ANTI DEPRESSANTS

I thought I'd write about a Newsweek article on the effect (or lack of effect) of anti depressants. Given the likely readers, I think I'm talking to people (ok, I'm talking to one person, El Capitan) who don't have these issues, nonetheless, loyal followers of Georgetown Tales: Here goes...

The Newsweek article cited studies that suggest most of the effects of anti depressants in curing mild to moderate depression can be attributed to the placebo effect. The idea that you are taking something that can help your depression has just the same effectiveness in curing your depression as taking an anti depressant helps you. Considering that therapy helps much better than antidepressants for all but the most severe forms of depression, this lack of impact by the anti depressants is not really all that surprising. The debate is over whether to tell patients this and lose the placebo effect of the drugs, or just let the placebo effect of the drugs do the trick and let ignorance be bliss.

After reading several economics books that talk about how taking a $1 aspirin, helps more than a 10 cent one, I'm a firm believer in the power of the placebo. But, I'll warn you, as someone with a mental illness, just because it's just in your head, doesn't make it less real. Society use to stigmize those with cancer, because people didn't know what cancer really was. We now have a stigma with mental illness, depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, for the same reason. Finding out more about cancer, made it less stigmized; hopefully as we find out more about the brain and mental illnesses, we will erase the stigmism.

So, my recommendation is if you are depressed, see a therapist. Talk to someone (whose a professional). There are no side effects. If you have issues with getting help. You can be really open and joke and say you are seeing a "shrink", like Barbara Streisand in "Prince of Tides," and make a joke about it and remind everyone exactly where you are going or you can lie and say you have a weekly lunch or coffee date with your "friend," Lowenstein. If you choose this option, make sure no one is following you when you go to his or her office. I recommend wearing a disguise, even just a baseball hat and sunglasses. And make sure you don't put your guard down until it's just you and your therapist. You never know who you might see in the waiting room.

Therapy has definitely helped with my situation, but it didn't prevent my episodes. And unlike depression, the meds for serious mental illness are probably not much better than a placebo. The med I'm on, even says, it works, Eli Lilly is just not sure exactly why. This makes sense, because as far as I know, we (the best scientists/doctors in the world and, of course, me) don't know exactly what goes wrong in the first place. If you don't know what causes something to go wrong, it's kind of hard to fix it. Of course, everyone I know with a serious mental illness who changes meds has an episode and winds back up in the hospital. Could all this be because of the placebo effect?

Speaking of friends and hospitals. You can get an update of my friend, who I blogged about last week. Doug's posts are at http://www.dougmeron.blogspot.com/. He's in the hospital and am pretty sure he's not going to be let out any time soon. : -(.

Love to hear your thoughts on the anti depressant article, or any issue of mental health.

Finally, for anonymous, is this emo boy style thing a porn website, or is it to help us get some style so that we can become cool; and therefore, we will be able to pick-up hot chicks, have real sex and therefore not have to visit porn websites?

Peace, (used My friend, Doug and also, I think, cousin N)
GCNOF