Prozac Nation?

A friend of mine had several ladies over to her house last Wednesday evening. It was a very enjoyable time. While there, I caught the tail-end of a conversation about Prozac and other antidepressants, as a group, being the most-prescribed type of medication in the U.S. Having chronic depression myself, I have often wondered why depression and anxiety are so common in our society and have been thinking about that again since Wednesday. While there may be a link between a chemical deficiency in the brain and depression or anxiety, I have a difficult time believing that is the primary reason for such a large number of cases of depression and anxiety, and I wonder if a chemical deficiency may be often caused by the stressors our society daily subjects us to.

Just in brainstorming on this topic, here are some of my thoughts as to what contributes to the large numbers of people with depression:

1) Lack of faith in God. This is a theme that will come up in many of my arguments. As a society, we are eliminating God, whether directly or indirectly, from our daily lives. Praying is now outlawed in schools, and most people rarely mention God in their conversations. "God bless you" is commonly shortened to "Bless you." Indirectly, our busy-ness is also eliminating God from our lives. We do not have time to pray. Many, if not most, people on some level feel that God is not a large part of their lives. Even if we have faith, we often live as if we don't.

2) Lack of hope. If we do not have God in our lives, what do we hope in? And what more is despair than the lack of hope? Hoping in things ultimately leaves us feeling empty. A new house, a job promotion, a vacation, while great things, cannot satisfy us. It is not long before the vacation is over, the newness of the house wears off and maintenance becomes mundane, or the job promotion leaves us busier and more worn out than we had been. And all things are passing away. The only thing that truly remains is our God and our hope for eternal life. We also cannot put our hope in other people. As wonderful as a good friend or a loving spouse is, they are only human and cannot satisfy every need we have. Our only true hope is in our God.

3) Our fast-paced lives. We generally don't have time to sit back and enjoy what we have been given and to enjoy the simple things in life. We don't have time to take care of ourselves. We don't have time to pray. As soon as we are done with one thing, we are moving onto the next, if we're not multitasking already. And even when there's nothing pressing to do, we often find ourselves so accustomed to hurrying about that we feel we are forgetting something and that there really must be something we need to get done. I think this is especially difficult for people who are introverts, who need quiet time to think, reflect, and recharge more than others do, for we run out of steam quickly and soon find we have given so much that we have nothing left to give. We live in a world that values productivity and does not value time for reflection, often seeing it as a waste of time and, sometimes, as a sign of weakness.

4) Living up to expectations. As I said above, we live in a society that values productivity. Jobs often require us to make a certain quota or to maintain productivity standards. People also have higher expectations for products bought or services rendered and are able to shop around to find the "best bang for their buck." Instead of just doing the best we can and building on that "best" at a self-managed pace, we push ourselves to, and sometimes beyond, our limits as our competition does the same in order to win over the consumers. This then begins to drive us, rather than the joy and "pride" of providing the best products or services to the benefit of those we serve. We also become exhausted and, again, give until we have nothing left to give. Internalizing these high expectations can also quickly lead to depression. When we develop such high standards for ourselves that we are unable to live up to them, we can see ourselves as failures whether we really are or not. When we don't look to God, we can get a hopeless view of ourselves and our situations. We know that God will not give us anything that we can't handle and will help us through the difficult times. We also know that He doesn't expect any more from us than for us to use the gifts and resources He has given us to the best of our ability, with His help as well. But it is easy to lose sight of this in the middle of our busy-ness.

5) Our own expectations. When we look around us at what other people have, it is difficult not to want much of that for ourselves as well. From the outside, another's house or family may look perfect, whether or not it looks that way from the inside. We may also expect our own future to look a certain way and spend much of our time and energy looking forward to the future only to find a few years down the road that the future is not as perfect as we had hoped. We don't appreciate what we have when we are so busy thinking about what we don't have. We don't live in the joy of the moment or express thankfulness to God when we feel we are missing something. But God gives us what we need when we need it. God provides, especially when we put our trust in Him, though He may provide in a way different than we may have wanted ourselves.

6) Our need for control. Because of much of the above, we often feel out of control and attempt to influence the path of our lives or attempt to control our spouses, children, employees, co-workers, or other people in our lives. When we find we cannot control those things adequately, we feel more hopeless and more as if our lives are out of control. What we can forget easily is that God is in control. He has a plan. When we are trying to control our own lives, we are taking control out of God's hands.

7) Poor diet, inadequate exercise, etc. Good diet and exercise can act as natural antidepressants. And, yes, I do believe that there are some cases in which chemical deficiency does play a primary role in depression and anxiety.

Any other thoughts? I welcome any discussion or comments on this topic.

God bless you all!
Kim