A conspiracy of greed? Everyone's blue nowadays, it seems. In the last 15 years, the number of people seeking treatment for depression in the U.S has nearly doubled -- now 25 million per year. That's bad news -- but what's worse is that according to recent research, 90% of these people left their doctors' offices with a prescription for antidepressants. What we're dealing with here is a two-part problem: First, a dramatic rise in the incidence of depression; and second, the increasing reliance on drugs as the preferred treatment option. Of course, I've got some theories about why depression is running rampant these days, but I'll have to tell you about them in the next Daily Dose. What I want to talk about now is one reason why prescription drugs have become the treatment of choice -- and it's downright frightening... In these days of HMOs and group health plans, if you have insurance, your health care is usually funneled through a "primary care physician" (PCP) whose responsibility it is to diagnose the problem and -- if he can't treat it -- to refer you to a specialist. But in the case of depression, instead of referring patients to qualified therapists, the PCP often dashes off a prescription for a month's worth of antidepressant drugs. Sure, I'm skeptical of psychotherapy, but it beats harmful drugs -- and the vicious cycle of dependency they bring, with no real hope of a lasting cure. This "band-aiding" of depression symptoms could be doctors brainwashed by drug company propaganda into believing antidepressants are the best course of action. Or it could be that these PCPs are directed by the insurance companies to prescribe expensive, addictive drugs in place of other therapies. Neither reality is best for the patient, but one can be blamed on ignorance -- and the other only on a conspiracy. In either event, large forces with much to gain financially are influencing our doctors toward treatments that may not be the best course of action for you. Makes you wonder exactly what the drug company/insurance industry relationship is, doesn't it? It certainly doesn't seem to revolve around your good health... And that's enough to make anyone depressed.
(I'll have more to say about antidepressants in the next Daily Dose, about what works and what's worthless.) It's not easy being blue,
William Campbell Douglass II, MD
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