2.26.2008

Another Study Showing The Ineffectiveness Of Anti-Depressants

As first read on this fellow Corvallis blogger's website. Irvin Kirsch, University of Hull, lead the study. Here's what he and his researchers concluded.

"Washington--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. Although patients get better when they take antidepressants, they also get better when they take a placebo, and the difference in improvement is not very great. This means that depressed people can improve without chemical treatments, Kirsch said in a statement."

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Not surprising.

We're being sold, essentially, love in a pill, for that is what we are really in need of. When our needs aren't being met, the mind and body become stressed. The result is illness, or a body that becomes out of balance. Our needs are universal. Physically we need safe shelter, healthy food and water, clothing. Emotionally and mentally we need connections with one another. We need to be respected, heard, cared about and for. We need activity that supports the mind and body.

We have a system in place that tells us to fear one another, to put our faith, respect and trust in government, business/employers, doctors, the church, our teachers or whoever the System says is the authority figure. And yet is any of that trust, respect and faith returned to us in kind, in the way we are told (often demanded) to give it? Hardly.

We're taught that hard work and long hours (which in today's world means you're working like a slave for someone else who is in turn becoming rich off of your labor) is something to be proud of, to be honored. We're taught to keep quiet if any thought, belief or action goes contrary to the individualistic ways of America.

We've been so brutally and methodically lied to, for so long, it is no surprise we're suffering. The answer to what ails us does not come in a pill. While I realize for some medication is necessary, if we were to truly change how we think and live, believe and act/interact, we wouldn't need so many of these damn pills. In fact, if we were to get clear on what our needs are, individually and collectively, and work together to achieve these needs, we would likely put a lot of pharmaceutical companies (and likely even some health care professionals) out of business. But that's ok. We would help these folks create something new for themselves. Needs are needs, as as hard as this pill is to swallow, (no pun intended), we are all equally worthy and deserving of having those needs meet.

We were not meant to get sick in the way we do, with the frequency in which we do. The body is such a miraculous entity. It isn't just a machine. It's our vehicle for everything we are. And not only do we need to treat it better, we also need to treat our heart, our feelings/emotions with the same amount of care. We cannot do this on our own either. We need to do it together. And if the System won't go along, we need to create our own System that has as its core agenda the goal of ensuring the needs of those it is serving are met, with respect and without fail.

No comments: