There are several stories in this hour long program, one about earthquakes, one about race in a Californian university, and one about depression. The last one tells me what I know as a psychotherapy to be true. Not that antidepressants don’t always work, but that why they work is a big muddle, it could be the placebo effect or just time. And the price for this dubious result is to pathologise millions of people, to get them thinking about the psyche in a medical & unhelpful way.
All for huge profit.
The DSM 5 is a scandal and will make the problem worse!
All part of a 150 year trend… that bit was new to me.
Video of the Depression story on Democracy Now
Every health professional should watch this video, listen to this last story in this episode of Democracy Now, or read the book by Gary Greenberg, Amazon:
Manufacturing Depression: The Secret History of a Modern Disease
The primary point that Greenberg expressed in the interview is that we are taking a normal human experience and turning it into a disease. He makes it clear that he has no problem with relieving the suffering of depression with drugs, but he questions whether we have turned normal blue moods into a disease in order to justify medicating away sadness.
A satisfying read online is where Greenberg is interviewed on the Well. Quote follows.
