Go see a therapist. And I don't mean it in an off-handed fashion. I mean it in a professional who helps people deals with this and other problems. If there's a chemical imbalance, drugs can help. A doctor can prescribe them if they're needed.
"If there's a chemical imbalance, drugs can help."
Medical statistics seem to show otherwise. For people who undergo a first bout of depression, most people who don't medicate get better in 6-18 months and then never relapse. Whereas those who medicate have a much higher chance of relapsing multiple times later in life.
source: Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker.
That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance that can be improved with drugs. Maybe we're just over-prescribing anti-depressants.
"That doesn't mean that there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance that can be improved with drugs."
While it's not theoretically impossible that depression is caused by a neurotransmitter imbalance, most of the evidence is against it and most researchers now reject the hypothesis. Wikipedia has a nice summary of the current consensus on the serotonin imbalance hypothesis.
But antidepressants do work for some people, even if we don't understand the precise mechanism. I agree that the 'chemical imbalance' theory is probably wrong and certainly oversimplified but for some individuals life is significantly better with antidepressants than without.
Of course they can help. But for most people they make the condition worse. And since there is no way for any individual to know in advance whether the drugs will be safe or effective for them in the long term, I don't think it makes much sense to recommend them except for short term use in an emergency or as an option of last resort.
If you've been tested for every nutritional imbalance, and you're getting daily exercise, and socializing sufficiently, and if your work/family situation is good, and if you're taking the appropriate nutritional supplements, and if you've already tried various therapists, then trying one of the various drugs on the market might make sense. But the fact is that these drugs aren't very effective for most people, are extremely addictive, and have a high rate of causing serious side effects, including ones that lead to permanent disability or death.
What's more, the drug makers often lie about the safety and efficacy of their drugs in the clinical trials to get them approved, so the reality is almost certainly worse than what's already being acknowledged. (C.f. all of the scandals surrounding the approval of prozac, lexapro, benzo usage, washing out placebo responders, etc.)
There was a pretty astonishing if deadpan interview on Fresh Air recently with a psychiatrist who, although more orthodox than Whitaker, has published a book questioning the overreliance of psychiatry on drugs. (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1281075...)
Among other things I didn't know, he recounted how many of the leading articles on antidepressant efficacy were in fact written by advertising companies (yes, you read that right). The pharmaceutical companies would then pay famous psychiatrists to use their names as the authors of the already-written piece. These studies were published in all the leading journals (New England, etc.). The interviewer asked this guy what consequences there had been for the psychiatrists who had been bought off in this way. He said there had been none.
He also said (no surprises here) that he and other psychiatrists routinely tell their patients the chemical imbalance theory despite knowing that there is no evidence for it, on the grounds that people want a little "knowledge" about how the drugs they're being prescribed.
The trouble is we don't really know the root cause of major depression. We know a little bit - e.g. it's partly genetic - but we usually can't 'resolve the root cause'. Treating the symptoms is not pointless.
"The trouble is we don't really know the root cause of major depression."
That's not really true. There are several different purely biological things that have been identified as root causes of depression: chronic illnesses, inflammation, nutritional imbalances, alcohol abuse, etc. These alone probably account for more than half of all cases of depression. (IIRC just inflammation is thought to account for 30% of cases.)
Similarly, there are many more lifestyle choices that clearly contribute: stressful work/family situation, lack of exercise, poor diet, poor social life, chronic sleep deprivation, etc.
Certainly there are individuals who are doing everything right and still end up suffering from a bout of depression that lasts more than two years even with therapy. However, these are fairly rare, as in almost certainly less than 5%.
As for treating the symptoms, it's not pointless but it can be extremely damaging. It can lead to more more severe mental illness (bipolar, schizophrenia), chronic depression, psychosis, suicide, violent behavior, sexual disfunction, etc.
There definitely are times when drugs are appropriate. But telling someone who has had suicidal ideations to look into drugs as a first line treatment is extremely irresponsible. It's like telling a 13 year old kid with a pimple to look into accutane.
"pls cut the crap. Do not post opinions as facts."
I cited a book that references hundreds of academic studies. You cited six paragraphs of a wikipedia article, which doesn't even cover any of the real issues/questions. Are you fucking kidding me?
