Antidepressants: The New Tobacco?

At age 12 or 13, before I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, I was silently struggling with emotional upheaval and an eating disorder.  In response to my symptoms of emotional volatility, social withdrawal, and digestive complaints, I was prescribed anti-heartburn meds, laxatives, and an antidepressant.

Even in my emotional turmoil, I felt my intuition fiercely rebel each time I swallowed the antidepressant. On that medication, the world seemed at once distant and ominous. I fell into fits of rage that were worse than my previous emotional outbursts. I couldn’t bear being a foreigner in my own body, so after one week and without telling my doctor, I stopped the medication. (Disclaimer: that was a desperate and potentially very dangerous choice I made, always work with a healthcare provider when tapering off a medication.)

When I was 19, after my autoimmune disease was calling for surgical treatment,  I empowered myself with nutrition to avoid surgery and eliminate all remaining pharmaceutical drugs from my life. I gained a powerful sense of freedom.

Now, the work of using food and lifestyle instead of medications isn’t “work” for me… it is living fully and freely.

Two Stories of Depression

Here’s the false story of depression, the one told by antidepressant commercials:

• Depression is pathological. Feeling deep emotional fatigue, pain, grief, and anxiety means you are not capable of a successful life.
• Depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain. You need medication to fix this problem.
• You can’t expect your depression to be “a phase” or go away naturally. As soon as you feel depressed, nip it in the bud with medication.
• You must make a mortal bond between your body and the medical system. Your body and mind requires medication to work right.

I’m going to share information that will give you a new story about depression:

• Depression is a normal part of the human emotional spectrum. When depression becomes chronic, however, it is an indication that our diet/lifestyle/culture is maladapted to the human body and psyche.
• Antidepressant medications do not work, and positive results are due to the placebo effect and the body combatting the stress of the medications.
• Antidepressants often flatline a woman’s emotional spectrum, crash her libido, and diminish her physical health. In that way, antidepressants can diminish a woman’s sense of herself.
• 1 in 4 American women take antidepressants, but this doesn’t have to be the case. We have the choice to support our health through nutrition and lifestyle, to reduce (or eliminate) dependence on pharmaceuticals.

Why Antidepressants don’t work

“It could be argued that antidepressants are the new tobacco, and, like the tobacco industry, Big Pharma can wield a lot of power through clever marketing to seduce and influence us.”

Kelly Brogan, MD in A Mind Of Your Own

In a siege of TV commercials, Big Pharma tells Americans that, due to a chemical imbalance in their brain, they are depressed and need medication. Big Pharma uses slick advertising to convince consumers that a dangerous substance is good for them, just like the tobacco industry did decades ago.

Put simply, antidepressants don’t work in the way the drug commercials purport. Here’s what you won’t learn in those commercials for Prozac and Wellbutrin…

The “Chemical Imbalance” Theory is false

Antidepressants increase serotonin levels in the brain. This approach rests on theory that depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain due to low serotonin.

Contrary to claims by the pharmaceutical industry, this theory has not been proven… even after a decade of trying to prove it. Consider a few of the following statements from some of the most prestigious psychiatric researchers:

• “A serotonin deficiency for depression has not been found” – Psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School instructor Joseph Glenmullen
• “Indeed, no abnormality of serotonin in depression has ever been demonstrated.” Psychiatrist David Healy
• “There is no direct evidence of serotonin or norepinephrine deficiency despite thousands of studies that have attempted to validate this notion.” – Study published in the Nature Review of Neuroscience

These are just a few of the take-downs of the Chemical Imbalance theory. For a staggering and irrefutable list, with full scientific references, see Kelly Brogan’s book here.

Antidepressant Studies Are Highly Rigged

“The medical profession is being bought by the pharmaceutical industry, not only in terms of the practice of medicine, but also in terms of teaching and research. The academic institutions of this country are allowing themselves to be the paid agents of the pharmaceutical industry. I think it’s disgraceful.”  Arnold Seymour Relman, Harvard Professor of Medicine and Former Editor-in-Chief of the New England Medical Journal

In a Mind of Your Own, Brogan discusses the corrupt loopholes Big Pharma uses to drug rig studies in their favor. For example, they can remove people who are likely to respond to placebo, to strengthen the perceived benefit of the medication.

