|
The FDA has some very serious corruption issues, there is no doubt about that, and the pharmaceutical companies... I can't even stand to go into that.
However, I do have some thoughts about antidepressants. Aside from criticisms that apply to nearly the entire market of prescription drugs, my concern with antidepressants is not whether or not they are effective, but whether or not they are the most effective and least harmful 'treatment' available.
From what I understand, correct me as needed, antidepressants fix some chemical imbalance in the brain which causes depression. The idea being that the medicine will provide enough relief for the patient to develop a healthy lifestyle so that they can then stop taking the medication and no longer suffer from depression.
I can certainly imagine cases where this sort of medication will be the best therapy, but usually when we have some problem, we address the cause of the problem, and something must have caused the chemical imbalance in the first place.
My fear is that if we medicate to fix the imbalance, the patient will be no less susceptible to future imbalances having never learned how to prevent such an imbalance from occurring. Nor do I like the idea of people going through some terrible cycle of depression and medication with no end in sight.
 |