Feeling Down?

Professor Irving Kirsch, author of The Emperor's New Drugs, (Click on my book recommendations at the left) has researched the efficacy of antidepressant medication. His research indicates, contrary to popular belief, that depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain and treating the condition with antidepressant drugs is no more effective than placebos.

Kirsch analyzed data from numerous clinical studies on antidepressants reports that "75 percent of the response to the drugs appears to be a placebo effect." According to Kirsch, patients improved mostly because they believed they were taking a medication that would help them with depression. He concludes that the figure could be as high as 82 percent, with the remaining 'drug difference' accounted for by enhanced placebo effect.

Kirsch stressed that lack of serotonin cannot be the physical cause of depression. As proof, he pointed to a new French antidepressant that works as a selective serotonin reuptake enhancer (SSRE). This drug decreases serotonin levels -- exactly the opposite of how popular SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) medication functions. Kirsch said studies show about 60 percent of patients get better regardless of whether they are on antidepressants that increase, reduce, or do nothing to their serotonin levels. This is a clear evidence to Kirsch that these drugs actually do nothing.

Even if antidepressants were an effective pharmaceutical treatment for depression they come with a host of negative side effects, including insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and increased risk of suicide in children and young adults. Kirsch suggests that alternative treatments for depression like physical exercise (shown clinically to help people get better) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which boasts effectiveness comparable to antidepressants.

Besides its physical health benefits, exercise is often said to help people simply feel good. And a growing number of studies are showing that these mood-boosting effects may even fight clinical depression. For example, researchers found that walking for 30 minutes each day quickly improved the patients' symptoms -- faster, in fact, than antidepressant drugs typically do. (British Journal of Sports Medicine April 2001;35:114-117).

The results indicate that, in selected patients with major depression, aerobic training can produce a substantial improvement in symptoms in a short time. In fact, in one study that compared exercise with antidepressants among older adults, investigators found that physical activity was the more effective depression-fighter.

Here is another idea:

Change your physiology. When you feel down, look up, put on a big, big smile, and high-five in the air. I bet you can’t feel bad while smiling . . . it just doesn’t work.