Psychotherapy vs. Medication for Depression

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Emotional fluctuations between happiness and sadness are an inevitable part of everyone’s life. Regardless of what we do or how we act to try to prevent these sloughs, bad times always seem to slither their way back into our lives. For many, these bouts of hopelessness become too unbearable to endure. If nothing is done in time, their depression could lead them eventually to suicide. Depression represents a serious problem in our society today. As life continually gets more competitive, our current society pressures people into seeking an education and finding a profession that will bring about the most success and wealth all in an attempt to gain happiness. It is only human nature to pursue happiness, but are antidepressants such as Prozac the answer to true happiness? Although antidepressants work wonders by lifting users from the depths of depression, people using Prozac do not reach the highest level of happiness because these powerful drugs blunt emotions and misconstrue the true meaning of happiness. The use of Prozac has become mainstream in today’s society. Kramer (1993) discusses the advent of Prozac, its effects on personality, and its gaining popularity in the public in his book Listening to Prozac through sharing personal case studies he conducted in his career as a psychiatrist. In many of Kramer’s studies, his patients were relieved of their depression when taking Prozac, but many did not feel like themselves once they were taken off of the drug. Prozac has the ability to significantly alter someone’s personality. One of his patients, a shy woman who was apprehensive about dating, changed so drastically she began dating frequently, quickly going through men, and even dating multiple men at a time. Her pe... ... middle of paper ... ...ur emotions teach us what it means to be truly happy because only through experiencing sadness can we realize how precious true happiness is. These drugs defile our natural personalities and morph them into something completely different from our unique and individual self. A person’s true personality should be defended at all cost because, in the end, it is one the quintessential attributes that makes mankind unique and invaluable. Works Cited Antonuccio, D. (1993). Psychotherapy vs. medication for depression: challenging conventional wisdom. Journal of Psychophamacology, 14, 1-30. Goodwin, G.M. (2011). Symptom relief and facilitation of emotional processing. European Nueropsychopharmacology, 41, 710-715. Kramer, P. (1993). Listening to Prozac. New York, NY: Penguin Books. Stix, G. (2009, October). Turbocharging the brain. Scientific American, 46-55.

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