Sweat Lodges and Spirituality: I'm on Talk of the Nation
Dear Friends,
I wanted to let you know that I am going to be on “Talk of the Nation” on National Public Radio tomorrow, Thursday, October 22nd from 2:06-2:40pm EDT. I will be talking about Americans and the search for healing and meaning, the promise and the perils of the spiritual path.
I hope you will tune in if you’re able! Please enjoy the show, and I will be in touch soon again.
Jim
Good News, Bad News, Better News
This week’s Journal of the American Medical Association reports on the successful use of Viagra by women whose sexual desire and orgasmic capacity have been diminished by the antidepressant drugs they’ve been taking. The data on the benefits of Viagra (which does not ordinarily enhance desire or improve sexual function in women), when compared to an inert placebo pill, are statistically significant. The article is hopeful. Relief is at hand.
That’s the apparent good news. But so far as I’m concerned, it’s overwhelmed by two large, unanswered bad news issues. Viagra may be significantly better than placebo at dealing with the symptoms of sexual dysfunction, but it’s not at all clear that the antidepressant drugs, whose side effects they’re addressing, are better than placebo for improving the symptoms of depression. Two recent reviews of the literature, including one in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, show that when all the studies – the negative ones the drug companies file away, as well as the positive ones they rush to publish – are put together, the drugs are far less useful than physicians and the public have long been led to believe.
A reasonable person has to ask, why then are women (and men) in such large numbers (more than 200 million US prescriptions in 2007) taking drugs to improve their mood which appear not to work very well, and so often (in up to 70% of cases) have negative sexual side effects? And ask as well, why researchers are reporting so cheerfully about the use of Viagra, a drug with its own side effects, to counteract the side effects of antidepressant drugs that may only be marginally helpful?
It’s time to step back from this cycle of promiscuous prescription and unpleasant side effects, to look for better news in an approach that is likely improve mood and perhaps even enhance sexual functioning without the negative consequences – and the expense –the drugs bring. This approach which I describe in my new book, Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression, details a variety of therapeutic techniques including exercise, meditation, nutrition, and psychotherapy. Each is as likely to improve mood as antidepressants. Used together they may also have positive sexual and emotional “side benefits” – improved energy, greater calm, enhanced body image, self-esteem and self-control, and maybe even more interest in and compassion and love for one’s partner.
Coming up soon: More Responses to A Readers’ Question about Depression and Posttraumatic Stress
