Brief but interesting article.
We have already posted here on the ever-mounting evidence questioning the efficacy of commonly used anti-depressant drugs in most cases, high-lighting the prevalence of side-effects and drug withdrawal issues/iatrogenic illness, and concerning the escalation in prescription.
From a person-centered perspective, we defer to each person on what they do or do not wish to put into their systems, and how they experience that. However, we feel deeply troubled by the weekly accounts we hear at this service of the readiness with which these drugs are offered – often with some pressure – and the apparent rarity with which doctors mention questions about efficacy, side-effects, withdrawal and the financial incentives for prescribing.
We would like everyone to have access to balanced information about these drugs – and other ways of making sense of the human condition than the medicalization of distress as ‘disorder’. We see a cultural tendency in all of this to present and receive as ‘reality’ what is in fact opinion. This is an abnegation of rigorous thinking and respect for internal locus, which serves no-one.
Palace Gate Counselling Service, Exeter
Palace Gate Counselling Service Blog 