Here in the United States, our solution for every problem is a drug. Depression is not immune to this; the number of people that are on medication for depression is incredible. Doctors don’t take the time to find out why their patients are feeling depressed; it is far easier to just prescribe them something that will take away the depressed feelings and make them happy.
Every problem cannot be solved by medication, however. Depression in the vast majority of people is not cured by anti-depressants, although the symptoms are certainly likely to be mitigated by taking the medication. The person will feel happier, and they attribute their positive feelings to the medication. (This is great for the drug companies, who grow wealthy on our “drug for everything” mentality).
Society is definitely taking the wrong approach to depression. The key is to find out why so very many people are unhappy. What is it about our society that makes people depressed? Taking a global approach, it is not difficult to figure out. People have to work too hard for too many hours just to put food on the table and a roof over their loved ones. Prices of everything go up but income doesn’t keep pace, which increases the worry and often the hours at work. Work takes up so much time during the work week that almost all chores are reserved for the weekend, resulting in little to no actual leisure time. No leisure time equals more depression. Higher bills and less money equals depression.
Instead of taking a global approach, society turns to medications. Anti-depressants make people feel better because they cover up the truth of what is going on. The problems are still there; the drugs just make the problems seem less important. The person taking the medication floats by in a dream world, not really living their life but at least not feeling depressed all the time.
A better approach would be to make life better for everyone by enabling people to work reasonable hours and still be able to support their families. The cost of living should not outpace income. And why are we paying over 30 percent of our income to the federal government in income taxes? That is obscene. Consider the amount of money we are currently spending on an unwinable war that we have no business being involved in; if that money were to be spent bettering the lives of Americans, depression would not be such a prevalent problem in our society. The drug companies would lose a large amount of profits, but we would have a much happier and more stable society.
