Antidepressants: Why the ‘Overmedicated America’ Narrative Is Harmful | Dr. Drew Ramsey

Big Pharma has got itself a bad, bad name. Many people become nervous at the mention of pharmaceutical intervention for mental illness, but there’s another solution that may bring ease to some: it’s called little farmer, quips psychiatrist Drew Ramsey. For how food can control conditions like anxiety and depression, look through Ramsey’s previous videos on Big Think. But here, Ramsey wants to address the popular notion that America is overprescribed. “I always like to point out that the ten percent of Americans who take antidepressants in the morning, they do that voluntarily because it's something that helps them.” In his 16 years of psychiatric practice, Ramsey has more often seen mis-prescription rather than overprescription. But at least mis-prescribed people are on the path to finding the right treatment – much worse is the people who aren’t getting any help at all whether it be diet, or therapy, or pharmaceuticals. Psychiatric medication isn’t right for everyone, but in many cases it truly saves lives, says Ramsey. If we continue to propagate the over-prescription myth for this kind of medication (opiates are another issue), it may alienate those who need help from seeking it at all. Stigma doesn’t help in the effort to reduce severe life disruption. Ramsey's latest book is "Eat Complete: The 21 Nutrients That Fuel Brainpower, Boost Weight Loss, and Transform Your Health" ().
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Transcript - I think the big question in people's minds is who can they trust for their information about mental health? On the one hand we have big pharma, and there have been some incredible breakthroughs. I'm a psychiatrist. I prescribe medications and I find some people really it saves their lives. And you don't hear that in the media. This week I've heard a number of antidepressants called a miracle drug, a miracle cure and I don't take any money from big pharma I've just used these medications for over a decade now. For some people they're lifesavers. Then there's the supplement industry. And the supplement industry is really largely unregulated. They make a number of claims that really aren't supported by the evidence and it gets people into a notion, this happens a lot where instead of taking a medicine that's been closely studied and brought to market and closely monitored, they'll be taking five, ten, 15 different supplements. It's hard to know as a physician whether that's safe or not and whether that's really warranted. There's a lot of delay in terms of people getting appropriate treatment. Then, of course, we have talk therapies, which tend to take a longer time and cost more money. Read Full Transcript Here: .