Med-Free Treatment for Depression

Every so often, I'll run into a psych researcher who says things I've been trying to put into words for years--that there's something about way we live our American lives these days that is bound up in depression. That's both the problem and the key to a solution. So here's an account of research by Steve Ilardi, a psych researcher at Kansas University. The short story is that of 26 patients with major depression 81 percent of them saw 50 percent improvement in their symptoms--a far higher percentage than the approximately 50 percent who see 50 percent symptom reduction in clinical studies using meds. The sample size is far too small to reach broad conclusions. Still it's encouraging, especially since the therapy goes after core human functioning and uses it to fight depression. In the study, patients exercised, were exposed to sunlight, got proper sleep (I've long contended that this is huge), took Omega-3 pills (aka, fish oil), engaged in socialization and were taught how to not dwell on negative thoughts. The researcher contends that rates of depression have gone up ten-fold since WWII (I'm not sure I buy the magnitude of that given different measures used, but I buy the essential shift), largely due to Americans being shifted into more sedentary lifestyles and social isolation. That's a nice way of putting it. Put more bluntly, it's because of our society's shift to a service economy where everyone knows how to keyboard but couldn't fix a flat tire to save their lives. It's because we live in big cities and immense suburbs now where social isolation is the norm.

So I think Ilardi is onto something and his research is continuing. I somehow have a hunch that Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca won't be sponsoring the studies. Also, what he's doing with patients also seems to dovetail with the social rhythm therapy that's shown decent results with bipolars. I look forward to seeing further results from these kinds of studies, because anything that can work with little or no meds should be pushed hard. I know I'm not the only American whose body would prefer fewer psych meds in order to keep a job.

We'll talk about mental illness and modern American life another day when I am feeling more articulate.