another thing. It makes clinical depression look more like just another sniffle.

[tigereye]

28. couldn't agree more for the most part

however, the depression ads for hmmm, don't remember the antidepressant, featuring the little sad egg-like creature, actually seemed to describe depression well and might be useful in informing people who might otherwise not know what is going on with them. I guess that is the other plus to the ads.

[Deja Q]

29. The rapid, hectic, stress-filled society we created for ourselves adds to

it as well...

We make the problem and provide a cure.

It's rather like breaking someone's leg and then telling them to lean on you!

[Beware the Beast Man]

5. It's a multitude of things.

1. Depression and mental illness has always been with us. These days, however, some forms are easily treatable.

2. We live in a very rapid society. Our attention spans are getting shorter and our desires are getting larger. We sit in cubicles staring at screens for 8 hours a day, then go home and stare at another screen for 8 more hours. We have little or no release.

3. All the crap that's in our food: antibiotics, steroids, preservatives, etc. I believe they're taking their toll on us.

That's just a few theories as to why depression seems to be a prominent topic these days.

[johnnie]

8. Bingo

You hit some great points there. I believe our diet has played a huge part in this. The fast paced lifestyle and the lack of release.
I just wonder where it's headed to. I have seen some people who I truly enjoyed hanging with turn in to uncaring zombies after love relationships went bad, and they turned to the meds. It is almost impossible to have an enjoyable conversation with them. And that bums me out a bit.

[Droopy]

16. If taking an anti-depressant turns somebody into

and uncaring zomby then they are probably misdiagnosed or taking way too high of a dosed.

My dad was recently prescribed an anti-depressant. He has a history of alcoholism and I think he was self-medicating with that. He stopped drinking and now that his head has cleared up he realized that he was depressed and was having anxiety attacks. He went to the psychiatrist and was prescribed an anti-depressant and a nerve pill. He now says that he's not felt this good in years and wishes he would have got help sooner. He's very talkative and energectic now.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

7. I think one of the big problems...

is folks getting evaluated an medicated by their GPs instead of a mental health specialist.

Yes, depression is very, very real.

But what kind are we talking about?? Situational -- a normal reaction to a life event that will most likely resolve with time and counseling? Depression that is organic in nature and requires medical intervention?

I'm not sure most GPs know enough to make the call. Too many hand out the meds cause it is easy and offers a quick fix for their patients' problems.

Additionally, I think we think we are seeing more mental health issues when we may be seeing more people willing to speak out and seek help than in generations past. Because there was so little known about it there was such a stigma about it -- no one wanted to be labeled as "crazy". Also, folks from other generations dealt with it differently -- sometimes by drinking themselves into a stupor every night.

And I do think we are looking at new problems that can add to the mental health of our population in general.

[johnnie]

13. Thank you

I guess what I was talking about is more of the situational depression that then becomes a dependency on the antidepressants.
As I said in another post, I have seen people who have a relationship go bad, and then gets the meds and don't want to get off of them.

[Droopy]

10. It's possible that anti-depressants are over-prescribed

But I've heard testimonials that those drugs have saved lives. It can be hard to say if someone is just going through a short term period of the blues or has a serious chemical imbalance in the brain. I guess if someone is suicidal then you know for sure, but other than that I would think that diagnosing depression and prescribing meds would be a tricky business. Speaking as someone who has been in a mental institution three times I can say that most mental illnesses are probably tricky to diagnose. They didn't get mine right until the third visit to the hospital.

I think the ultimate answer is that one should trust one's doctor. And if you don't, be sure to get a second opinion. I've heard of people getting psychiatric drugs from their general practitioner. I think people should really go to a psychiatrist to be checked out before taking a prescrption for psychiatric drugs from their family doctor.

[Dogmudgeon]

11. It's more visible now ... but there ARE mystery epidemics

Depression has always been common. Only recently has psychiatric illness been considered "real enough" to take seriously and treat. And the fact that antidepressant drugs make tons of money for their pharmaceutical firms helps, too.

The real Mystery Disease that has popped up in the last century is Allergy. At one time, allergies were pretty rare; today, most people have one or more significant allergy. And they're objectively testable, too, whereas depression may not always be diagnosable through lab analysis. And since most people with allergies have been able to live long enough to have children, this is not a mainly genetic problem.

Autoimmune diseases may be considered to be in the same category as allergies -- or may rate a category all to themselves. Autoimmune diseases are less diagnosable since any disease process will cause a change in the immune system, but a good number of dergenetative diseases (Multiple Sclerosis, Crohn's Disease, Alzheimer's Syndrome, diabetes, several forms of arthritis, etc.) are very strongly suspected to be caused by immunological "errors".

Obesity comes in at a close second, but only because people still enjoy the moral satisfaction that comes from the idea that overweight is a personal failure. Americans are not nearly as sedentary as we are made out to be, nor are we a land of gluttons. Well-conducted studies have shown, time and time again, that obesity has much less to do with food intake than with metabolic changes. Recent studies have implicated plant derived pseudo-estrogens as contributors to obesity in both men and women; they often promote cancer, too. Trans-fats, very-low-density lipid (im-)balance, and long-term unrelieved stress also exert strong pathogenic effects with weight gain.

