Depression and anti depressants - the case against

The case against anti depressants, and why depression is a political thing (small "p", possibly capital "P"...

Just as athletes have an "unfair advantage" over other athletes when they use performance enhancing drugs, can't the same be said of anti depressants? After all, if a natural low is masked in order to improve performance in an individual, surely that's the same thing? One worker, depressed and unable to function, in need of long term counselling or cognitive therapy can easily be "put back into the trenches" much the same as soldiers were given sodium pentathol during world war two when they faced shell shock or PTSD and couldn't function. Anti depressants have become a way of life for millions of people now because they're a social, virus-like phenomenon. How do you cope with work when your competition is using a drug, whether that drug's an illegal one like cocaine or a legal one like Prozac? Both give the competitor an advantage, just as surely as steroids give weightlifters an advantage. And so the workforce becomes addicted, one by one, to drugs, just in order to keep up with the other drug users. And is it any coincidence that women are prescribed anti depressants more so than men? Why? Because of where they are in the whole power structure of society.

You can bet that the more sensitive, caring individual has a political bent that lends him or her to depression. A kind person is bound to be more depressed than an aggressive one, because aggression and depression are polar opposites. A depressive takes it out in himself. An aggressive takes it out on others. An aggressive person is bound to be more expressive, more vocal, more demanding. A depressive will be self sacrificing, inward looking, and shamed. Sociopaths and psychopaths are often very motivated, successful, manipulative, charming and driven. Can the same be said of the fair minded individual? So is it any surprise that the liberal minded, sensitive individual will be more susceptible to depression?

Who's most likely to be depressed? The person who sees the injustice in the world, and yet who feels powerless to do anything about it? Or the person who sees opportunities to exploit others for their own gain? Without reflection on the consequences of their actions, the latter is blissfully unaware of others' plight. And so he's perfectly happy to go about his life. The person who "thinks too much", on the other hand - the procrastinator, perfectionist and the idealist - is more prone to depression because he cares about consequence.

And so depression is a political thing.