New at Reason

Julian Sanchez | October 3, 2005

Maia Szalavitz goes running for the shelter of her policy analyst's little helper.

Comments

Timothy|10.3.05 @ 4:44PM|#

A short course of anti-depressants during a particularly nasty bout of depression in college was the best thing I ever did for myself. Bollocks to the anti-drug crusaders.

|10.3.05 @ 4:56PM|#

Excellent piece.

Joe Dokes|10.3.05 @ 5:13PM|#

I especially liked the description that criticized talk therapy. NPR had an interesting piece discussing how some of the talk therapy employed after 9/11 actually INCREASED post traumatic stress syndrome.

As someone who has suffered bouts of nearly debilitating depression, and found relief through medication, I can say without a doubt that these drugs have allowed me to be successful.

Regards

Joe

Joe Dokes|10.3.05 @ 5:15PM|#

I especially liked the description that criticized talk therapy. NPR had an interesting piece discussing how some of the talk therapy employed after 9/11 actually INCREASED post traumatic stress syndrome.

As someone who has suffered bouts of nearly debilitating depression, and found relief through medication, I can say without a doubt that these drugs have allowed me to be successful.

Regards

Joe

|10.3.05 @ 5:23PM|#

Drugs are for the weak! You want a cure for depression? Bang Katie Holmes! :P

|10.3.05 @ 5:54PM|#

"Few would dispute the notion that painful experience can build character, just as stressing muscles by lifting weights increases strength."

I dispute the idea that pain builds character. The only thing anyone ever learned directly from suffering is that it's better not to suffer. If people can avoid suffering with medication, for goodness sake...

"The notion that emotional pain and difficulties inevitably lead to growth and maturity is a largely unexamined assumption with deeps roots in Western religion."

Religion, for many people, is the very expression of our tendency to project value onto suffering. ...but people who suffer the loss of a loved one in a war, for instance, tend to think of that war as being incredibly important. ...I don't think that tendency has anything to do with Western religion.

P.S. Great piece!

|10.3.05 @ 6:20PM|#

Great article.

The only thing anyone ever learned directly from suffering is that it's better not to suffer
Nah, I can't buy into that. Too many people confuse "Happiness" with the absence of pain. They are quite different things, I think. Not that pain is necessarily a good, just that there are times when it is unavoidable and a necessary part of life.

That having been said, Maia does a good job of pointing out that there are times when the pain has gone beyond "normal" and is just there, for no obvious reason. I have had a few instances of that in my life. For the most part, I have been able to treat my depressions with exercise and socializing (with effort), but once or twice the depression got the better of me and I went to the pills (for a short time).

On the topic of Health Care, I have noticed that it is far more financially viable for a HMO to simply have their general practitioners hand you a prescription for a anti-depressant than to study, in depth, what course of action may be best for a patient. Those of us who are prone to being moody really need to be our own advocates.

|10.3.05 @ 6:41PM|#

Definitely one of the better "long" articles from the print edition in a while.

Larry A|10.3.05 @ 6:46PM|#

"Few would dispute the notion that painful experience can build character, just as stressing muscles by lifting weights increases strength."

Pain is the body's way of saying, "Don't do that." Once you learn the lesson involved the pain has no further value.

|10.3.05 @ 6:53PM|#

Larry A,

I agree, but would say that the same could be said of emotional experiences as well. Would you agree?

For instance, I married an Appalachian girl once. I won't do that again. If I had been on anti-depressants during the entire affair (which was seriously considered, I can assure you), I might have missed the lesson.

|10.3.05 @ 9:07PM|#

Very well done article.

It's been my experience that antidepressants and talk therapy are the best way to work through a serious mental problem such as depression.

That said, one absolutely must take great care in choosing both a shrink and what antidepressant to take.

A good shrink will watch for the warning signs that the drug therapy isn't working, as well as offer you new ways to look at your life so that you have the tools to solve those problems causing the depression.

|10.4.05 @ 10:10AM|#

She recovered from mental illness and a dangerous drug addiction through psychiatric drugs. Good for her. Same for anyone else that gives informed consent to be treated using psychiatric drugs and believes that they are effective.

But that doesn't change the fact that the pharmaceutical companies and those they can buy influence with are heading in some dangerous directions, especially when considered from a libertarian perspective. The push to mandatory screening of large portions of the population through schools, the move to "diagnosis marketing", the practice of coercive or forced medication, etc. should all be alarming to people that value freedom, choice, and human rights.

An industry that makes itself wealthy by manipulating the State into forcing citizens to consume its products is totally incompatible with freedom, libery, and free markets.

digamma|10.4.05 @ 11:59AM|#

Everything that I wanted to say about this great article has already been said, but I second it all.