Dealing with depression: Antidepressants vs talk therapy

We should all question the use of any medication, whether it be to treat a mental illness like anxiety or depression or another illness.

It is also good practice to feel comfortable asking the question of your treating doctor, do the potential benefits of taking this drug outweigh the harms?

If you have been wrestling with the issues of drug-based approaches to depression, there are two articles I’d like to draw to your attention.

Being wary of drugs

The first is a New Daily article entitled: Consumer warning: be wary of antidepressants.

It highlights one of the potential risks in young people taking antidepressant medication to treat mild depression.

The findings of Professor Jureidini’s team at the Critical and Ethical Mental Health Research Group at The University of Adelaide highlighted both the importance of full access to these studies and the need for caution when prescribing.

“The case against the widespread use of antidepressants is already very strong, and this paper just adds a little more to that case,” he said.

The topic is top of mind for me because I am planning to address these issues in an article here soon.

Be good at feelings

A further article that gets deeper into the issue is, Better to be good at feelings than to feel good.

This article, written by Jon Jureidini, explores the notion of distressing emotion being a normal part of everyday life rather than a precursor to mental illness.

That somebody is distraught doesn’t mean that they are sick. Giving priority to catching psychiatric illness early risks disrespecting an adolescent’s need to go through hard times in order to emerge as a mature functioning adult …

It is that particular angle that I will be addressing here shortly.

As a final thought, I recommend anybody with feelings of depression or anxiety to consider talk therapy as an alternative to taking a drug-based approach.

Here at Attuned we help many clients treat their anxiety and depression symptoms through this evidence-based approach.

Image: Don’t be cynical but do be sceptical. Getty via TheNewDaily

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