Having worked in the field of Mental Health for many years I can only say that academic researchers are often out of touch with 'what works' in the field. Anti-depressant medication is by one of the best treatments of moderate and severe depression and has resulted in the saving of many lives. Milder mood disorders can sometimes be treated without medication. In these cases cognitive and other talking therapies are helpful and sometimes thats all the patient needs. When medication needs to be prescribed counselling needs also to be part of the treament.

Anti-depressants aren't perfect. They aren't necessarily meant to fix the 'cause' (if its primarily environmental) but they make people a lot more able to cope with whatever the situation situation they may find themselves in.

Academic researchers should be very wary about their criticism of modern anti-depressant medication lest they keep some people from getting the help they need.

Thx for thought-provoking article and research!

Recent research results also show that spirituality impacts directly on a range of health determinants, and has a positive impact upon social, mental and emotional health. A 2008 study published in Australian Family Physician and written by Craig Hassad, Senior Lecturer, Department of General Practice at Monash University in Melbourne, reported that “Spirituality is an important determinant of physical, emotional and social health and may, in some circumstances, be a central aspect of the management of some conditions”. When commenting on escalating trends in youth suicide it suggests that “there may be too little attention being given to the ‘protective factors’ against mental illness, of which, particularly for adolescents, are connectedness and having a spiritual or religious dimension to one’s life” (Hassad, The role of spirituality in medicine, 2008).

It’s heartening that solutions to youth mental health are being discovered via a new frontier in medicine. Hassad’s and similar research findings are opening thought to the life-changing benefits of a spiritual dimension to life in the treatment of anxiety and depression, not just in young people, but for all.

no doubt the sudden explosion in depression with the increase of fatherless homes, unfaithfulness, increase sex abuse( largely fed by porn), broken relationships and teen sex will be taboo areas. Unless you are treating body, soul and spirit, all you will ever do is manage the drugs. Psychology which puts man at the centre of the universe usually only adds to the problem. Put God at in His rightful place and a person is far less likely to spend his life trying to convince himself and others that he is a good bloke or woman.

@runner..
All Praise, Hallelujah and pass the Cipramil..

I would like to congratulate the author for this excellent article, and Runner for his excellent comment.

The question is HOW. How can we place God in His rightful place in our lives. Those who were fortunate to grow in a loving and stable God-loving family have no problem, but these are rarely the depressed ones.

The key is God. When God is there, sexual restraint will naturally follow, but trying to enforce sexual restraint without the supportive experience of God may only lead to suppression along with even worse psychological as well as psycho-physical problems. Sexual energy should be sublimated and directed at God - but when that's not possible, it might be directed at evil and therefore better dissipated to minimize its damage.

We need to realize that not everyone is ready yet to accept God into their life (and I mean God, the reality of God, the spirit of God, not just this or the other intellectual idea), and so depression is one of nature's spiritual remedies, prodding us along the way. Instead of drugging people out of it, we should take a long-term approach and celebrate the pain of depression just as we celebrate the pangs of birth-giving. Spiritual guidance should be available to those sufferers who are ready to receive it. It's true that some may even die, but in the long term, their death will benefit them more than medications.

I am not expecting the government to do so, or even to allow it, because they are a bunch of Godless, politically-correct humanists who only care to protect their back-side.

Peta Cox,

An interesting and well-intentioned article, but (at risk of 'trying to teach my grandmother how to suck eggs') I venture that your premise and conclusions are somewhat misleading; and I suspect your studies have been in social aspects of community health and not in psychiatry. Correct me please if I am wrong in the latter.

One statement of yours is definitely on the mark: "..feelings of guilt or shame may be more extreme if a person believes that they should be able to 'snap out of it'." You identify the 'deniers', who don't think they have a problem at all, or who think no-one can help them to overcome their feelings of inadequacy or inability to cope.

I think the grouping of 'affected' disorders is ill-advised. My understanding is that depression has substantial foundation in life circumstances, whereas bipolar disorder has been found to have a significant neurological base (brain wiring and chemistry); and anxiety disorder to often have a foundation in a combination of both 'biological' (neurological and physiological) components as well as environmental 'drivers'. Hence, there are significant dis-similarities.

The media campaigns (Beyond Blue, etc) aim to 'de-stigmatize' mental disorders, to assist people to recognise when they have a problem, and to not feel ashamed to seek help. (Which is far more important than inducing 'understanding' in the workplace or society at large.)

There is no doubt of the benefits of a combination of medication and face-to-face consultation, and of group-therapy and support groups - when prescribed and managed by suitably qualified professionals. (There are too few such professionals, and too many insufficiently trained psychologists and mental health 'carers' - at times causing inappropriate or a total absence of treatment capability.)

Spirituality may provide some 'group' support, but is of insignificant assistance to real sufferers of mental distress. This is a bogey.

Holistic methodology is the only truly effective methodology, but our public and private mental health services and support services are sadly lacking.

There is an undoubted essential role for medication (to ameliorate at least) - and to suggest otherwise is grossly misleading.