Anti-Depressants, Suicidal Thoughts and Covid-19
Dealing with a post-Covid normal!
How are you feeling right now? Generally upbeat; happy? If not you’re part of a growing trend of North Americans falling into depression rates that have significantly increased since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to now. More than 40 percent of adults in the United States experienced symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorders at some point between August 2020 and the end of January 2021, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In a study, depression symptoms were found to be three times higher during the COVID-19 lockdown due to social restrictions, fear-mongering, isolation and loss of financial income among other things.
Have Things Improved Post Covid?
Although the physical manifestations of COVID-19 have largely dissipated today, many individuals continue to experience symptoms of depression, a Lancet Study explains.
The failed pandemic response caused hospitalizations, fear of illness, job loss and incomes to freefall for middle-class Americans. Study after study on the side and ripple effects of lockdown measures, job losses, the distancing of relatives and so on were ignored. The bottom line, society is still reeling from the toll of the government’s failed pandemic response. A 2022 poll found 90 percent of US adults still say the United States is experiencing a mental health crisis, says Jefferey Jackson on Substack.
The poll is stunningly reflective of the more than 44,000 people who die by suicide annually, according to a 2022 report by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Among those who are diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD), roughly 15 percent of treated patients will eventually die of suicide.
Let’s put that into context:
Suicide right now is the 11th leading cause of death in the US
In 2021, 48,183 Americans died by suicide
In 2021, there were an estimated 1.70M suicide attempts
On average, there are 132 suicides per day.
Source: afsp.org
As people faced often insurmountable odds, the mental health of America has taken a hard hit and suicides by despair have become more obvious through cold, jarring annual statistics.
What Is The Medical Solution?
One of the things that struck me hard with Jackson’s report was the government’s solution to suicide. He said that in 2022, the Biden administration allotted $300 million towards mental healthcare services, with a major tool being the prescribing of antidepressant drugs. There was already a huge boom in vaccine money made by pharmaceutical companies, but lo and behold, here another marketing opportunity came about.
However, instead of solid science, it was based on the Serotonin Theory of Depression (also known as the "chemical imbalance"), a primary theory that’s been used for decades to market, prescribe, and push antidepressant medication onto populations.
The theory suggests that depression is caused by abnormalities in brain chemicals, particularly serotonin, and justifies the use of antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
It’s a theory that began to be widely promoted by the pharmaceutical industry in the 1990s in association with its efforts to market a new range of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin-reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. The idea was also endorsed by official institutions such as the American Psychiatric Association, which still tells the public that “differences in certain chemicals in the brain may contribute to symptoms of depression”, despite no consistent evidence.
The serotonin hypothesis has been subject to critical research and found wanting, though it stubbornly remains popular and influential. Its poor standing in the scientific literature has barely dented its afterlife in textbooks, across clinical and treatment settings, and on mental health apps and websites.
Still, Jackson says the disassociation from the serotonin theory sent shockwaves through the egos and pocketbooks of SSRI cheerleaders everywhere causing The Conversation to publish the article titled Depression: low serotonin may not be the cause – but antidepressants still work –the very next day.
With the serotonin theory just about torpedoed, industry clung to an idea that this decades-long blockbuster class of meds still working…somehow.
Anti-Depressants May Cause Suicide
Here’s where it gets really interesting. Studies show that antidepressants have been linked to an increased risk of suicidal thoughts, mania and violent behaviour, even in the absence of a mental disorder. [1] [2]. In fact, researchers noted that antidepressants doubled the risk of suicidality and violence in adult healthy volunteers, and the risk calculation may be an underestimate due to limited access to data from some trials. Those studies favourable to anti-depressants generally had a massive pharmaceutical influence.
So now what happens when a drug built on a failed hypothesis and inadequate scientific edifice is re-launched during an epidemic of lockdowns, fear and forceful persuasion? A tsunami of mental health and increased suicide rates.
It bodes ill for America when society accepts depression as a routine mental ailment—a psychological flu, easily treatable by popping a pill that’s become the most commonly prescribed class of medications in the United States.
Perhaps we should shun this medical nonsense and focus on character resolve and a sense of purpose in life, where the resolution can be found in education—learning what it is that leads to a happy life.
To combat depression, here are seven health laws to follow:
Eat wholesome, properly prepared natural foods.
Drink pure water
Get plenty of sunshine
Get fresh air
Exercise in sufficient quantity
Practice increased relaxation and sleep
Regular elimination
A positive outlook requires some self-discipline to achieve so that the brain (and our thoughts) also respond appropriately. This means possessing the power and determination to put into practice the above keys to good mental health.