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Depression is not a disease
Depression is not a disease but it is an unavoidable, occasional part of the human condition. In working full time as a medical herbalist for well over 20 years in Christchurch I have met with many people who are dealing with depression. I understand how serious and life-affecting it can be. Everyone, sometimes, gets depressed. It is, and always has been, part of the human condition to sometimes feel a sense of sadness, hopelessness, heaviness, at its worst even despair. But depression as a disease, as a medical condition, now that is something that takes a lot more thought. ‘Depression’as it is thought of conventionally, as it is described, just happens. It is a chemical imbalance, a piece of genetic bad luck, an illness, like diabetes, that needs to be understood in the same way and treated as you would a diabetic, with medication, for ever. I have some problems with this way of thinking, because I see its results. Many people, in fact a lot of people I have met over the years, have been through the whole process of having a really bad patch in their lives, eventually seeing their GP about it and predictably then being put on a course of antidepressants that have stretched long past the bad time has passed. What is going on here? This is really a gnarly subject. Being told you have ‘depression’ and that this is not your fault is of considerable comfort at the time. When someone is in the depths of despair, comfort is usually in terribly short order. However, in the long term, the medical model of ‘depression’ may be a profoundly dangerous thing to believe in, especially if it's not actually true.
“My doctor told me I have a chemical imbalance…” Currently there is no scientific evidence to show that serotonin, or any other brain chemicals are in any way altered or abnormal in people with depression. However I am sure that, as time goes by, there will actually be some real evidence backing up the chemical explanation of depression. As we get more sophisticated methods of measuring the brain and body chemistry there will eventually be some breakthroughs showing consistently altered chemistry in people suffering with depression. And the horse will surely be forever put in front of the cart from then on. The biological model of life is that all we are is a series of complex chemical actions and reactions and depression fits perfectly into this model. I understand the biological model; I can see why it appeals and how much solace it gives to people who feel like they are victims of their own psychology. However my problem is that I have met hundreds of people who are suffering from depression and every single one, without exception, has had good cause to feel the way they do. People get depressed for good reason. Most people, not just some, but most people will experience some level of depression in their lives for at least some period of time. It is an integral part of the human condition and always has been.
Why has there been such a strong push from all sides of the medical system to see Depression as a biological disease that needs pharmaceutical intervention? I know this will read as terribly cynical but you may have to get into the mind-set of people in the pharmaceutical business to begin to understand how lucrative it is to label someone with a condition that they are a victim of and cannot expect to get better from by themselves. If you can convince someone that they have a condition and that you have the answer for it, but you have to take the answer every day, for the rest of your life, you have achieved the nirvana of the corporate world; life-long customers. But if you include all the pharmaceutical trials on anti-depressants, not just the ones that the companies themselves publish, but all the trials, you will see the truth. Antidepressants only barely perform better than placebos, a few percent better. It is all a great con. People with depression do get better. But not because they are taking drugs to fix some make believe chemical imbalance. People get better because they process the things that are troubling them. I don’t believe in drugs for depression, at all. But neither do I think people should be abandoned to fend for themselves. Being in a state of depression is a deadly and dangerous place to find one’s self. People who are in the depths of depression need extremely careful, open and honest support.
These three things help, every time, without fail.
People definitely heal from depression. I believe that the biggest and most important message to get across to anyone suffering from depression is that it will pass. It may only seem like some nice words at the time, they almost certainly won't believe you with their thinking and feeling minds, but nevertheless somewhere deep inside there is a part of them that knows that it is the truth. Periods of depression always pass, always. People tell me that the worst part of being in a state of depression is the certain belief that it will never ever leave. Even if they have been through it before and know that it eventually does pass they still just can't believe it at the time! This terrible fear of the depression itself is at the root of why it is so badly understood and treated in the world today. Fear is also common to us all, and equally there are strong ways, tried and tested ways, to move with it and through it that bring the healing process forwards. |
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Depression video
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