Mamma... We're All Going Crazy Now!

Throughout the years I’ve noticed a lot more people sharing with me they’re taking a daily prescription antidepressant. I often ask them what’s going on in their life? Why do they need this drug? And, do they think it’s really helping? The answer often reflects they would rather not take them; but there is also a fear that life may get worse if they don’t.

Doctors have convinced their patients that taking antidepressant medications is a good and necessary thing if they want to function within relationships and within society. And because most patients trust their doctor they go along with it.

It frustrates, even angers me to notice it doesn’t take much for physicians to look into prescribing meds such as Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Cymbalta, or Lexapro. The list of options is long; the list of possible emotional upheavals even longer.

Depression is a big umbrella-like word that covers different feelings: anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), grief, loneliness, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), self-esteem issues, shyness, feeling depressed, Bi-Polar disorder, schizophrenia, sadness, and others. Very few people are actually born with these. Most have gone through (tough) experiences that have brought out these emotions. It’s how they handle for example physical pain, trauma, break-ups, divorce, death, accidents, (past) bullying, abuse, loss, shame, learning disabilities, and abandonment.

Modern medicine has pushed upon us that physicians are the experts dealing with any health related struggle; and when needed we are funneled towards them. Medical schools encourage students to pick a specialty field after they finish all their core classes. The options range from research and development on the one hand, and going into private practice on the other. Many smart youngsters go into medical schools, even smarter adults came out. But being smart is not the same as being wise. A specialist knows a lot about very little and will try to find an answer in the detail he/she is presented with. A wise person wants to place the detail into the larger picture of life itself, and put life into the detailed problem. For example, psychiatrists, experts in depression-related disorders, more often than not, ponder medications for mental and emotional conditions along with ‘talk therapy.’ They decide on what and how much should be taken by the patient. Yet, antidepressant medications don’t much address your world. They numb what needs to be numbed so you can function in the world. And they do it with such detailed efficacy, it is almost impossible to live life without them anymore. Whom do these medical experts consider for an antidepressant prescription? Some are easy to pick, such as people in prisons, and patients in an asylum, while too many may surprise you. We all know one or more people who are on medication for their mental or emotional health, but we never knew they had an issue until they told us. And, ever since the explosion of social media platforms more and more young adults, teenagers and even preteens now take anxiety medication or a low-dose antidepressant. COVID-19 did not help with that either.

These drugs are synthetically created formulas that will disturb the status quo in the natural brain for the sake of making it better. But by doing that some other problem could pop-up to let off steam: side-effects. In the case of antidepressants these possible side-effects are pretty heavy: sudden thoughts of committing suicide, weight gain, lethargy, aggression towards others, lowered sex drive, impotence, fatigue, and indigestion. Regarding the still developing brain of a child/teenager there even is a larger risk for long term side-effects. It’s not just alcohol, marijuana, and other illegal drugs that can severely affect a child’s developing brain, antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication, and ADHD medication can do that as well.

And though medications come with inserts about possible side effects, these are not a reason to let a physician of the hook for prescribing them, or to let a pharmaceutical company continue their experimentations on people, without anyone taking responsibility. There are people in prisons and in asylums because they started taking long-term prescription drugs at a young age. Their freedoms are gone now. We can never fix a medical modality or a practitioner if neither will take responsibility for their actions. 

I’ve been lucky enough to work in the natural supplement industry for the last thirty years. My experience in talking with folks dealing with, and treated for, depression and anxiety is that too many are being treated for symptoms, not for underlying causes. These include: 

Natural medicine offers many options and alternatives to available therapies and medications. More and more people are trying dietary supplements and use practitioners who do not follow any mainstream type of medicine. Sadly, these supplements, natural practitioners, and their therapies are being frowned upon, ridiculed, and snickered at by most MDs. There is no reason for that, because allopathic medicine’s own record of success is not that great when it comes to treating mental health issues. We can talk all day long about natural medicine’s five thousand year history and it’s safety record through gentle trial and error; but it doesn’t matter. If people are programmed to see a medical doctor for every ailment and mental health crisis they experience, the door to natural medicine seems far away and out of reach. On top of that, insurance companies treat alternative therapies as “experimental,” further alienating people on a tight budget. 

However, if you are interested in natural remedies for depression and anxiety, look into and try for yourself well-researched and proven products such as St. John’s Wort, GABA, Lemon Balm, Ashwagandha, Bach Flower Therapy, vitamin B-complex, and vitamin D3. With adequate amounts daily, your glass will soon be half-full again!