There was an article in the New York Times yesterday called "Depression's Upside" and the idea is put forward that depression can be good for us, it helps us recognise our problems so we can do something about them. Most mental illnesses are rare, like schizophrenia for example, but depression is everywhere.
I think there's enough stress in our daily lives without having something terrible happen like a divorce or the death of a loved one to send us on the downward spiral towards depression. Although every case is different, it could go something like this.
Your share port folio is halved in the recession and your retirement fund is looking grim; you get stuck in traffic for hours every day and the frustration makes you so angry, you become aggressive and mean; there's pressure from the boss to meet unrealistic targets and then there's sleep deprivation - for some reason sleep eludes you, even though you are completely exhausted, the ordinary function of going to bed every night becomes an exercise frought with anxiety. Many dark, lonely hours are spent lying awake wondering why you're not asleep yet and how can you possibly get up in the morning and go to work - but you do and drag your body through the day feelilng like death warmed up. Then you start having panic attacks, your heart races and you break out in a sweat. Before long you no longer feel like sex and problems develop with your significant other. You end up in your doctor's surgery, probably asking for some sleeping pills and your doctor asks "Do you think you are depressed?". You think about it for a minute and say "I don't know" like a dumb idiot.
Some academics studying the subject have come up with the theory that depression has an up side, it helps us recognise a problem and spurs us on to find an answer to it. They give an example of a young man who was having difficulties with his academic department. He didn't know whether to leave the department, leave academia although or stay put. He wasn't given anti-depressants, he was 'talked through his problem' and eventually he realised he couldn't fix it and decided to leave. And here's the bottom line - then he started to feel better. What they are saying is that anti-depressant drugs interfere with the solution to the depression, they discourage patients from dealing with the cause of their problem.
Another example was a woman who came in to see her doctor and wanted to reduce her medication. When asked if the pills were helping, she said they were great and she felt so much better but she was still married to the same alcoholic son-of-a-bitch but now he was tolerable. The point being the woman was depressed for a reason and the drugs made her feel better but there was no real progress made.
I've known people whose lives have been transformed for the better because of anti-depressants and I suspect that these scholars have never been depressed and haven't got a clue what they are talking about. Maybe some people with depression can be 'talked through' their pain without drugs to discover what their underlying problem is all about, I think the idea is very commendable. But I suspect that most people know they are anxious and unhappy but haven't got any idea why.
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