As always, if you have any information you think I missed, neglected, or have been unaware of, let me (and us) know.

--bkl

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. Allergies

In the old days, people with allergies may NOT have lived long enough to have children.

For one thing, respiratory allergies can weaken the respiratory system and make it more susceptible to infections. Food allergies can kill a person almost instantly. So can asthma.

Asthma is clearly growing, and on a CSPAN broadcast, I heard a pediatrician from India link it to the spread of private cars in her country. It makes sense, since asthma is high in Western Europe, but not in Eastern Europe or the former Soviet Union, where there is a lot of industrial air pollution but few private cars. It's high in Japanese cities, and growing astoundingly in Chinese cities, where private cars are becoming popular. In the U.S., it's high in cities and suburbs and low in the countryside. It's almost unknown in non-industrialized countries.

Myself, I never had allergies until we moved from a quiet side street in Minneapolis to a house in Beloit, Wisconsin that was right on Highway 15. Upon visiting us in Beloit, my grandfather expressed concern about exposing us children to so much car exhaust, and I guess he was right, because two of the three of us developed severe respiratory allergies. (I took shots and was half-asleep from old-style antihistamines for most of my grade school and teen years. At this point, I am being kept alive by Claritin.)

The prevailing theory about asthma is that country children "train" their immune systems by being exposed to animals and plants from an early age, while suburban and city children live in environments that are "too clean." That sounds plausible, but I've been to Chinese cities, and no one would ever accuse living conditions there of being "too clean."

It may be too explosive an idea to blame asthma on automobile exhaust, because we all know that cars are the second true religion of American pop culture, right after sports.

[Raven]

19. Life is more complicated these days, I think.

Just commuting and trying to negotiate your way through a day is more difficult than it used to be. Also, the pressure on kids is much greater today. Those things together with improved medicine probably account for some of this.

A warning though...I never had depression until about 3 years ago when I began to feel awful. My father had died and I thought that might be the cause. I went to my Doc (who I love) and without examining me or running any tests, he prescribed an anti-depressant and I felt better. HOWEVER, a few months later I began to have trouble with my balance and with walking. I went to a specialist who ran some tests and discovered that I had a Vitamin B-12 deficience, otherwise known as Pernicious Anemia...a condition that can kill you if it is not treated. I began taking B-12 shots and the depression immediately disappeared. One side effect of B-12 definciency is depression. The lesson is that before you begin an anti-depressant, get a check-up to be sure that nothing else is going on. :-)

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. In addition to what's already been mentioned...

there's the pressure put on us to assimilate with "normal" people, as if our individuality was some sort of problem which needs to be fixed.

Kids are prescribed Ritalin at the slightest sign of squirminess in class, to make life easier for the poor over-stressed teacher, who has better things to do with her time than deal with children who won't assimilate.

We teach our children what to think instead of how to think, so when the pat responses they've been taught to parrot don't make sense to them, it's no wonder they become depressed young adults.

[johnnie]

21. Yup

But I think a lot of adults become that way also. I believe that we have become very spoiled also and a lot of people expect too much out of life. If things aren't going the way they plan, it depresses them. I am just curious as to how far this will all go.

[mopinko]

22. nutritional elements

mental illnesses of all types are increasing and coming on at younger ages. there is evidence of dietary involvement. as corn and soybean oil replace other fats, and as total fat intake increases, mental illness, like heart disease, becomes more prevalent. statistical methods show a near perfect correlation in these trends across cultures, around the world. the addition of omega 3 fatty acids, and careful balance of essential fatty acids can improve mental health and increase effectiveness of psychiatric medications.

[Sabriel]

24. I've been depressed since 2000

Gee, can you guess why? That started off the feeling of hopelessness and powerlessness. I grind my teeth constantly, I'm short-tempered with my kids (who don't deserve it all), thinking about what we're doing in Iraq can make me cry in front of strangers in stores, and the list goes on. This unelected, illegal government has sucked the joy out of my life, and for that reason, I'll be standing in line to push the button when the treason and murder charges come down. And I'm normally a pretty calm, phlegmatic person. If it weren't for the nasty side-effects, I'd consider getting professional help. As it is, I prefer to self-medicate...usually starting around 5 pm.

[johnnie]

25. I think that it is conceivable that this happened to a lot of people

I don't remember so many people really bummed out in the 90's. I really just started this thread to see what others thought and I appreciate everyone's input.

[Snoggera]

30. An epidemic of people using Emerson's technique and advice

Self-examination. It sometimes hurts, and usually only happens when people's lives are disrupted in some way; unemployment, homelessness, anxiety over how to feed the children.

Another reason to vote Kerry.

[Nikia]

31. There are societal elements

I read somewhere, but cannot remember the source that Mexican immigrants became more depressed after coming to the United States over the years even as their economic situation improved. They became less satisified with what they had after being bombarded for years by American advertising. They also had less of a community to support them emotionally. I think that these are two big societal factors in causing depression in more suseptible people. While being told that you should always strive for more is motivational for some, it creates insecurity and unhappiness in others. We are becoming more isolated. While some people are happy to get away from their negative families, most people benefit by having many people around who they can lean on for emotional support. The more close connections one has, the less likely one is to be depressed.
As others have said, food and environmental chemicals also could be factors.