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Health Tip

Alternative Approaches For Your Depression, Anxiety, Insomnia, And Even A.D.D.

Maybe the increases in these diagnoses began with the COVID pandemic but more likely we just weren’t paying attention. We’ll not really know until a few years from now when statisticians look over the data, compare notes with each other, and can finally say, “Wow! Look at these numbers! More mood disorders, more anti-depressants and anti-anxiety prescriptions, more sleep meds. We even run out of ADD meds every month. What’s happening?”.

Personally, I doubt if there’s any one cause for this increase. Despite COVID, our brains are pretty much the same. Really, we’re more in touch with our emotions and willing to talk to our doctors and accept referrals to mental health therapists. We’re more willing to swallow a pill that (hopefully) will relieve our psychic distress.

With approximately 20% (!!) of the U.S. population suffering from a “mood disorder” (the two most common being depression and anxiety), this does keep psychiatrists, who mainly write medications, and mental health counselors, who don’t, and pharmacists who count pills and fill bottles, all very busy. Significant shortages are predicted everywhere, both among mental health professionals and the medications they prescribe.

Almost 85 million antidepressant prescriptions are written each year, an increase every year for the past six years. The numbers are similar for antianxiety meds, like clonazepam and alprazolam, and sleep meds like zolpidem. Rather cynically I think, insurance companies encourage you to be on meds as it’s a lot cheaper than seeing a therapist. A year of escitalopram costs them less than $30, a smidgen when compared to a few sessions of psychotherapy. Mental healthcare in the U.S.? Return once a year for your “medication renewal visit” (usually about 15 minutes, eye contact not guaranteed).

Here’s a summary of why we’re on so many psych meds...

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