Make no mistake about it, depression is a global business phenomena. How can it not be a money-making machine? After all, throughout the world, 300 million people experience depression on either chronic or episodic basis. It doesn’t matter how light or severe its symptoms may be, depression can strike people from all over the world. Accordingly, it has become a big business.
Please understand that depression is a very complicated personal issue. It’s very easy and tempting to restrict it to a strictly biological problem. In other words, it’s only a matter of the right neurotransmitters sending off the right chemical signals at the right time. If only things were that easy.
There are many people throughout the world who are taking all sorts of medications and still don’t feel complete. It’s very hard for them to feel whole. There’s something missing. Keep this in mind when looking through the 8 facts about depression that the global multi-billion dollar psychopharmaceutical industry doesn’t want you to know about.
Fact #1: Depression does not respect borders
Regardless of how much stigma any culture places on depression, it is a global, psychological, mental and spiritual phenomenon. In fact, it afflicts over 300 million people from all over the world every single year. Its symptoms can be very light to almost insignificant to suicidal. The worst part to all of this is that there is no predictability to depression.
It’s easy to think that certain parts of the world are simply more happy-go-lucky than other parts. But unfortunately, there are no neat geographic lines dividing populations that can be hit by depression. It is an equal opportunity affliction.
Fact #2: Depression is big business
Psychopharmaceutical products for depression routinely rank near the top of best-selling charts in the United States or elsewhere. Beginning with the commercial popularity of Prozac, antidepression and anti-anxiety medications have been sure money-makers for giant pharmaceutical companies.
Indeed, given the millions of dollars these companies spend into marketing every single year, you really can’t be forgiven for thinking that you only need to pop the right pills for your blues to go away. Unfortunately, depression is not that simple. Still, pharmaceutical companies would like most depression patients to think that their condition is simply one capsule away from a solution. After all, this purely biological or physical approach to depression is sure to generate billions of dollars in profits for these giant corporations.
Fact #3: Depression can happen to anyone
It doesn’t matter whether you’re rich or you don’t have a single penny to your name, depression can happen to you. It crosses all sorts of class lines, it doesn’t respect any racial boundaries, and it afflicts all people of all religions and creeds. It doesn’t matter how educated you are, depression can happen. It just needs the right trigger or it may run in your family. No matter how you look at it, it can happen to anyone at anytime. There’s very little in the way of prevention. However, it can be treated.
Fact #4: Depression can be chronic or episodic
Depression can linger over an extended period of time. This chronic depression can grow in severity as time goes by. It can also be episodic. Meaning, you can be hit with extreme funk. Out of the blue, you lose all interests in life. The flavor of life just seems to vanish for you. However, this doesn’t mean that it’s going to be that extreme for all time.
For many people, depression can vanish just as quickly as it appeared. Also, depending on where you live, depression can be brought about by the seasons. This is normally true of the northern climates where days are gloomy or it’s always raining or overcast. The longer the cold season, the higher the chance the people living in such areas can suffer from seasonal depression.
Fact #5: Antidepressants are routinely over-prescribed
Given the tremendous amount of marketing that has been poured into the global psychopharmaceutical industry, it is not a surprise that doctors tend to over-prescribe antidepressant and anti-anxiety medications. Doctors have been known to prescribe these drugs to people who simply don’t need it. Maybe these people just need counseling.
Similarly, doctors have been known to prescribe dosages that are simply too high. In many cases, they don’t even bother ordering their patients to undergo counseling as they take these drugs. Increasingly, more people are self-prescribing and just getting their doctors to sign off on their own self-diagnosis regarding their mental state. No matter how you look at it, there’s just so many people on too many anti-depressants.
Fact #6: Antidepressants should form just one part of a larger investment in your overall well-being
Even if you have been clinically diagnosed as depressed, please understand that this part of your overall self is just one piece of the puzzle. You have to look at your complete persona. In other words, you have to invest in self-development. There is a lot more you can do about depression than simply taking pills. You can look at your mindset.
You can examine your belief system and how this contributes to a depressed state of mind. Believe it or not, by properly investing in self-development in a healthier overall lifestyle, you can save yourself from having to take antidepressant drugs. Please understand that these are mind-altering chemicals. They haven’t been studied long enough as far as their long-term effects go. By focusing on your mindset and adopting a more positive and healthier outlook, you may be able to skip these mind-altering medications altogether.
Fact #7: Depression usually has both a cognitive and a physical component
It can’t be denied that many depressed people have lower serotonin neurotransmitter levels. This can be measured, this is part of their brain chemistry. But it also can be denied that their depression also stems from how they process the things that they perceive. In other words, their attitude also plays a big role in whether they’re going to be depressed or not.
Any effective approach to depression must address both these issues. You can’t just choose to medicate this problem away and call it a day. In fact, if you were to take a holistic approach to depression, it may turn out that you only need to take antidepressant medication for a short period of time and go completely drug-free for the rest of your life.
Fact #8: Physical routines can impact mental and emotional health
You don’t have to take depression lying down. Don’t think that just because depression runs through your family that you really can’t do anything about it. Similarly, if depression impacts your brain chemistry, you can’t resign yourself to just medicating your problem away.
By adopting a healthier overall lifestyle involving greater physical activity and working out at the gym more often, you can improve your overall mood. If anything, adopting a more active routine where you are able to socialize and invest in many other areas of your life can help you feel like a more effective and complete person.
This can go a long way in relieving stress, which in turn relieves depression triggers. While this is not a bulletproof solution, adopting a healthier physical lifestyle involving a regular gym and exercise routine can help you craft a holistic approach to your mood issues. In fact, by consistently and regularly exercising, you can pump a lot more oxygen to your brain, which facilitates a better transport of key neurotransmitter chemical signals in your brain’s nerve cells. This can lead to an improved overall mental health.
By adopting a holistic approach to depression keep the 8 facts in mind if you think you are suffering from depression. Don’t think that just because you exhibit symptoms of depression that you are completely helpless about it. By simply adopting a healthier and more active lifestyle, you can stabilize your mood. You’d be surprised how much spending more time at the gym can help you achieve a greater sense of well-being.