Additionally, since the FDA requires only 2 positive studies for drug approval, Big Pharma simply conducts unpublished study after unpublished study until they meet this requirement.

Antidepressant Effects Are Due to Placebo and/Or Brain STRESS

Harvard psychologist Dr. Irving Kitsch conducted a meta-analysis to study the effectiveness of placebo, antidepressants, and psychotherapy. As detailed in A Mind of Your Own, “Kirsch found that placebo duplicated 75% of the drug’s effect, than non-antidepressant medications had the same effects as antidepressants, and that the remaining 25 percent of the apparent drug effect was attributable to what’s called the active placebo effect.”

Active placebo effect occurs when a participant knows she is getting a drug, not a placebo, because she experiences side effects of the drug (dry mouth, nausea, headache, etc).

Countless women who take an antidepressant perceive a lessening in their symptoms. According the research of Brogan and other leading psychiatric researchers, this is due to the placebo effect and/or the brain initially working harder to combat the stress of the medication.

The meds interfere with the brain’s natural mechanisms of recovery damage. This may be why depression relapse in significantly higher in those who have taken antidepressants. 

Antidepressants cause severe side effects, including withdrawal

More than 40,000 adverse reactions to Prozac were submitted to the FDA, a number vastly higher than any other drug in history. A high percentage of women on antidepressants gain weight, lose their libido, and lose their full emotional experience of life.

I find it deeply troubling that antidepressants flatline emotions. I’ve heard it from many women in my life:  “I lost the ability to cry when I started taking antidepressants.” I believe feeling our emotions fully, rather than suppressing or numbing them, allows us to heal.

If we, as humans, were not resilient enough to experience our painful emotions fully, then we would not have evolved as a species.

Additionally, the perceived worsening of symptoms that occur when one stops antidepressants is actually withdrawal, as shown by numerous studies outlined in Brogan’s book. Brogan specializes in tapering women off antidepressants and says, “It can be hard to imagine another class of substances on earth so potentially complicated to discontinue.”

Action Steps For Addressing Depression Naturally

Neuroplasticity (explained in a nutshell here) and epigenetics mean your brain and body is capable of profound transformation.  You have the ability to re-wire your brain, to change your gene expression, and establish a healthier immune system. The science of the 21st century says we can change how our brain and body work, by changing our thoughts, actions, lifestyle, and nutrition.

If you are currently taking an antidepressant, I recommend you read Kelly Brogan’s book yourself. She’ll equip you with a game plan to address depression holistically, and also provide guidance for the tough tapering process.

Address inflammation and leaky gut through nutrition.  These are the two root causes chronic depression. Brogan’s book provides support, and you can start off with my simple steps in The Leaky Gut Guide.

Also, read the post I shared a few months ago: How Holly Quit Antidepressants and Re-Claimed Her life.

I believe a discussion about antidepressant use in the 21st century must also encompass our culture’s approach to grief and emotional distress. This side of the picture, I would argue, is as important as addressing our nutrition. One resource I suggest is to watch Marianne Williamson and Marie Forleo discuss the validation of depression in a culture intolerant of grief. 

On the scale of public policy and culture, I also believe we need a dialogue about the social connectivity in a culture of screen-induced isolation. Connection to community is one of the most protective measures against depression. Social media, I would argue, is one of the most provoking cause of alienation. For further research on connection and physical health, read: Connection is the Opposite of Addiction (article)  The Depression Cure (book).

I understand that a 1,500 word blog post merely scratches the surface of the antidepressant epidemic. I don’t have a formulaic prescription of the nutrition, lifestyle, mental, and social shifts to solve depression… and I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all formula. I don’t have all the answers, and I certainly don’t have easy answers.  And even so, I’m here to participate in this important discussion.