Two links about mental illness

[sqbr]

Now Antidepressant-Induced Chronic Depression Has a Name: Tardive Dysphoria is both scary and annoying, it really seems to only care about people with temporary, mild depression. What about people whose depression is chronic to begin with? It almost implies that they never used to exist, which history does not support. (I'm taking an SSRI for chronic anxiety, so this is relevant to my interests)

Nova Scotia Mental Health Project I know one of the people running this and thought some of my Canadian readers might be interested (I suck at geography, I realise you all may live nowhere near Nova Scotia)

Comments

[trouble]

Nova Scotia isn't near a lot of places (it's as far east as you can go in Canada and still be on the mainland, although Newfoundland is further east and is a big island), but it's pretty.

[sqbr]

Ah, so pretty much the opposite side of the planet to me then :)

[trouble]

But much much smaller. :) I always thought of Western Australia as being a lot like Alberta. Big! Lots of "empty" space! Lots of money coming from resource extraction! Preeeeeettty.

[lilacsigil]

It's very unclear in the article whether chronic depression is a common sequel to severe but treated depression or whether it's due to the medication - and where is the evidence about mild-to-moderate but chronic depression treated with placebo, if that's just as good? In the 1970s (the alternative evidence quoted) there was not necessarily a distinction made between clinically depressive episodes and situational depressive episodes (and, as you say, where are the chronically depressed people?)

The article would, to me, indicate a difference in diagnostic criteria and a lack of awareness of the prevalence chronic depression and alternative "treatments" such as alcohol, plus the perfectly sensible idea that medication is not the best first-line treatment for short episodes of mild to moderate depression! And tell that to the overworked GPs in under-served areas who have no-one to whom they can refer depressed patients!* This is not news, and not an amazing new theory of "oppositional tolerance" unless the research is being reported very poorly, which is certainly possible.

*The one child psychiatrist and 1.5 other psychiatrists in my entire district make 15 minute appointments, just enough time to review, because otherwise they'll never get through all their patients. That's not good care.

[sqbr]

Yeah there's a lot of alternate explanations the article totally glosses over.