[back] Antidepressants

[Read Whitaker to get the truth on these pills.  Lets hope this starts the ball rolling to bust these Corporations with litigation and by exposing the Pharmaceutical Medicine Hoax.  No lie can live forever.]

Actually, it's NOT a placebo. By definition, a placebo is a substance which has no effect at all. Anti-depressants have no positive effects and many, many negative effects so calling it a placebo is FAR too kind!--M Dorey

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-rose-levy/dont-get-depressed-becau_b_88773.html

Don't Get Depressed Because Your Antidepressant is a Placebo

Posted February 27, 2008 | 04:16 PM (EST)


Stand back and watch the P.R. spin as a new study in a peer-reviewed
journal finds that antidepressants make "virtually no difference at
moderate levels of initial depression to a relatively small difference for
patients with very severe depression."

In an article published in PLoS Medicine, researchers doing a meta-analysis
looked at 47 published and unpublished clinical trials, and found that
depressants attained clinically significant levels of efficacy "only for
patients at the upper end of the very severely depressed category."

In other words, if you have anything short of the upper end of severe
depression, a placebo might do as well as or better than an antidepressant.

Now, to be clear, I would never suggest that anyone out there read this or
any blog, and then suddenly go off their medication. Nor am I a fan of Tom
Cruise so let's take that right off the table.

In fact, I hope I don't disappoint your need for advice if I mention that
I'm not your doctor and I'm not making any clinical recommendations --
though it's widely known that because of the effect on brain chemistry any
alteration in medication dosage should be done gradually and under the care
of a practitioner.

However I will point out that gentle and uplifting supports which some find
helpful in low-grade depression relief, such as exercise, certain herbs,
counseling, guided imagery, relaxation, prayer, (or hey, even that
unscientifically verified behavior of talking with a friend) don't have the
side-effects of medication.

These side-effects have been known to include changes in brain chemistry,
and potential for suicidal ideation, violent urges, loss of libido, and
other goodies -- as well as the risk of harmful interactions with other
drugs, as occurred in the death of Heath Ledger. So choose your placebos
wisely.

The irony here is that conventional medicine routinely dismisses soft touch
approaches as "mere placebos." Therefore, what a surprise to find
prescribed drugs inside the Placebo Club, that feel-good purgatory reserved
only for natural substances developed by the earth.

Now that the Placebo Club is getting crowded, perhaps it's time to consider
whether some of those easily accessible approaches might warrant additional
study. Indeed many have been studied, even though Nature doesn't get the
same grants, let's face it.

Still, there's one underlying question. Clearly, it's the medical aim of
prescription antidepressants to act upon the neurotransmitters and thereby
to correct chemical imbalances in the brain that contribute to depression.

So do these drugs actually balance brain chemistry? Or do they merely
intervene in brain chemistry in a way that could potentially perpetuate or
worsen any imbalance?

Neurologist Fred Baughman, Jr. M.D. cites Dr John D. Griffith, Assistant
Professor of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, who as
far back as 1970 testified at a Congressional Hearing that, "Every drug,
however innocuous, has some degree of toxicity. A drug, therefore, is a
type of poison and its poisonous qualities must be carefully weighed
against its therapeutic usefulness."

The risk of toxicity to the brain, the locus for mood and mental function,
is something to ponder, especially since there are health approaches that
balance brain chemistry in a gentler manner.

Over the last seven years, clinicians and researchers have developed
diagnostics and protocols to measure and support key neurotransmitters,
like serotonin and dopamine. (FYI: The former are what antidepressant SSRIs
act upon.) First, they measure neurotransmitter levels and then customize
targeted amino acid supplements, which nourish the brain with the building
blocks of protein. On the biochemical level, these are options to consider.
(For more info, you can go to: www.health-journalist.com)

Beyond the biochemical, if you or someone you know is suffering from
depression, the further question is: "What in our world of suffering is
causing you pain?"

Whatever it is, you need to acknowledge it and then access all the best
"placebos" you can find. Whatever brings real joy, makes you feel a tad
better about yourself, moves you to care, or to reach out and act, go for
that placebo.