Today's Depression Mythology

Until fairly recently, depression was generally thought of as a purely psychological problem.  While it was acknowledged that physical disorders could play a role in it, those who suffered from depression were generally sent for counseling or just told to get their act together.

Whatever the case, there was a definite stigma attached to it.

Thankfully, that's no longer true — at least, not to the degree that was true before.  But that recognition cuts both ways: Along with the de-stigmatizing of depression came a simple bio-chemical view of what caused it.  "It's just brain chemistry," or so we're told.

The problem with the brain chemistry model

But, there's a serious problem with the current brain chemistry model of depression.  That problem is two-fold:

1. By focusing on brain chemistry (specifically serotonin levels in the brain), the medical model is repeating the failed pattern of looking at a symptom in isolation, and ignoring how the rest of the body is supposed to work.  This results in prescribing medications that are deadly, and so often have terribly tragic results in the lives of people.
2. Underlying causes are left un-addressed.

But there's something really outrageous about this brain chemistry model, as well.  It was devised by pharmaceutical companies.  We're not talking about medical science, something that is based upon a knowledge of the body and clinical study; we're talking about chemists who have a product to sell.

The definition of disease has been taken over by marketers.

Some of the sad results of this trend

Depression was seldom considered a disease unto itself until the big pharmaceutical companies had a product to market.  (The same thing is true of ADHD and Ritilan.)  But, once that product was approved by the FDA, the power of the market took over.

One of the results of this is that, in order to protect the interests of the drug companies (whose employees, unfortunately, make up a majority of the FDA Advisory Panels, and whose money funds more than half of the FDA's total budget), the FDA has become very pro-active against anyone who'd suggest that they have an answer for depression that's not pharmaceutically-based.

As soon as something is labeled a disease, only FDA-approved medications are permitted for treating it.  If you have a natural product that really works in a clinical setting, you don't dare tell anyone about it, or the FDA will brand those claims as a label, and remove the product from the market as an un-approved drug.

Non-sense!

This effectively shuts off safe and effective alternatives from ever reaching the public view.

It also entrenches in the common mind-set the idea that depression is a disease; something to be directly addressed.

The idea that depression is a disease is a myth

The truth is: depression is not a disease.  Never was and never will be.  It's a symptom of some other problem in the body.  Just as branding high cholesterol, arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis as diseases unto themselves fails to address the underlying problems that lead to these conditions, so the labeling of depression as a disease serves pharmaceutical corporations far more than public health and well-being.

One of the major causes of depression is an overloaded liver.  Faulty liver function can throw off everything else in the body.  Depression is also associated with several other diseases, including Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia.

In any of these instances, there may be something wrong with brain chemistry, but it's certainly not the cause of the problem; it's the result of another problem.  The underlying issues must be addressed, or tinkering with brain chemistry is like opening Pandora's box.

It's past time that we take back the healthcare system in this country from the special interests of the pharmaceutical companies.  We need to put a stop to the trend that effectively places public health in the hands of marketers.  We should stop allowing drug companies to define what disease is — especially if that definition serves mainly to further their bottom line.  And, we should demand that our doctors get their training from those who understand clinical practice, not from salesmen.