Thursday, December 23, 2010

Depressed Fish


Depressed Fish

I recently came across this quote from an article titled: Advances in How to Think About and Treat Depression.
A new way to identify medicines that might make it into the clinic is to use fish to screen rapidly through chemicals that act like existing antidepressants. When placed in stressful situations, zebrafish displayed *depression-like behavior, which was reversed when the fish were given Prozac. This finding not only shows that stress can lead to *depression even in fish, it provides a new model to test anti-depressants.(*notice the bait-and-switch in language from depression-like behavior to the definitive, depression)
This study clearly also supports the practice of flushing medications down the toilet so they can enter the ground water, rivers and streams. Apparently, fish need Prozac too. Have you ever seen a depressed fish? They look all glossy-eyed and green around the gills.
Suicide among depressed fish is way up. Many are knowingly swimming into fisherman’s nets, or taking the bait to get caught. The larger depressed fish, and some fish-like mammals, are even purposefully beaching themselves in large numbers. This has to stop. Now that we know fish display ‘depression-like behavior,’ it would be unethical to deny them anti-depressant drugs.
This begs several hard questions
1. What are the fish depressed about? Global warming? The BP oil spill?…the same stuff as us?
2. What is harder: to diagnose depression in fish, or depression in children as young as 2?
3. If fish are taking anti-depressants, do they still need to see their shrink?
4. Is Prozac alone enough, or should depressed fish also be taking Abilify as an ‘add-on to treat their depression?’
5. If anti-depressant use among Americans has doubled, is there a corresponding increase in use among American fish?
6. If fish suffer from depression, do they also suffer from Erectile Dysfunction? Restless Fin Syndrome? Overactive Bladder?
7. Would Ritalin help young fish do better in their schools?
8. Do fish abuse drugs in the water, or just drink them ‘as-needed’?
9. Where does PETA stand on all of this?
They call this ‘Advances in how to think about and treat depression’! Yikes.
Insanity, garbage science, and kidding aside, if you want the low-down and truth on the treatment of depression and ‘mental illness’ in America, Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker is a must read.
“We cannot trust psychiatry, as a profession. For the past twenty-five years, the psychiatric establishment has told us a false story. It told us that schizophrenia, depression and bipolar illness are known to be brain diseases, even though it can’t direct us to any scientific studies that document this claim. It told us that psychiatric medications fix chemical imbalances in the brain, even though decades of research failed to find this to be true. It told us that Prozac and other second-generation psychotropics were much better and safer than the first generation drugs, even though the clinical studies had shown no such thing. Most important of all, the psychiatric establishment failed to tell us that the drugs worsen long-term outcomes.
Psychiatry told us stories that protected the image of its drugs, and that storytelling has led to harm done on a grand and terrible scale. Four million American adults under the age of sixty-five years old are on SSI or SSDI today because they are disabled by mental illness. One in every fifteen young adults (eighteen to twenty six years old) is functionally impaired by mental illness. Some 250 children and adolescents are added to the SSI rolls daily because of mental illness. The numbers are staggering, and still the epidemic-making machinery rolls on, with two-year olds in our country now being treated (drugged) for bi-polar illness.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Coming of Age


Coming of Age

My son, Max, got his driver's license today!

At the age of 12 he stood before the North Adams City Council, a hostile group of elders, and asked for the impeachment of George W. Bush.

On that day, he became a man. Today, he can drive.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Counterpoint to Medical Mythology


Personal responsibility key to health
Letter to the Editor
Sunday December 5, 2010
The Nov. 25 article "Family history key to health" is misleading. While the family history can contribute to understanding the clinical picture and, in some cases, may help guide diagnostic and treatment decisions and protocols, it far from 'the secret to great health and longevity.'
This article strongly contributes to the outdated and false notion that "you are your genes," a notion that undermines the far more important, and true secret to health, personal responsibility in lifestyle choices. It has been estimated that genes account for only 25-30 percent of your health destiny, while lifestyle choices and exposures account for 70-75 percent.
The article falsely implies that "numerous health scourges, including cancers of the colon, breast and uterus; early coronary and vascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, arthritis" and more are genetic diseases, when in fact they are not. They are chronic degenerative diseases associated with lifestyle choices. Their strongest link with family history has way more to do with growing up in the family home, adopting the same family lifestyle choices (eating and exercise habits and coping skills), and having the same environmental exposures.
Way too often inaccurate and false media stories such as this perpetuate medical mythologies that support widespread public misconceptions and fears about health. Misguided beliefs, such as genetic pre-determinism, undermine health by short-circuiting personal responsibility and the positive actions people can take to optimize their health.
The fact is that genetic diseases are rare. The fact is that you have the ability to maximize your genetic potential for health by the decisions you make on a daily basis about what you choose to eat, how much exercise and sunlight you choose to get, and how you choose to think, interact and cope with people and your world.
PETER D. MAY
North Adams