1 in Whosit-Now?

Today I came across an article on CNN.com that published the results from the CDC's recent nationwide poll about clinical depression. The results were that "Nearly 1 in 10 US adults [are] depressed." Here's a link to the article if you're interested: http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/01/cdc-nearly-1-in-10-u-s-adults-depressed/?hpt=T2. The article wasn't particularly surprising to me, but still got me thinking about a couple things. What I really want to know is how many of those people are actually being treated for depression.

Next thing I thought about was how the Student Health Center at my college gave me a survey with like 8 questions to "diagnose" my depression. Surely it was similar to the poll the people in the CDC study participated in. What happened with me was this: I went to the Counseling Center after having a really hard time for too long (ok, understatement of the century), met with a counselor one time, cried uncontrollably, got sent over to Student Health, met with a doctor one time, cried uncontrollably, took a survey, got a prescription for antidepressants that day. But really, people. I can't believe 8 questions is all it takes for a doctor to whip out the Rx pad. The problem is, I only find this very surprsing because hindsight is 20-20. I had no clue then just how incredibly powerful antidepressants are. And the doc didn't tell me either. And you know what? I don't think doctors even really understand them fully yet.

Not to like, freak you guys out or anything. It actually turned out ok for me: I was on meds for two years and got myself into a much healthier place. But, I can't help but wonder if I would have been able to do that without drugs. I guess I'll never know. And I had no clue how powerful the drugs really were until I stopped taking them. I tapered down my dosage 5mg at a time for over 6 months, and still, the week after I finally totally stopped was pretty much hell. I had cold sweats, nausea, anxiety, rapid heart rate, the works. And one hellish day saw me throw up 3 times while in total agony from the worst headache I've ever had (apparently this is something called "SSRI Discontinuation Syndrome," which many doctors don't even acknowledge as a real thing. Yeah, ok, tell that to Chris's van and the toilet in the Japanese restaurant north of town). So, my point, is, meds should be prescribed with care. I feel like I probably should have gone to counseling multiple times before being sent to the doctor, and then I should have tried a few things before resorting to meds.

Now that I'm off the meds, I use exercise as my main depression-deterrent. I've heard more than once that at least half-an-hour of exercise per day can keep mild depression totally at bay. If you read the article I posted above, you know that depression is most common in The South (which they mentioned might correlate to the fact that so many people there are overweight, suffer from diabetes, etc). To me, that's like "duh." Gotta get moving to get endorphins flowing. Endorphins= happy! Now, that's not to say that everyone who doesn't exercise will become depressed. But, those people (like me) who have certain tendencies present, really should to help keep themselves mentally (and physically, again, "duh"), healthy. But, I also have to admit, the meds also kept me from being totally insane, which allowed me to train myself to employ different kinds of thought patterns (and I have no clue if exercise alone could have done this for me).

I'd also like to say that I'm not trying to stand on any kind of soapbox here. I'm also not trying to say that meds are evil and should never be considered. What I am saying is that maybe doctors need to put greater thought and care into the problem of clinical depression. Maybe they should tell their patients about how intense antidepressants are (and about how the first one they prescribe is not necessarily a fit). Maybe more research should be conducted so that we can truly understand what depression is and what SSRIs are, and why some people react differently to them than others.

And also, why are SO MANY people depressed???

Not enough vacation. That must be it.