Honestly I think that the issue has existed throughout time. There were many insane assylums. Historical references mention unstable people thousands of years ago. We seem to have adjusted our means to deal with unstable people. With the drugs people have been able to remain a functional part of society. I think humanity has some sort of flaw that brings this instability to us. It certainly isn't new.

Brainwashed, yes, but not by the government but the drug companies and the Psychologists, etc. The Ridalin market and anti-depressives are making people money hand over fist right now while destroying our youth as well. I blame the touchy-feely- liberal approach to dealing with kids as a major culprit to the dilemma. We can thank the baby boomers for this one.

Times are more intense. With government controlling more and more of our lives, telling us what is right and wrong, what we can and cannot do, it makes for more feelings of inadequacy. Those feelings create stress, and stress can cause clinical depression. There is no brainwashing, just loss of control of our lives.

Because of greater access to information in these days, people do think they're depressed when that isn't so. I'm sure there are people who genuinely need anti-depressants, but there is a huge chunk of the population on such drugs, who don't need them at all, but think they do because of marketing.

No... The government has little to nothing to do with it. And the government makes NO money off the sales of drugs. There's no brainwashing, unless you believe all the commercials and convince your doctor to give you those drugs. (And SOME doctors prescribe medicines they should NOT, partially because they BELIEVE they are correct in their own diagnoses of psychological problems, and partially to please the drug companies that keep them supplied with samples. Depression has been around for ages. It's just that we are now much more knowledgeable about health than we used to be. And, with TV ads for drugs, they tend to list symptoms slowly enough for you to catch, and everything else in "speed mode". Of course, if you believe you have a symptom, EVERY commercial says "Ask your doctor if xxx is right for you". If you do and he says No, THEN what do you do? Some people will go to another doctor until they find one who WILL prescribe the advertised med. Is it the TV that "brainwashes" you? Possibly. But it's more that people are better informed, but don't understand all the nuances. For example, if you look up "stomach pain" on a doctor site, you will find listed many innocuous diseases, but also many dangerous ones. Because we've all heard the stories of doctors who don't know, and doctors who are bad, we worry that we have the "bad" disease, even if it's nothing more than gas. From the over-abundance of info, we've become a world of hypochondriacs, and it's up to doctors to make sure we KNOW what's real and what's not. Anyway... No... The government doesn't brainwash us to use drugs. We brainwash ourselves, based on everything we see, everything we hear, and our own angst about why we feel the way we do.

No. And people did have depression in the past. It was often called "melancholy", but no one knew what to do for people with it. They often suicided, or if they broke down, were hospitalised in asylums or sanatariums. Don't fool yourself that depression is a new thing.

I think it's purely a matter of aggressive advertising on the part of the drug companies.

I agree with everybody above. The world didn't used to change so rapidly, but on the other hand there was no social safety net if you couldn't work. I think a lot of people treated their depression with alcohol.

There was always depression and insanity but not as much as there is today. I do not believe that everyone needs medication, actually I think it is rare when people truly need medication to over come their depression. And it's not the government that is making a profit, it's the pharm companies. Too many people are too quick to jump on the medication band wagon because it can be a quick 'fix' to their problem. The problem with quick fixes is that they aren't really fixes, they only hide the reason causing the problems. If people don't deal with the issues (and most of the people are dealing with emotional not chemical problems) that are causing the depression then they can't really overcome it. Now to get to why I feel there are more definite cases of clinical depression, as well as other chemical problems, has a lot to do with our food supply. There are things in food today that didn't even exist 70 years ago. Fake sweeteners, food coloring, preservatives, as well as many other things are playing a huge part in a lot of the chemical problems of people today. Many have found that if they simply change their diet and lifestyle they can turn the depression around. A little bit of reading: http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

I can tell you this from a police officers point of view: From the thousands of calls i have answered, involving domestic violence, yes, many, many people need to be on medication for anit-depression and mood swings. This is one of the main reasons for domestic violence. either people need to be on medication or they do not take it. and who gets the call? the police. We are experiencing grown children, that were products of drug-addicted parents. you can just imagine what some of these people are going through. Men and women marry, but later discover that either spouse was born to addicted parents and then the fun begins. mood swings, along with a host of other psychological problems. Yes, again, the medications are needed. If only we could force the people, that need these medications, to take it after being prescribed by a physician.