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Stress, depression and anxiety are the plagues of the modern world. Every year, over 20 million people in the western world will enter into an episode of major mental trauma. Most of them will be treated with antidepressant drugs. But how effective are these powerful meds at providing at providing sufferers with a cure?

The reason why people who are suffering from stress, depression or anxiety are prescribed these powerful medications is because of the mistaken belief that chemical imbalances within the brain are at the root cause. This is in fact not true. Chemical imbalances are one of the symptoms of these illnesses. Antidepressants are used to correct these imbalances. Therefore, antidepressant drugs can only address one symptom and as they don't address the root cause, there is a seventy percent chance of relapse once a sufferer ceases taking the medication.

What's even more shocking is that the proof for the existence of chemical imbalances within the brain is minimal. In a recent interview with People Magazine (July 11), the president of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Steven Sharstein is quoted as saying 'We do not have a clean-cut lab test for chemical imbalances'.

This begs the question: If these imbalances cannot be tested and proven, why on earth are these drugs being prescribed? Clearly, if a sufferer is to find a cure from the pain of these widespread and ever-growing illnesses, a much more effective treatment is needed, specifically, a treatment which treats the root cause of these illnesses.

The root cause is due to flawed modes of thinking. This is easily demonstrated. Two people can suffer the same traumatic event in life, death of a loved one for example. One will enter into a major depression, one won't. The only difference between the two people lies in the way they have assigned meaning to the event. This is the reason why not everyone who experiences trauma develops stress, anxiety or depression.

The bottom line is that the only way to cure stress, depression or anxiety is to treat the root cause. Antidepressant drugs cannot do this. The only way to beat them is to replace flawed modes of thining with more effective ones which strangle these illnesses once and for all.

Any sufferers who are currently taking antidepressant medications should NOT, under any circumstances, stop taking these drugs before first consulting with a competent, qualified medical practitioner who can provide proper advice and supervision.

Copyright 2005 Christopher Green