other human being, experiencing chronic
loneliness, for instance, yet are treated with
antidepressants. This is a sign of the times.When clinical becomes cynical
Medical intervention, as opposed to social
initiatives, has become the order of the day.
By medicalising our feelings, our true selves
are reduced to a set of symptoms.
Our society is undergoing a significant
shift where we diagnose rather than discuss,
where we dispense rather than taking the
time to dismantle the problem to get to the
root causes. This is sadly evident in the rise of
accidental deaths due to prescription drugs
as well as the rise of misattributed disorders.
Journalist Johann Hari has gone about
dispelling the myth that peace of mind
comes in the form of a pill in his extensive
analysis Lost Connections: Uncovering the
Real Causes of Depression and Anxiety —
and the Unexpected Solutions. He himself
struggled with depression after being on
antidepressants for over a decade with mixed
and ultimately unsatisfactory results. This
inspired him to investigate the validity and
veracity of the antidepressant.
Citing a variety of preeminent
neuroscientists and leading clinicians,
he completely dismantles the long-held
belief that a lack of serotonin in the brain
chemistry causes depression, which GPs
told him and millions of other patients for
decades. The homeostasis of the brain
cannot in fact be changed by the input of
SSRIs or antidepressants, which allegedly
increase levels of serotonin.
This notion has now been totally
debunked but Hari strains to point out that
antidepressants should not be taken “off
the menu” as they provide some relief,
even if that is in the form of a panacea.
But they should be used in conjunction
with other initiatives.
The cartel of drug companies would have
you think differently as this is a billion-dollar
business. We have become so addicted to
the idea of the quick fix that for many of us
the idea of eliminating antidepressants or
anti-anxiety drugs — which comprise the
benzodiazepine family — is enough to get
the heart racing.
Hari interviewed Dr Christopher Davey
from the University of Melbourne, who
pointed out that “the idea you could reduce
depression to one neurotransmitter is
obviously absurd. It has as much to do with
social connectedness and social supports.”
Now, this does not sound doctor-like
at all! In fact, it sounds a bit warm and
fuzzy. But this is the new thinking and it is
supported by the World Health Organization
as well as the United Nations.
But we don’t need these global
institutions to tell us what we already know.
All you have to do is look around and see
that, as a society, there is so much social
fragmentation and isolation.Reclaim your emotions
In her essay titled Too Many Pills published
in 2015 in The Monthly, Melbourne doctor Dr
Karen Hitchcock discusses how the medical
and pharmaceutical industries have hijacked
the human approach to helping.
She claims that, while medicine does
save lives and there have been great
advances, “Western medicine keeps us sick
for the financial gain of doctors and the
drug companies.” She’s also critical of the
supplements industry, stating that they are
not as harmless as their manufacturers
claim. Even alternative approaches can be
diagnosis driven.
She writes, “I have sat through
lectures by experts who beam PowerPoint
slides with impressive diagrams of
neurotransmitter pathways they say lead
to the feeling of what would once have
been called simply ‘despair’.”
She goes on to say, “The mysteries of
human consciousness and our intricate
connection to our world and those
around us — the subject of centuries of
philosophical thought — are reduced to
a handful of chemicals acting on a cell in
an individual.”
Here is a clinician who rebukes her
own industry for medicalising the human
experience. She is an advocate forspending a long time with a patient, asking
lots of questions, and she says there is no
such thing as “too much information”.
In her piece, Dr Hitchcock discusses
a patient who turns up wanting
antidepressants. The patient reports
hating her job, her body and her husband
yet when she goes to health retreats her
suffering is alleviated. Ironically, she is
resistant to the advice to consider how
she can bring elements of her life at
the retreat into her daily life — such as
meditation, massage and yoga — as well
talk to a therapist about the causes of
her unhappiness.
As patients, as clients and as
human beings it’s time we take back
our emotions and experience them for
what they are as opposed to what they
are prescribed to be. We have to allow
ourselves to be seen and to not resort
or indulge in the quick fix.
It is up to you to make the changes
in your life. We all have unmet needs
in our lives and this doesn’t mean
we are unwell or that our brains are
malfunctioning. It can mean we need
connection, comfort and consideration.
Dr Hitchcock asserts that we have
become a society that “seeks cures that
are acts of consumption”. Well, how
about we seek cures that are acts
of compassion?
Let’s stop fixing and start feeling
again — who is with me?Marie Rowland is a writer and psychotherapist
in private practice based in Manly on Sydney’s
northern beaches. For more information go to
talking-matters.com.As patients, as clients and
as human beings it’s time we
take back our emotions and
experience them for what they
are as opposed to what they
are prescribed to be.92 | wellbeing.com.au
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MEDICALISING EMOTIONS