Tuesday, November 13, 2018

3 Simple and Easy Treatments for Depression

            A recent article published in Natural News explores what they believe to be possible alternative treatments for depression, claiming that “artificial junk”, or antidepressant medications, are more harmful and far less effective than natural remedies. They write that in addition to only a 50% chance of working, antidepressants, “according to numerous reviews” which were not cited, can lead to increased risk of suicide and have awful side-effects such as muscle paralysis. With this, the article jumps into introducing three effective, natural ways to combat depression.

            One suggestion includes partaking in partial or full sleep deprivation to reduce symptoms of depression. This means to either deprive oneself of sleep for approximately 21 hours (partial) or 36+ hours (full). However, looking more into the article that they cite, there seems to be no actual study done to prove the effectiveness of this method. The paper claims that clinical improvements were seen 24 hours after sleep deprivation, but does not explain what benefits they saw, how they were measured, and if this is even effective beyond 24 hours or as a long-term treatment. Looking further into this theory, I stumbled upon an article from Harvard Health discussing the effects of sleep on depression. The article directly contrasts to the statements put forward by Natural News. It writes that sleep problems that cause sleep deprivation such as insomnia actually increase the risk of depression as a lack of sleep can lead to impaired thinking and emotional regulation. It even goes on further to write that good sleeping habits can alleviate such impairments, citing statistical information and actual studies performed.

            The writer further goes on to say that talking to your mother more is also an effective method to combat depression, citing a study that merely shows a correlation to depression and relationship tension in one’s life. Again, this study does not offer this as a treatment for depression, but rather just notices a correlation based on survey questions administered and suggests that discussion of these relationships be considered by therapists when working with those with depression. Although it is certainly possible that improving relationships in your life can help improve one’s mental state, for Nature News to say that talking to your mom provides a “far better chance of recovery than synthetic drugs” without any actual evidence is completely illogical. Finally, this article throws in the “best” natural treatment to alleviate depression symptoms – magnesium supplements. They of course provide a link directing you to their website to purchase such supplements, but do not include any link to research to back up its effectiveness.

            The dangerous ideas put forward by this Nature News article are not only completely baseless, but may actually cause more harm to those who unknowingly follow these tips in order to treat their depression. Furthermore, using fear as a tactic to push their beliefs and to sell their products by claiming antidepressants are mostly ineffective and can even worsen your symptoms, again without citing any evidence, proves that this source as incredibly biased and unreliable.

Posted by "Alexandra Rios" (3)

14 comments:

  1. Wow this is really concerning. As you said, it sounds as if posting information such as this could have a really negative effect on people and their mental status. This is scary considering the amount of people that struggle with depression and the likeliness of access to this information. I wonder what the motivations behind this article were. Do you think they're promoting some alternative medicine or misunderstanding the information presented in the studies?

    Alexandra McGuire

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    Replies
    1. I think they are mainly wanting to spread the idea that natural medicine can be a solution for nearly everything. The entire website basically just pushes stories about natural medicine curing everything from mental illness to even cancer. So it seems to me they will take any piece of information that follows their ideology and run with it, even if it is not well-tested or accurate. On top of that, sometimes they will try to sell their products (like they did in this article) so it also seems like they are trying to persuade readers as much as possibly in order to profit from this.

      Posted by Alexandra Rios

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  2. I hate articles like this one that attempt to "cure" real illnesses with random, non effective treatments. By doing this, we are just increasing the stigma around mental illness and furthering the idea that they are not real illnesses. As someone who is currently taking antidepressants (which have been very successful for me), it frustrates me to see this sort of publication.

    Posted by Jamie Downer

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    Replies
    1. Absolutely agree with what you said about furthering the idea that mental illnesses aren't real illnesses. This entire website does that quite frequently, and unfortunately across many different types of illnesses. It seems like it would be so frustrating for people who have mentally or physically struggled for so long to see sources like Natural News suggesting such ridiculously simple ideas for a cure. I can understand them wanting to promote a more natural lifestyle, but I wish they would do that without minimizing the complications of real diseases and illnesses.

      Posted by Alexandra Rios

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  3. I thought your analysis of this article was very thorough and well thought out. The news outlet "Natural News" has a reputation for publishing unverifiable information that is not always supported by evidence, according to mediabiasfactcheck.com. They also tend to post about vaccine denialism and conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical medicines. This article contains such absurdity, going against generally agreed upon medical advice. It also generalizes that people have a good relationship with their mother, where in some classes when there is a strained mother-child relationship it would most likely worsen depression.

    Posted by Jamie Courtney

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  4. I have no idea how they could say that sleep deprivation is useful for reducing depression. They do not know what they are talking about either, because they do not have any useful scientific study that support their opinion. I learned one experimental study of sleep deprivation in my freshman year in a psychology course, and that study showed that people lacking enough sleeping performed poorly in focusing and problem solving. They were also more nervous and irritable when they were not allowed to sleep for a long time.

    Posted by Muchen Liu

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    Replies
    1. I agree! I wish the source they cited provided more detail as to why/how they came to the conclusion that sleep deprivation can help depression, because I really cannot see how it would be that effective. I imagine, as you said, it will just irritate and frustrate people. Either way, though, it is a dangerous suggestion to make. One should only force themselves to undergo sleep deprivation under the supervision of a doctor.

      Posted by Alexandra Rios

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  5. This is very concerning, depression is a serious mental health issue and should be treated as such. It is scary to think that false information such as this is being spread around without a second thought about the consequences. If an individual with severe depression took the advice in this article seriously, they could potentially find themselves in an unforgiving situation. Depression medication might not be for everyone, but the studies and statistics show that it is a safe and viable option for many individuals. Of course certain lifestyle choices can have an affect on an individuals depressive state, but that does not mean it can cure it.


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