Interlude: To Pill or not to Pill
There is a school of thought, probably started by Freud, which holds that a patient can be talked out of a Depression. Though I don’t believe that this is of much use in my case, I don’t discredit the approach.
There is much concern in Canada and the UK, probably elsewhere, that doctors prescribe pills far too easily and should spend more time talking their patients back to health. Possibly so, but if your problem is caused by a failure of neuro-transmitters in your brain to function as they should, then trying to talk the little critters into performing better will not, in my opinion, produce the result you are hoping for.
Here is my rule-of-thumb. Ask yourself the question: Why am I Depressed? If you are ‘depressed’ because you live in a crappy old world, in a dead end job, with a vile boss, getting deeper into debt with every passing month, health problems nagging at you and getting older every day, you are probably not Depressed, merely miserable, and with good reason. Get a pill from your doctor and you may feel better, but your world will be the same and being on happy pills is not likely to improve your relationship with your boss. So much better if you are able to change your circumstances, find a better job and/or a better boss, change your lifestyle to one which promotes better health. I suppose there’s not a lot you can do about getting older. Perhaps you should find a talking therapist who might be able to change the way you look at your life.
But if, like me, you find that life has given you everything you asked for and so much more, but you are still crying yourself to sleep at night, then your doctor may have a pill for you.
One way or another, go and talk to your GP and be thoroughly honest with him – anything else will be simply a stupid waste of two people’s time. Ask him about alternative treatments, and listen carefully to what he says, then make your choice. Good luck.