Going Through Depression Without Treatment Is Like Climbing Everest Without an Oxygen Tank

When you have depression, you will meet two kinds of people:

a)       Those who want to help.

b)      Those who think medication is for weak people.

Going through depression without medication is a lot like climbing Everest without an oxygen tank. You’re choosing to do it the hard way. This might even end up being impossible. It might even take your life, but “only weak people scale the highest peaks with the correct gear.”

Going through depression without medication is also a lot like going through a kidney infection without antibiotics. There is precisely zero reasons any ordinary patient should avoid antibiotics for a legitimate infection. The only reason we think of kidney infections as minor inconveniences is that we have effective drugs to cure them.

And if we don’t cure them, we might die. Infections kill people all the time. So does depression. Both are potentially-fatal diseases with physiological roots and known treatments. Getting care isn’t weak. It’s practical. It’s intelligent and compassionate. 70% to 90% of depression patients achieve remission with antidepressants and other treatments. You deserve the best science can offer.

And when I go through reams and reams of studies, I find that the best science can offer is a combination of cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressants. This is, at least, the combination that has performed best in clinical trials to date. Some forms of depression are treatment-resistant, but you deserve to know if yours fits into that category. You deserve the option of remission. You deserve a crutch for a broken leg and medication for a broken psyche.

Wheelchairs aren’t an indication of weakness and nor are medications. You deserve the best care available to you. If you can’t walk and help is available, you deserve to try it. Depression is not a testosterone-fueled opportunity to show off your bodybuilding poses. It’s an illness. The next time someone tells you you’re weak for taking medication, ask them how they treated their last broken bone.