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- ViscidGobs, on 05/05/2009, -5/+28Who's happier, the people taking the anti-depressants or the companies selling the drugs?
- clickmyface, on 05/05/2009, -1/+14you probably do and just don't know it.
- anexanhume, on 05/05/2009, -2/+13As the article points out, many of the people who truly need these medicines still don't get them. My mother has had a schizophrenic breakdown when I was 12 and still has never had any formal treatment for it, even though she has been in trouble with the law before. I hope recognition for people with more severe illnesses can rise so that people can get the held that they need.
- sodade, on 05/05/2009, -1/+12Oh yeah, let's blindly defend corporations who have corrupted our government, tanked our economy and created enemies out of 1/3 of the world (to be brief).
Oh and I make a fat salary sucking the tit of corporate america and I know that some hippy life would be more meaningful if our society wasn't run by ***** corporations. - jshhmr, on 05/05/2009, -3/+12Does pot count?
- sockpuppets, on 05/05/2009, -3/+11THE SNOZBERRIES TASTE LIKE SNOZBERRIES!
- Bainemo, on 05/05/2009, -4/+12Step one: Pretend pharmacies are evil
Step two: Go through puberty
Step three: Develop an illness
Step four: Be a hypocrite for your own personal gain - diguptruth77, on 05/06/2009, -0/+6They shouldn't be compensated for the risk because they're peddling drugs we don't really need and corrupting the health care system from the inside out. I concede that drugs can be used as a SHORT TERM solution, maybe. But there's no way pumping laboratory chemicals into our natural bodies is a long term solution to the depression epidemic.
A better, although less profitable, solution is a preventative one. Why are our children growing up depressed? - Rain12913, on 05/05/2009, -1/+7That's *****. Any MD who does that sort of thing would have lost their license. If this is true and you didn't report this person than you should so immediately, that's extremely dangerous.
- billraydrums, on 05/05/2009, -2/+8The problem is over-prescribing these drugs. I went in to the doctor feeling run down and I walk out with a prescription for Paxil, Wellbutrin, Prozac, Elavil, and Zoloft with the admonishment "find one you like".
About 9 months later I had a complete meltdown....jeez.....whodathunkit? - clickmyface, on 05/05/2009, -0/+6Most countries ban drug marketing. Ask yourself why that is.
Science is about discovery, solving problems, finding solutions, saving lives. Google the symbol "PFE" and explain to me why the ***** "saving lives" can be traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
That should be a good place to start in order to understand the disgust. - monkeyswitch, on 05/05/2009, -0/+5I think it is depressing that so many people are on anti depressants.
- the2989, on 05/05/2009, -1/+6"When you self-righteously think your hippy life is so much more meaningful than that of someone who makes a fat salary"
You say "hippy" like it's a bad thing. It all comes down to how you view life. If your goal in life is to make more money and have more things than everybody else, good for you. If you're happy with living off what you have, that's perfectly fine. After all, happiness is the ultimate goal in life, and it's something everybody strives for. How you get to it is up to you.
Personally, I see happiness as more of an element of society's collective consciousness, rather than an individual's mood. If everybody around you is happy, chances are you will be happy. If nobody around you is happy, it's going to be tough. That's why I'm not a selfish person who just tries to get rich and live the high life. It's harder to stay happy when you're the only happy person around (and if everybody is jealous of you and your holier-than-thou attitude, it will bring you down fast). I try to benefit others and do good things, because it's much more rewarding for all of us than just having a bunch of money. As they say, money can't buy happiness. - inactive, on 05/05/2009, -1/+6Well, the truth is that the cost per dose vs the consumer's cost per dose is wide.
I can't find the article at the moment, but there was an article which showed the cost (which includes R&D and marketing) to produce a drug is far away from what we would have to pay.
I remember that there was one that was 49 cents per pill to the pharma company but the pharma company was selling this particular item to the customer/patient for close to $15 per pill. There were others that were much higher margins. - inactive, on 05/05/2009, -10/+15Oh yeah, let's all jump on the "hate big pharma" bandwagon. What a crime, someone has a disorder, and they provide medicine that treats that disorder. People just don't take it seriously, but if you ever knew anyone actually suffering from depression, you'd know it's a real problem, and sometimes you can't just talk it away.
- mariaklob, on 05/05/2009, -1/+5It's excellent to see expanded coverage and awareness. True, some people are probably on pills when they don't need to be. It's a fair tradeoff to help those who, in previous years, would have suffered for a lifetime because they didn't have the coverage or the knowledge to begin treating their condition.
- diguptruth77, on 05/06/2009, -0/+4NiftyG, I hear some Eckhart Tolle in your words. If you haven't read his stuff, you should. Everybody should.
