An Old Expression: "Take A Pill!"

Meaning: "Calm Down!" … are pills a good solution for depression?

By Gary V Carter

Somebody must have taken that old saying seriously. More pills and potions of both the legal and illegal variety are consumed every day than ever before in the history of humankind.

Is that a good idea? The answer is a qualified "yes and no." There are many good things that drugs have brought to us. Ancient remedies are being rediscovered in the modern laboratory. It is said that the Amazon rain forests may hold the greatest health secrets for cure of common diseases such as cancers. Make no mistake about it drugs are here to stay and there will be an increasing number of benefits.

The other side of the issue is an increasing dependence upon artificial means to attempt to achieve what ought to be achieved by adjustments in lifestyle. While something from a bottle might make you feel better temporarily it cannot bring the life change necessary to make that sense of well-being permanent.

There is no substitute for hard work in thinking through the normal response your body and soul are making to difficult circumstances in your life. If you do what you've always done you'll get the results you have always gotten. If the normal pattern of your life has been to seek escape with the use of some chemical, an increased use of that chemical won't change the things that developed your depression in the first place.

The worst possible thing you can do to deal with depression is to ingest the most prevalent drug of all. This drug is directly and indirectly responsible for more depression, more family breakups, more industrial accidents and more automobile tragedies than anything else. If you are in a depressed state you are less and less capable of making good judgments. Making bad judgments with this most prevalent of drugs will amplify your problems beyond belief. In fact, many people develop a dependency on this drug while they're in a depressed state and never again recover to normalcy. In case you haven't already guessed it this drug of choice is alcohol. Avoid it.

While dulling the edge of your psyche might feel good in the short run, it opens you up to a major tragedy down the road. It matters not whether the drug you use is prescribed by a doctor, purchased at a pharmacy or recommended by a friend. Be very careful. When you are depressed you are extremely vulnerable to developing a dependency on a substance that can do you no good over time.

Your medical doctor probably does not have a complete education in psychopharmacology. In fact, the doctor's current education is often limited to that which the drug companies provide. To be certain, conscientious doctors go further than that in their education. However, you want to make sure that your consumption of chemicals is monitored by a mental health care professional who has studied these matters and takes courses to stay up to date. To create an analogy, you wouldn't want the grease monkey at your local fast service oil change company to do the overhaul on the engine of your car. Make sure you take your prescriptions based on the knowledge of someone who has studied the subject not just someone authorized to make the suggestion.

Most mental-health care professionals agree that there is a place for prescribed drugs to help you through a depression phase. However, drugs alone will not do the trick. You will need to spend time with good people who can help you. You may need (indeed, probably you do need) a professional counselor to help you down the road. If you handle it properly your valley of depression will become a distant memory over time.