This may explain our National stupor...
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I have been saying this since before I began blogging - Americans are on anti-depressant drugs - real drugs - in record numbers. We are doped up.
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No wonder we are so complacent and tolerate the politicians, the corruption, and the collapse of our Nation.
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Oh wait. Is that too harsh? Sorry.
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Antidepressant use doubles in US...
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"Use of antidepressant drugs in the United States doubled between 1996 and 2005, probably because of a mix of factors, researchers reported on Monday.
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About 6 percent of people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996 -- 13 million people. This rose to more than 10 percent or 27 million people by 2005, the researchers found.
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"Not only are more U.S. residents being treated with antidepressants, but also those who are being treated are receiving more antidepressant prescriptions." Dr. Mark Olfson of Columbia University in New York and Steven Marcus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia wrote in the Archives of General Psychiatry.
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The survey did not look at why, but the researchers made some educated guesses. It may be more socially acceptable to be diagnosed with and treated for depression, they said. The availability of new drugs may also have been a factor. More than 164 million prescriptions were written in 2008 for antidepressants, totaling $9.6 billion in U.S. sales, according to IMS Health." - Source
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Brave new world... Really.
I'm on antidepressants/antianxiety medication, and that's *why* I'm able to function. I see plain as day why Obama is an idiot and how he is tearing down our country. Don't blame the meds--blame lazy complacency!
ReplyDeleteI will admit that there are a lot of people on meds that shouldn't be though, just so they have a "reason" not to control themselves.
I wass afraid I might offend people who take meds - I didn't mean to - I know they are a life saver for many who neeed them - nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I wish I could live on valium... ;)
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the prescriptive approach has escalated because many people are trying to treat spiritual problems with natural (or maybe unnatural) means rather than supernatural ones. Taking pills to ignore the cause is probably easier than striving to overcome the cause. I'm not judging the people who are unnecessarily taking meds, just opining on the reasons for the incredible increase.
ReplyDeleteDeveloping virtues is a very difficult thing to do, and sometimes the path of least resistance can be alluring. To some degree, the deadly sin of sloth is in play here.
No offense to those who legitimately need medications in order to function (obviously I don't mean to include those people), but frankly I wonder if the secular, materialist culture of this country hasn't led to more loneliness and feelings of purposelessness. I mean...why wouldn't it? Aren't those dots that can be reasonably connected? And if people medicate those feelings instead of searching and finding purpose and meaning in God, aren't they guaranteeing that they will always need the meds?
ReplyDeleteEven my cat was on Valium (not kidding). The med only worked for a week, then the cat was as paranoid as before... The cat thought it was a dog and attacked people.
ReplyDeleteThen I thought I should be taking Valium to be able to live with the cat.
Oh I digress..
Mia, my brother's cat Terry was on valium - then my brother started taking it and landed back in treatment. I've thought of putting my cats on it... I just don't know what to tell the doctor what's wrong with them to get it. Oh! I'm just kidding! My cats are so nuts they need a labotamy.
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ReplyDeleteI take antidepressants and anti anxiety medicine. I don't think it's a sign of weakness. The fact that I survived my 20s and 30s without them shows I'm strong. I just decided to stop being strong and in agony and finally enjoy life.
ReplyDeleteI didn't figure you meant to offend--I just thought I'd let you know that the statement was a little broad :-)
ReplyDeleteThere are some people out there that I'd like to drug though... ;-)
Dymphna - I do too. I just never tell anyone.
ReplyDeleteChecking patient histories in the hospital--I think 80% of people who come in the hospital are on them--no joke. It makes me wonder why so many people must use them??? Our society and the stresses, and the worldly expectations--plus, I think we are separating ourselves more from social supports, families move on the average of every five years--perhaps in the generations before us people just tolerated depression--I don't know--but I take anti-anxiety to help me function. Must go take some now...
ReplyDeleteVery good. Very pithy with the Huxley SOMA and our current state.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Huxley was closer to Orwell in his distopian prophesy...