Psycho-Active Drugs

This is in response to someone who was told they could get a pill for handling depression. They were really confused because they did not feel depressed. It was written on December 26, 2003:

This is a current pharmaceutical ploy. Feel bad, pop a pill, no discussion as to why. The really bad part is that they have managed to convince the general population that this is normal. I've noticed the advertisements on TV that talk about the anti depressants, etc. If you watch closely, none ever say that the problem they purport to solve is a problem, only that some people say it is.

That is, "feel depressed. This may be caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Buy our pill." As one book I read pointed out, how does one measure a "chemical imbalance in the brain?" Most people who are alive would object to someone taking samples of brain tissue to do the chemical analysis, and most people who are dead are not depressed, or at least not measurably so.

I had the same thing happened when I got divorced. I was a bit down, went to see the doctor, and was told I needed some anti-depressant for the rest of my life. I told the doctor to get lost, and do not regret it at all today.

You must remember that the pharmaceutical industry has profits in mind, not the betterment of lives. (That may be a side affect.) Counseling doesn't add anything to their bottom line, pill do.