Have you ever asked yourself, why am I so sad?

The rise in prescription antidepressants has skyrocketed over past decade. For example, prescriptions for antidepressant drugs increased by 1300%. With prescriptions for depression on the rise, you would think that we are winning the war on depression. Even with the ever-increasing use of antidepressants for depression, pharmaceutical companies continue to spend even more to market these prescription medications to the masses.

Antidepressants have come under careful scrutiny by several meta-studies. These studies were designed to take into account the effectiveness of antidepressants and compared it to the marketing tactics of pharmaceutical companies. The conclusions of the researchers arrived at did not favor the anti-depressants. In fact, most of the placebo groups of antidepressant studies did better because the believed they were getting medication, whereas the antidepressant groups became more depressed. With over $15 billion dollars in sales is it any wonder why the pharmaceutical industry would market antidepressants. Its no surprise that the industrial model pushed us into thinking something was wrong enough that a pill could fix us.

If you are on an antidepressant or anti-psychotic, please do not stop taking the medication. Quitting cold turkey, without medical supervision, and without any replacement therapies could be dangerous.

With antidepressants getting a bad reputation, poor statistical scientific data to prove their efficacy, does this all prove that you are not depressed? Absolutely not! The question remains, what can you do about your depression and what will work. Within the medical literature, psychotherapy has been proven the most effective for short-term effects. In fact, taking antidepressants has been shown to increase suicidal ideation in adults and children, whereas psychotherapy does not.

The real question is, what is wrong and what can I do about it? Knowing where your problem is arising has the largest impact on how you can effect your depression. This is different for everyone. Similar to chronic anxiety, chronic depression can be a sign that something is really wrong with your system.

Major nutrient deficiencies, organ dysfunctions, and serious chemical imbalances with the hormonal structure can all lead to organ dysfunction. How can you know what is right for you? We use state of the art diagnostic tools in order to get to the root of the problem. Finding and correcting these major disharmonies and nutritional deficiencies is how acupuncture and Oriental Medicine can help you with your depression. We utilize the right therapies to help you as an individual recover from chronic depression. Acupuncture in Littleton, your secret weapon against depression.