Over a quarter of a century ago, I was prescribed antidepressants. Because a severe spinal injury had cost me both my career and my marriage. I suppose my then GP reasoned I had to be depressed? Anyhow, long story short they not only changed my character from my normal happy go lucky optimistic self to one entirely out of character as rude, aggressive and abusive. But along with a plethora of painkillers, were incredibly addictive and extremely hard to come off, which I barely managed by going cold turkey. Today I won't even take a panadol unless in extreme unmanageable pain, which I control with some drug-free meditation techniques I've learned. Which I will share. Sit upright in a chair, put on some particularly relaxing for you, music. Then close your eyes and create a visual in your mind picture, where you see yourself progressively cloaked in blue light. started with your feet which you consciously tense then relax, repeating piece by piece the entire length of your body to the top of your head. With that done, create a mental picture of a tropical beach, replete with palms slowly waving in the breeze. And as you walk, in your mind's eye along that beach, note the soft ebb and flow of the waves which match the regular flow of your own breath. And the crunch sound the sand makes as you walk on it. then halfway along, you note a set of steps leading to a mountain, which you start to climb. There are a hundred which you count from 100 to 1. As you ascend you pass through a tropical rainforest filled with a medley of birdsong. Then you pass through a mountain mist until you reach a plateau, where you met an old friend and have an interesting personal conversation that has much wisdom, as old as time itself. Try and do this once a day until your mood lightens and your trouble tension and pain are little more than memory. Persist until this is your new reality! Peace and Love. Alan B.

hasn't secularism created a monster. Cheap loose relationships, narcissim, fatherless kids and confusion. Now the same jokers want babies born with a penis to deny their biology. Oh well another win for the god deniers and sick elites.

In ancient times, around 1970, many people used to be unhappy.

These days many people are depressed but its called 'suffering depression'.

There is a significant difference between the two. The solutions for unhappy people is generally in their own hands.

But people 'suffering depression' can't solve their own problems. The solution to their problems is in some else's hands (the GP) and if they aren't cured then its not their fault but the medical professions fault.

Any wonder therefore that these days we have a lot less unhappy people and a lot more people 'suffering depression'?

Murray's generalisations, and constant confusion of cause and correlation, are endless. This article may endanger people with mental illnesses if this article causes them to stop taking medication.

Simple fact is antidepressants work for some people, but not everyone. This should not be a surprise to Murray.

Alterntives to antidepressants? Murray appears to provide "Mindfulness meditation".

"Mindfulness meditation" is taught by some self-appointed experts (usually without medical qualifications - or legal right to treat mental illnesses) who argue that they can provide a CURE for bipolar.
I won't mention the wealthy religious sects that predictably espouse "Mindfulness meditation".

Problem is that these self-appointed experts do not provide the professional continuity of care for decades against the worst effects of mental illness.

Many of these these self-appointed experts do not even recognise mental illness as occurring. They argue "what IS NORMAL in society" meanwhile mental illness can gradually destroy people.

From the viewpoint of consumers I know, medications, as dispensed and monitored by psychiatrists and hospitals, frequently provide needed lifelong continuity, with helpful mental stability.

The practice of meditation predates western medicine by several centuries and like acupuncture and similar ancient wisdom, dismissed by self-appointed experts consumed by their own intellectual arrogance and self-appointed importance!? On the quite spurious grounds, there are no accepted qualifications they will recognize. Or those harmless practices, which harms the profit margins of big pharma! As far as I know many accreditated doctor practice and teach meditation, which has proved a useful tool against post-trauma syndrome? As attested by many a returned veteran who have had their lives and sanity handed back to them by a practice that at the very least, does no harm. And can't be ingested as an overdose! Or misprescribed! Pete suggest you try talking from a little higher up or sticking to something, you actually have current knowledge about, rather than going the verbal diarrhoea and owning your own facts as Rosling condemns! I studied medicine decades ago and even managed to pas a couple exams, one of which was the final one, where I managed an average passing mark of 98%, which as an average, broke a record that had stood unassailed and unassailable for nigh on seventy years. Understand, one doesn't have to be a practising physician to know one or to things about medicine or allied practice! Alan B.

If antidepressants are so useless - a “bare improvement over placebo” - how come they have the side-effects that a “former lawyer and parliamentary researcher” claims for them? What is non-medico doing pontificating about medications?