I totally believe that we live in a material world that will never, ever satisfy us. Happiness is incredibly simple to obtain. You don't need the big paying job, the hot wife, and sweet car. You only need to look within and find it in the present moment. People in general have difficulty seeing it because it's hidden in the open, the most diabolical way of hiding any truth. You can't buy happiness, you can't buy love. Thinking that working your ass off for a bunch of money to be happy sometime in the future is madness. You can be happy now, you just have to shut the noise off in your mind that causes the unhappiness. You have to be present and "observe" your thoughts. You'll find that, in such a state, only the present moment exists...and it's a happy moment. - theghoul, on 05/05/2009, -0/+4Why am I reminded of this?
"Hello Me, its Me again!" - Megadeath
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRJ99wuV1ng - censormagnet, on 05/05/2009, -4/+8good for big pharmaceutical companies.. bad for everyone else
but i guess corporate profits are more important than people - Dyssolve, on 05/05/2009, -0/+4I'm not here to underwrite the effects of depression, -they are real enough, however I agree with NiftyG. People do not get enough exercise (which has been proven to improve seratonin levels and mental health). Sitting at the computer all day, which is what most of us on digg do, is not healthy. We need to get out to the gym, eat more veggies, and less potato chips.
- Manther, on 05/05/2009, -1/+5I don't think people hate them just to hate them... People hate big pharma because, like all big corps, they're sole goal is to get as much money in their pockets as possible, and they don't care how they do it. The important part to note there, is that 'they don't care how they do it.' Like mentioned above, they rob you by charging incredible prices for inexpensive products. If they didn't abuse their position, it'd be harder to hate them.
- ohreilly, on 05/05/2009, -0/+3Not because of the sheer amount of drug advertisements you seem to have on American TV? It's like every other advert = health related.
I'm glad the UK government had the foresight to ban prescription drug advertising (probably more to do with stopping people heading to the doctor and demanding the taxpayer pay for whatever drug they just saw on TV) - orthodoxDrew, on 05/05/2009, -0/+3that is one horrible md.
- Gloogle, on 05/05/2009, -0/+3I don't take drugs because they did more harm than good, I'm just waiting until they can modify the brain with surgery.
- inactive, on 05/05/2009, -0/+3Oh I knew I'd see some glib comment like this the second I laid eyes on the submission.
Yes, you're right. Your supposed research on this matter (read:none) qualifies you to make such a sweeping statement about millions of people (who you all know, apparently.)
Until you, or someone close to you who personally experiences a true mental illness, keep your ***** mouth shut. - Vodd9, on 05/05/2009, -1/+4You two don't get it.
- NiftyG, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2Yes, we're missing a sense of ourselves.
People in our society tend to look outside of themselves for their happiness - to the new car, the new relationship, the approval of others, and so on. When you look to satisfy the ego in such a way, you always wind up disappointed.
It's a cliche, but it's really true that you can't buy happiness - it comes from within. There are definitely people who medically need antidepressants, but I suspect a lot of people taking these medications are looking outside themselves for their happiness. - NiftyG, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2No underlying cause? You're the one with absolutely no understanding of depression - because there are many underlying causes of depression.
- clickmyface, on 05/05/2009, -1/+3So there is a debate if people really have mental disorders or if they are just being over-prescribed. I suspect - as often - it's somewhere in the middle.
As someone thoroughly immersed in American culture, i'm not even close to surprised at these statistics. Yes, we have abundant water, food, and electricity: all those things one needs to "live life." But you have to wonder if those things really have anything to do with it. Perhaps there is something enormous missing in our lives, beyond what we already have.
I can certainly think of a few things missing in my own life. I can't by them at Macys, either. - borez, on 05/05/2009, -2/+4Land of the free and the home of the deranged
/fire in the hole! - qaelith2112, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2jflaker -- The figures I've seen didn't leave nearly that much of a margin. I suspect that your extraordinary margin is for R&D just on that one drug. A pharmaceutical company does incur a great deal of R&D on many drugs that yield nothing whatsoever, and must recoup those expenses from the ones that do produce a marketable product.
- billraydrums, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2Yeah no kidding.....Taking that medication, I experienced "Fugue states" in that I went to drive to the store, and 50 miles later I discovered I'd missed the turn.
- RickHavoc, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2On one hand it's great that people are seeking treatment. On the other hand it's unfortunate that patient/doctor awareness of options is skewed by treatments that are protected by patent. Doctors need to return to science and prescribe treatment accordingly. There are remedies that are much cheaper. Unfortunately the cheaper it is, the less interest there will be to fund a study.
