An estimated 34 million Americans suffer from depression at some point during their lifetime. Only two-thirds of those who suffer from a major depressive episode seek treatment for it, and only about one in five receive adequate treatment. Those statistics alone could make anyone sad.
One of those 34 million people is Lorraine Bracco. The Sopranos star—who, ironically, plays a psychiatrist on the HBO hit show—shares her personal battle with depression as part of a new awareness campaign announced this week. Bracco came out of the mental illness closet to encourage people with depression to get help and provide them with important information.
She might also have done it for some extra dough. Pfizer, Inc., is the company sponsoring the new "Why live with depression?" campaign. Yeah. Why live with depression when you can pay us exorbitant amounts of money to try to cure it. Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, makes Zoloft, which also is known as sertraline HCl. It is the No. 1 doctor-recommended brand of its kind. And you may be more familiar with it as it's known on TV: the little white oval that bounces around with a raincloud over its head and sighs a lot. When you buy this wonder drug, you're also buying the marketing campaign and lining the pockets of Pfizer shareholders and corporate execs. At $150 for a 30-day supply, you better hope you have prescription coverage.
Not to be outdone, GlaxoSmithKline offers its own trendy antidepressant—Wellbutrin XL. (Although Pfizer has a leg up in the PR department with the recent be-not-depressed campaign.) Wellbutrin is bupropion HCl. I'm not going to explain about serotonin reuptake inhibitors and neurotransmitters and dopamine...because if you go to these fine drugs' web sites, they can explain it all. They also will throw out some handy slogans...more of that brilliant marketing. "#1 for millions of reasons." "When you know what's wrong, you can help make it right."
Don't get me wrong. I think the availability of antidepressants is literally a lifesaver for many people. I'm glad a famous face is linked with depression, maybe a step towards removing the stigma associated with mental health issues. I appreciate that pharmaceutical reps and PR people and bigwigs need to pay the bills and put food on the table like anyone else.
But I'd like to offer a decent dose of reality. Taking a pill isn't necessarily going to make things better.
I'm also one of those 34 million people who struggles with the day-to-day and long-term effects of major depressive disorder (and just to mix things up, I've thrown in an anxiety disorder for kicks). I've been on antidepressants for three years. When I first started taking them, two weeks in, I thought I'd discovered a miracle. The clouds lifted; I exited the darkness. Then I learned that it doesn't always last. Docs changed my Zoloft dose. They added Wellbutrin. Then upped the dose. I went into individual therapy. I joined group therapy. I learned that exercise is one of the best "medicines" for depression, helping to kickstart the body into producing all the good stuff that makes life seem brighter. I journal. I specifically schedule "pleasant activities" into my daily routine because otherwise they're the first to go. I've read several books that help me to understand why I often feel worthless, helpless, and alone.
It takes effort. It takes patience. It takes support from others. And it takes faith...faith to believe that even when you're in the depths of a deep, dark hole, you won't always be there. It won't always be as bad as it feels right now.
I wish they made a pill for those friends and relatives of a person suffering from depression. Some way to help them cope with the person's mood swings, lack of self esteem, low energy, irrational thinking, and sometimes self-destructive behavior.
Until there is such a remedy, I guess we'll have to take it day to day. Having a rough day? We'll hope tomorrow's better. To Pfizer, who asks, "Why live with depression?", I'd answer, "Because, that's life."
One of those 34 million people is Lorraine Bracco. The Sopranos star—who, ironically, plays a psychiatrist on the HBO hit show—shares her personal battle with depression as part of a new awareness campaign announced this week. Bracco came out of the mental illness closet to encourage people with depression to get help and provide them with important information.
She might also have done it for some extra dough. Pfizer, Inc., is the company sponsoring the new "Why live with depression?" campaign. Yeah. Why live with depression when you can pay us exorbitant amounts of money to try to cure it. Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, makes Zoloft, which also is known as sertraline HCl. It is the No. 1 doctor-recommended brand of its kind. And you may be more familiar with it as it's known on TV: the little white oval that bounces around with a raincloud over its head and sighs a lot. When you buy this wonder drug, you're also buying the marketing campaign and lining the pockets of Pfizer shareholders and corporate execs. At $150 for a 30-day supply, you better hope you have prescription coverage.
Not to be outdone, GlaxoSmithKline offers its own trendy antidepressant—Wellbutrin XL. (Although Pfizer has a leg up in the PR department with the recent be-not-depressed campaign.) Wellbutrin is bupropion HCl. I'm not going to explain about serotonin reuptake inhibitors and neurotransmitters and dopamine...because if you go to these fine drugs' web sites, they can explain it all. They also will throw out some handy slogans...more of that brilliant marketing. "#1 for millions of reasons." "When you know what's wrong, you can help make it right."
Don't get me wrong. I think the availability of antidepressants is literally a lifesaver for many people. I'm glad a famous face is linked with depression, maybe a step towards removing the stigma associated with mental health issues. I appreciate that pharmaceutical reps and PR people and bigwigs need to pay the bills and put food on the table like anyone else.
But I'd like to offer a decent dose of reality. Taking a pill isn't necessarily going to make things better.
I'm also one of those 34 million people who struggles with the day-to-day and long-term effects of major depressive disorder (and just to mix things up, I've thrown in an anxiety disorder for kicks). I've been on antidepressants for three years. When I first started taking them, two weeks in, I thought I'd discovered a miracle. The clouds lifted; I exited the darkness. Then I learned that it doesn't always last. Docs changed my Zoloft dose. They added Wellbutrin. Then upped the dose. I went into individual therapy. I joined group therapy. I learned that exercise is one of the best "medicines" for depression, helping to kickstart the body into producing all the good stuff that makes life seem brighter. I journal. I specifically schedule "pleasant activities" into my daily routine because otherwise they're the first to go. I've read several books that help me to understand why I often feel worthless, helpless, and alone.
It takes effort. It takes patience. It takes support from others. And it takes faith...faith to believe that even when you're in the depths of a deep, dark hole, you won't always be there. It won't always be as bad as it feels right now.
I wish they made a pill for those friends and relatives of a person suffering from depression. Some way to help them cope with the person's mood swings, lack of self esteem, low energy, irrational thinking, and sometimes self-destructive behavior.
Until there is such a remedy, I guess we'll have to take it day to day. Having a rough day? We'll hope tomorrow's better. To Pfizer, who asks, "Why live with depression?", I'd answer, "Because, that's life."
Comments