Tips to a Happier You in 2012~Choosing to See Truth



As a pharmacist who became the patient for seven years, I gained quite the understanding on depression. If you’ve never experienced it, I’m rejoicing with you! It’s not a place you want to go. If you have experienced it…well, I’m right there with you. 


In the gloomy pit of despair and hopelessness that is depression, desperation is born. The desire to be out of that pit is overwhelming. We will do anything to get out. 


Prozac, one of the most prescribed medications for depression, was approved by the FDA just as I began practicing. It was the first antidepressant in its class of serotonin reuptake inhibitors. That particular class has grown drastically over the last twenty-two years and has actually spun off into a new class—serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors. For a list of the serotonin reuptake inhibitors, click here. For a list of serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, click here.


During my first fourteen years as a pharmacist, I couldn’t begin to tell you how many Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil prescriptions I filled. I never understood the desperation behind those prescriptions. In the last few years, Cymbalta—one of the newer antidepressants—has gained popularity. Drug companies in the U.S. have invested millions in research, marketing, and advertising making antidepressants the most prescribed class of drugs in our country. 


A 2007 article at CNN Health, “CDC: Antidepressants most prescribed drugs in U.S.,” says the following: 

According to a government study, antidepressants have become the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. They’re prescribed more than drugs to treat high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, or headaches. CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen discusses the CDC study on antidepressants.

In its study, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in visits to doctors and hospitals in 2005. Of those, 118 million were for antidepressants.

A 2011 article at Harvard Health Solutions, “Astounding increase in antidepressant use by Americans,” gave the following statistics: 

  • According to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens and adults (people ages 12 and older) increased by almost 400% between 1988–1994 and 2005–2008.
  • 23% of women in their 40s and 50s take antidepressants, a higher percentage than any other group (by age or sex)
  • Women are 2½ times more likely to be taking an antidepressant than men (click here to read a May 2011 article in the Harvard Mental Health Letter about women and depression)
  • 14% of non-Hispanic white people take antidepressants compared with just 4% of non-Hispanic blacks and 3% of Mexican Americans
  • Less than a third of Americans who are taking a single antidepressants (as opposed to two or more) have seen a mental health professional in the past year
  • Antidepressant use does not vary by income status
Are you getting the picture? 

During my seven years as a patient, I was desperately searching for a cure for my depression (among other things). I tried a few of the antidepressants, none of which helped my depression. Cymbalta, in particular, caused so many side effects and drug interactions, I think it made me more depressed. And when I decided to go off of it, I had to wean very slowly to avoid withdrawals (nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea) from this drug that we are told is not addictive. 

Okay. I’ve said all that to say this: 

We’ve got to stop trying to take the easy way out of everything. 

God created our brain—every little complex, intricate detail—to deal with sadness and depression. He also gave us our eyes—the sense of sight.  

In an article at Mood-Factory on the power of color, Susan Minamyer tells us this: 

Bright colors, such as yellow, reflect more light and stimulate the eyes. Yellow is the color that the eye processes first, and is the most luminous and visible color in the spectrum. 

And what color did God decide for the sun? 

I don’t believe that to be a coincidence. 

Seasonal Affective Disorder gives us further proof of this. It’s a kind of depression that occurs a certain time of the year, usually in the winter months. There is even a special type of light you can buy that mimics sunlight. And yes, I have one of those too. 

Now I’m not totally against antidepressants. I do believe in some cases they are necessary. 
But in the United States, we want immediate gratification. Consider this excerpt from the CNN Health article quoted above: 
Dr. Ronald Dworkin tells the story of a woman who didn’t like the way her husband was handling the family finances. She wanted to start keeping the books herself but didn’t want to insult her husband.
The doctor suggested she try an antidepressant to make herself feel better.
She got the antidepressant, and she did feel better, said Dr. Dworkin, a Maryland anesthesiologist and senior fellow at Washington’s Hudson Institute, who told the story in his book “Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class.” But in the meantime, Dworkin says, the woman’s husband led the family into financial ruin.

 

“Doctors are now medicating unhappiness,” said Dworkin. “Too many people take drugs when they really need to be making changes in their lives.”

We have a choice.  

We choose what we see. 

Your eye is a lamp that provides light for you body. 
When your eye is good, your body is filled with light.

We choose to see things that make us happy. We choose to see light or dark. We choose to see truth. 
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet 
and a light unto my path. 
(Psalm 119:105 KJV)

Doctors see only a sliver of our lives, yet we expect them to fix us. It’s not their fault, really.  With advertising and the Internet, we typically walk into their office knowing what we want. As patients, we need to look deeper. 

What are you choosing to see?

From my heart, 
Celeste
For more information, check out my delicious stacks: “Antidepressants” and “What you see is what you get.”

If this post was of particular interest to you, check out an older post, “America on Drugs.”