Comments on: Zoloft as ad-hominem attack

By: Christopher Esget

Christopher Esget — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 03:51:32 +0000

This is an important topic, and I don't want to squelch continued discussion. However, future readers should know that Pr's Beane, Fast, and myself had a very fruitful private correspondence on this matter following the comments here, which resolved the friendly disagreements on this topic. The topic of depression, medication, and the Christian will likely be a topic of this blog again in the future, and additional thoughts are certainly welcome in this comment thread.

By: ToddPeperkorn

ToddPeperkorn — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:34:01 +0000

SSRIs are about as far from "happy pills" as I think I know.

By: PrBobWaters

PrBobWaters — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:24:06 +0000

Pastor Beane, I'm on SSRI's (Selective Seratonin Re-uptake Inhibitors, a family of drugs including Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, Lexapro, Zoloft and others)) for a chronic condition other than depression, though I've also taken them for that.. In the past, I've specifically taken Zoloft.

Your post reflects a common misconception about SSRI's that needs to be corrected. They cannot be taken as "happy pills." All they do is to prevent the re-absorption of a neurotransmitter called seratonin, which tends to be in short supply in depression and certain other conditions. If a person not suffering from such a condition took them, nothing would happen. Zilch.

All SSRI's do is to restore a normal brain chemistry. Where the brain chemistry is normal already, they have no effect. In fact, an excess of seratonin, far from producing happiness, causes an extremely dangerous and potentially lethal condition called (for some reason) the Seratonin Syndrome.

I think you'd be surprised at the number of people who suffer from either clinical depression or one of the other under diagnosed conditions, both psychological and sometimes somatic, treated with SSRI's. But in any event, it would be a really good thing to put the "happy pill" business to bed. SSRI's can be abused only by taking them in dangerous amounts. They do not produce a "high;" they merely restore normal levels of a neurotransmitter in people suffering from abnormally low levels of it. Or they put them at risk of a very unpleasant and dangerous condition.

By: Christopher Esget

Christopher Esget — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 20:58:14 +0000

I got a hit today on my blog by someone who googled “zoloft jokes”. ‘Nuff said.

By: toddpeperkorn

toddpeperkorn — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:53:38 +0000

The fact that this is a conversation that has been going on for pushing a month is an indication of how serious and widespread of an issue this really is. Doctors are motivated by greed, just like the rest of us. The abuse does not negate the use. In my experience, it is still a much more widespread problem to underdiagnose depression than overdiagnose. This is ESPECIALLY true when it comes to the pastoral office. I think that there is a huge number of clergy that suffer from clinical depression.

By: Rev. Larry Beane

Rev. Larry Beane — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:08:37 +0000

BTW, I didn’t put the little “smiley” in the above comment. It was automatically inserted because I keyed a quotation mark followed by a closed parenthesis – lest anyone think I’m cracking a joke.

By: Cindy Ramos

Cindy Ramos — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:01:11 +0000

Good post. Thank you.

A while back I saw this on a Lutheran church’s street-side sign: “Too blessed to be depressed.” I was not inspired by the message, to say the least. Thankfully, it was not my own church. I wouldn’t want to go to a church that displays such cluelessness and lack of compassion.

By: Rev. David M. Juhl

Rev. David M. Juhl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 19:06:50 +0000

Let me add a hearty amen:

AMEN!