- 8FoldPath, on 05/06/2009, -0/+2I live in a country where the majority believe it's morally fine to torture other living beings and exploit their fellow men for money. Why would I be depressed?
- wakeupsticky, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2Next time my friend is having a suicidal episode, I'll just tell him to eat more fruits and veggies and go for a brisk walk.
- bipolarruledout, on 05/06/2009, -0/+2Becoming self actualized is far more difficult than just taking the drugs. I'm certainly not suggesting that they shouldn't be available.
- Snyz, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2I was depressed for no real reason the last couple of years, I had some underlying problems, but I noticed a pattern where my depression was a lot worse at times and I couldn't understand why. There were also a lot of unexplained physical manifestations like back pain and IBS that I couldn't attribute to any external source. Ever since I've been on medication these problems have all gone away and I've experienced very little negative side effects.
- mksmothers, on 05/05/2009, -1/+3About half of those around you probably take them. No shame in taking them, as long as they work.
- bipolarruledout, on 05/06/2009, -0/+2This is a problem because we have the most expensive health care in the world partly due to using the most expensive drugs in world which do not in many cases show higher efficacy than existing drugs. Those who are insured have no incentive to control these costs. It's quite the opposite for they WANT the "best" drugs available because they are not responsible for the full costs. This has the result of keeping costs higher than they need to be but it's indirect as the impact is distributed.
- inactive, on 05/05/2009, -0/+2I think part of it is that it used to be a lot easier to hide than it is now. I'm sure people suffered it back in the day, but it wouldn't be so obvious. "Well of course Jim is depressed and miserable and won't leave the house, half his family died of cholera." These days, most people have pretty decent lives, and so it's much more apparent when they're miserable for no real reason.
- NiftyG, on 05/05/2009, -0/+1You obviously didn't understand what I wrote.
I said that antidepressants work - I know because I've taken them. They do get rid of the crushing pain. If someone is suicidal, then by all means they should take them to stabilize their mood.
Once their mood is stabilized, however, they need to do the hard work it takes to let go of the things that caused the depression in the first place. Psychotherapy is one step, as is a healthy lifestyle. Exercise and diet have both been proven to help lift depression, so why is eating right or taking a brisk walk such a bad thing for someone who is depressed? - bipolarruledout, on 05/06/2009, -0/+1There is a very good reason to have prescription drug ads banned and it's that people can't actually buy these drugs without a prescription. Either that or just admit that there should be no government control of drugs. This situation is hypocrisy pure and simple.
- ImTakiNuSRS, on 05/05/2009, -1/+2Way to confirm something everybody already knew.
- Gloogle, on 05/05/2009, -0/+1like in -300 bc people would rape and kill people because... THEY FELT LIKE IT! They didn't have anti depressants back them. Maybe they did?
- bipolarruledout, on 05/06/2009, -0/+1It's cool to love big corporations in the following situations:
- When you have stock in them
- When you're employed by them
- When you have a narrow view of the world and judge your own self worth by the number of zeros in your pay check and the things that you own or don't yet own - SteelChicken, on 05/05/2009, -0/+1did she go get help, or do you expect someone to just swoop in and save her?
- x5pfif, on 05/06/2009, -0/+1Sick? Have a horse apple!
- anexanhume, on 05/05/2009, -0/+1That's the thing with many of the severely mentally ill, they will always deny there is a problem. People whom they know to love them could plead for them to do something, and they will deny it or even make accusations in response. No one can be forced to get treatment unless they commit a severe crime and it's observed it would benefit them. In some states, you're allowed more leverage for intervening than in others. The fact remains that for most cases, people are allowed to live how they choose, which includes mentally ill.
- Rain12913, on 05/06/2009, -0/+1Who were you filing this complaint with? I'm curious to know who told you that the statute of limitations had passed because this seems unlikely to me. In my state, at least, there is no statute of limitations on reporting dangerous practices. You may not be able to file a malpractice suit, but at least you can have some kind of inquiry performed on this Physician to ensure that he won't do this again. What he did is both irresponsible and dangerous, and there's a very good chance that someone will be killed if he is continuing this type of practice.
With that said, you should realize that the vast majority of Psychiatrists do not behave this way. The process of finding the right drug for a particular patient is a long and involved one, and that's what Psychiatrists are paid for. Anyone with a college degree is knowledgeable enough to look at a spread sheet and write six prescriptions for antidepressants and throw them at a patient to decide which works best. It takes a Psychiatrist, however, to ensure that the correct medication is chosen and that this is done in safest way possible. I'm sorry that you had this experience, but please don't use it to generalize about the entire field of Psychiatry that helps millions of people. - SDM187, on 05/05/2009, -0/+1this is crazy talk!
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