Pain with depression.

Thanks, anonymous comments person, for the reminder that TV drug ads about symptoms can help people find solutions for their ailments (see previous post, below). I left that part out, not because I don't agree--I've been there, and I wouldn't trade my own dependence on antidepression medication for anything. Right now, however, I'm more concerned about what I see as the overcommercialization of medicine and health care in general, and I'm trying to take a small step to help make people aware of the techniques of advertising and marketing, and hype.

I spent a lot of years in the persuasive arts--I love honest marketing and clever advertising of good products. I just think there are some vital products and services that aren't improved or made more affordable by being marketed like cars or cosmetics--that, in fact, are in danger of being corrupted when product marketers are given control of the process. For two, medicine and politics.

Your doctor, too, and mine are under relentless pressure from pharmaceutical companies to prescribe their products over others--drug companies spend much more on direct marketing to physicians than on TV ads, and that's saying something. I got educated about my symptoms at a hospital depression screening event, paid for, no doubt, by a drug company.

So, after they get the samples out there, and the informational sales calls, the next thing is to motivate more people to walk into the doc's office presenting the correct, mapped-out symptoms.

Brain chemistry medicines are miraculous. Like you, they changed my life. But, what else could I do to change the conditions that made me depressed? Is there a way to make a profit researching something besides high-priced potions we must then take forever?

Anyway, thanks again for the conversation. I agree with your point. It's not a monochromatic issue.