The Problem with Handing Out Happy Pills

This post offends me. Doctors just do not hand meds out like candy. I am on 60mg of citalopram for depression and anxiety. If I did not take this medication, I would not be able to get out of bed, much less leave my house. My depression and anxiety are so severe, it has affected my ability to hold a job. I went from working in the same place for ten years to two jobs in less than three months because of the panic attacks. My condition manifested itself after I experienced severe emotional trauma.

Depression is a real medical condition and so is anxiety. To suggest that she doesn't need meds and that she is just "grieving" is insulting and just shows your ignorance. I had to get my meds from my medical doctor, who also suggested that I start seeing a therapist. Medical doctors deal with the physical symptoms of anxiety and depression, and yes, there are physical symptoms. They are trained to recognize them.

Many health insurance plans do not cover mental health services or they give minimal coverage. In order to see someone "in plan", who could give me the exam that you suggest, I had to wait six weeks to get an appointment. So, what was I supposed to do? Wait six weeks to see a psychiatrist, spend my days constantly on edge, and be afraid to leave my house while my medical leave from work was running out?

Medication alone does not cure this. Medication only gets you to a place where you can function. You still have to work through your issues with someone who is trained.

There is a stigma associated with mental illness and this dismissive attitude like yours is why people are afraid to seek help for a legitimate medical condition. Perhaps if you ever find yourself in the ER and hooked up to an EKG because you had a panic attack so severe, the doctor wants to rule out heart problems, you may not be so quick to judge others and how they choose to seek help.

There's a world of truth in what you say - grieving is a natural process that takes time and our society is wrongly impatient with peoples' needs for grief time. And proper medical referrals based on knowledge of that, and of the difference between appropriate sadness and pathological sadness, are way too neglected. With other conditions outside the doctor's field of specialty, a specialist is called.

I am gonna pick on the term "happy pills" as both inaccurate, and disparaging to people who take them. Antidepressants are sometimes beneficial and sometimes wrongly administered, but they do not cause"happiness" and the "happy pill" term has no rightful place in the description of either case.

As I'm sure many of the unneeded prescriptions reveal. The reduction of access to mental health professionals that you mention is is a very bad thing - not only for diagnosis, but for monitoring, since these meds can sometimes cause dangerous emotional side effects.

I totally agree! Psychologists and psychiatrists receive special training to recognize and diagnose mental illness and treat those. Psychologists can offer therapy and psychiatrists can dispense medication. Even if another doctor is correct in the diagnosis, therapy should still go hand in hand with medication and someone who knows the medications and their uses inside and out should be the one prescribing. Also, a lot of mental illnesses can have overlapping symptoms but very different treatments. If I wouldn't ask my GP to diagnose and treat my complicated heart problems, why would I allow her to do the same when it comes to mental health? (If my GP heard a heart murmur I'd expect her to refer me to a cardiologist. If she suspected depression, I'd expect her to refer me to a psychologist.)

I could not agree more with this post. I am so thankful that my OBGYN had me graph my moods before giving me meds. She determined that I had PMDD and perscribed me Celexa for the week before my period. However, having used those meds and becoming in touch with other coping methods, I have been able to wean myself off of Celexa.

Someone close to me was perscribed meds for a serious mood disorder and was not really monitoring him either. It was a very bad situation that only got worse. It baffled me that this was allowed.

Thank you so much for writing this post!

Find me on twitter/FB drsuzyyhall

As a Gynecologist, in treating women, the issues of mood disorders come up not infrequently. (I'm referring to depression/ anxiety/ or significant PMS.) I agree, a 'knee-jerk' response to treatment with "happy pills" is not appropriate... but this shouldn't discredit the idea that in some situations medications may be warranted. I regularly offer pschycologic counselling, and discuss healthy coping mechanisms. I often give the patients an "assignment" of figuring out what their healthy coping mechanism will be (ie, exercise, yoga, painting, religious, ect.) Often times, we just need to make time "for me." When medications seem appropirate and desired, I use a low dose SSRI (seratonine replacement.) It's important for me to explain to patients that seratonine is a 'natural' hormone in our brain, that regulates mood. Though there aren't available tests to check our seratonine levels, the effectiveness of seratonine replacement is well known. Hopefully the duration of use of the medication will be short lived. In cases of severe depression/anxiety or lack of improvement, a referral to their PCP or Pschyciatrist is necessary.

I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, there is a stigma about going to see a mental health professional in the first place! And, the fact that we are also culturally uncomfortable with dealing with grief makes this an uphill battle as well. But, blog posts like this one help in spreading the word about this important issue. Thank you for sharing. :)