People with other MH diagnoses get depressed.
People who are depressed are prone to suffer other mental anomalies, including paranoia, cognitive impairment, memory loss, anger/explosiveness, substance abuse, etc., etc.
"But he also saw that his position would be strengthened if he could cite the results of a drug experiment on undepressed, certifiably normal volunteers. If some of them, too, showed grave disturbance after taking Pfizer's Zoloft—and they did in Healy's test, with long-term consequences that have left him remorseful as well as indignant—then depression was definitively ruled out as the culprit."
Why did you ignore that? Healy changed his mind about SSRIs.
I didn't ignore, I deferred until I could get to that part.
I'll have to read the details---which I will. But please keep in mind when it comes to the results of any scientific study: "One swallow does not make a summer." Replication of his results by different investigators will, if his findings are confirmed, certainly change the course of SSRI research and application.
I'll get back with you after I read the details.
One, all SSRI's are not the same. Zoloft has a number of side effects that are problematic.
Two, giving strong medications to a healthy person and seeing them get sick is no indicator that giving meds to a sick person won't help them. I would think it would be unethical to do this in the first place. Many medications have side effects that are a price that we pay for the beneficial effects. However, when a medication can have no benefit, and yet a certain percent have strong side effects you get a profile of problems without any offsetting benefits.
Anti-Depressants save lives, anyone who believes different is participating in trutherism. They do not save all lives and do not work for everyone. Some people experience adverse side effects from any medication, and without proper monitoring this can be a problem.
People are determined to throw out the good because of not being perfect, and this is lame. It seems to be a sign of the times though.
Adults recognize the situation of optimum results rather than perfect results. This means the best you can get under the circumstances. All real solutions involve making trade offs, you don't often get 100% of what you want in every category, but have to pick and choose amongst which to have more and which to accept less.
Sometimes you decide the opportunity or medication is not worth the side effects that are possible. These are the choices Adults make.
Save us from the nanny state which prevents us from making good choices because they are not perfect or because they bear some risk for the possible benefit.