Mental Fitness

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With 120 million prescriptions written in the US last year for anti-depressants, they have become the most prescribed drug in America. Some estimates suggest that 50% of American adults are on anti-depressants. Probably true in a lot of other countries too. This is a truly frightening statistic. I have theories about why we are so unhappy and depressed and they focus on two main things- our inability to grasp the fact that prosperity and “stuff” (generally called “success” in our culture) cannot make us happy, and our woeful physical condition in general. One is a spiritual/emotional problem and the other is a physical problem- although it is hard to separate those two categories. When things are not right in our spiritual, emotional and physical lives, it is only natural that we will be unhappy and depressed. The answer of course is to do something about it. The great American answer to everything is to take a pill for it because it is easy and requires virtually no effort on our part. So when I read this article this morning, I was not surprised at all-

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The researchers found that compared with placebo, these new-generation antidepressant medications did not yield clinically significant improvements in depression in patients who initially had moderate or even very severe depression. The study found that significant benefits occurred only in the most severely depressed patients.

“Drug-placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication,” the researchers wrote.

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While I’m sure that anti-depressants are useful and helpful for some people, the best treatment for depression is to determine the cause and fix it. I don’t think brain chemistry is the cause for most people. What we are doing by putting all these people on drugs is trying to make them happy in their misery and apparently even the drugs can’t do that.

So try this- get at least 1/2 hour of good exercise every day. Quit eating fast food and eat fresh foods like fruit, vegetables, lean meats and cut out the fried stuff. Quit screwing up your metabolism by eating refined sugar products like candy, ice cream and pastries covered in frosting. Get enough sleep. And don’t neglect the spiritual element of you life. We all worship something whether it is the “American Dream”, money, fame or power. Just make sure that what you worship is worthy of your worship. Many people have found that church and a connection to a group of people in that context is a big help in life. So, live smart and as the old Nike commercial says “Just DO It”.