New study suggests antidepressents are the sensible alternative to actually dealing with your issues
WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) – Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday.
OMG I have wanted to write about this for so long!
OK, So… I’ve been taking antidepressants for the last 2½ years, and I must say that I’ve been much happier in the last 5 days of not taking them than I was for that entire length of time being a zombie in this play called Life. I keep a journal, notebook, whatever-the-hell you wanna call it; and in that notebook are countless pages of me yelling at myself to get off the drugs. I finally took my own words of advice.
Weening off these stupid-ass pills has been a bitch. Now that I’m completely done taking fractions-of-fractions of compacted powder, I get to deal with all-day-headaches, feelings of vertigo, and a libido that could make a porn star hate their job. The headaches are quite unique actually; there is a day-long sensation of soreness behind my eyes. But about every 20 minutes or so it’ll be this feeling like I’m at a peak of a hill of a roller coaster (that sensation of zero G) that lasts for about a split second leaving me feeling like I just got donkey-punched. But I did it. I DUDDITS! I took the last quarter of a tablet (a whole 9.375mg of what is normally prescribed at over 200mg) on Friday of last week, and I plan to keep it that way for the rest of my GOD-FEARING LIFE.
From Dictionary.com:
Diagnosis: YOU ARE SAD 🙁
So…textbook definition says that depression comes from “environmental causes” and/or “unfortunate life circumstance”. Shit!
I started on drugs about just under 3 years ago after a pretty intense divorce; for me anyway. I was trying to push myself to move on, along with the motivation of friends, but could not figure out why I was feeling so down all the time. I started having panic attacks, mood swings, I was an asshole at the office, things were just not good. Why? “It sounds like you have some minor depression,” said Dr. Mario. “Take these pills twice a day and come back in a month.” So I guess this means I fall into the “unfortunate life circumstances” bucket. Another addition to the growing pile of shitheads to cough up their copays every month to see some random dood that says there’s something wrong with me.
I accepted this diagnosis because at the time, I didn’t know any better. I knew people on antidepressants and they seemed just fine; so it couldn’t hurt to start on my own, right? WRONG. Little did I know at the time I was signing up for a dependency thought out by some pharmaceutical mastermind making more money on antidepressants alone than the combined yearly salary of everyone I’ve EVER known — a lowly insignificant $9.6 BILLION in 2008.
Thanks, but I can take it from here…
Here’s an interesting little tidbit: It costs more money to see a therapist to actually help you deal with your problems than it does to see a psychiatrist AND fill your scripts. Conspiracy? In addition to that, most antidepressants claim to be non-habit-forming, meaning you won’t develop an addiction to the Xanax, Zoloft, or Effexor you’re popping multiple times a day. Bullshit. I know now that I definitely don’t have a mental addiction to any of the garbage I’ve swallowed in the last 3 years, but I’ll be damned if my body isn’t aching every minute of the day for a lick of a tablet that was telling me when I started that I wouldn’t develop a dependency.
In 2002, a report was written stating that 80% of all antidepressant results could be duplicated with a placebo. 80%!?!? That means that potentially 4 out of every 5 people that walk into a doctor’s office can be spared the trouble, headache, heartache, and wallet-rape by taking a fucking sugar pill for a month. I choose sugar!
Some interesting facts provided by the Reuters article:
“During this period, individuals treated with antidepressants became more likely to also receive treatment with antipsychotic medications and less likely to undergo psychotherapy,” they wrote.
Again, it’s all about the money! It’s cheaper to just get the drugs, even though they’re now saying you’re psychotic, than it is to get therapy that can ACTUALLY HELP YOU.
It may be more socially acceptable to be diagnosed with and treated for depression, they said.
“Socially acceptable”??? Talk about peer pressure! “All the cool kids are doing it!!!”
“Although there was little change in total promotional spending for antidepressants between 1999 ($0.98B) and 2005 ($1.02B), there was a marked increase in the percentage of this spending that was devoted to direct-to consumer advertising, from $32M to $122M,” they added.
Fuck-me-Freddy! That means that campaign re-targeting increased 381%!!! Keeping people on the drugs is apparently more important than appealing to newcomers!
“There are no data to say that the population is healthier. Indeed, the suicide rate in the middle years of life has been climbing,” he said.
Go figure. The number one side effect of antidepressants is “increased thoughts of suicide.” HOW CAN THIS BE?!
The best one of all, though, I must say:
* Increase in use not seen among blacks.
To that, I follow-up with the following video that follows: