Every once in a while, a book touches a nerve. This one certainly did when a British newspaper published excerpts from Lost Connections in an article titled “Is everything you think you know about depression wrong?” A neuroscientist – who hadn’t read the book – wrote a scathing review, which set off a series of rebuttals. I find it exciting. Finally, the topic of depression is in the spotlight. If there had been more interest in and scrutiny of research methodology in previous decades, perhaps public understanding of the causes of depression would be different today. This book is wonderfully provocative.
Hari, Johann. Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression — and the Unexpected Solutions. Bloomsbury Circus, 2018, p. 29.
It is not only the loss of a loved one which qualifies a patient for an antidepressant. If you have a stroke with loss of mobility and difficulty speaking you too can qualify to be medicated shortly after your stroke. This is the type of “medication” care that we are seeing as we use acupuncture to help patients who are recovering from a stroke. Apparently, the formula works like this: a person who is disabled will be frustrated by their lack of independence, this will cause a drop in serotonin levels (checking these levels is not part of the procedure), therefore, the patient needs an antidepressant to “normalize” these levels.