arguement2

Even though, the over prescription of these medications is of some concern, doctors do pay attention to quite a few things. They are not going throw you on some prescription medication without great consideration. When determining who is a candidate for long-term drug therapy, lasting more than one year, doctors consider the length of time between episodes, the severity of depressive symptoms, risk of suicide, and family history of mood disorders. (Frank, para 13). These things will be discussed and look at closely between you and your doctor before prescribing any medication. Frank also says depression should be viewed as a chronic illness that may need long-term or permanent treatment with medication.
Before a patient jumps right into counseling, they need to understand that there is only so much talking one individual can do. Most likely, you will not be able to change on your own. For many, antidepressants need to be taken before counseling. "What antidepressants do is speed the recovery by eliminating symptoms and enhancing motivation and energy." (Frank, para 9). Antidepressants can be effective in treating major depression. Finding the right medication for a certain individual may take a few tries, but in the end would be worth it for the patient.
Rebuttal
As has already been stated numerous times, no one really knows what causes the illness known as depression. There are ideas out there that seem to have some influence on whether or not a person becomes depressed, one of which is what happens to a person during their life. Another would be that depression is genetically predisposed, however Klein argues that depression is due to a chemical imbalance in the human brain. This theory or idea does have some merit and value to it, but it can not be scientifically proven. To begin with, if depression is a result of a chemical imbalance in the brain, the question arises, what defines an imbalance of chemicals? Who is to say what is a normal level of a certain chemical in the brain and what is an abnormal level? There can be standards such as how much calcium a woman should have because blood tests on many women to make the standard can easily be done. But to take samples of the chemicals in the human brain from a variety of people, just to make a standard about those chemicals is virtually impossible. Along with that, there is even the chore of extracting the chemicals in the first place. It is not a good idea to go into a person's brain while they are still alive and play around. Who knows what could get messed up if that was done. The only way to get chemicals from a human brain and not damage it, the person basically needs to be dead. Last known, the amount of chemicals in a dead brain was small unless the brain was freshly dead.
Apparently the best way to solve or correct the supposed chemical imbalance is to administer antidepressant medication. Yes, medicine can cure a person of an illness, make their allergies be not so bad or go away completely. Medicines can even get rid of deadly bacteria and viruses. But depression is not an illness like one of these; depression is a mental illness and not one that can be cured by taking a simple pill. Facts and studies show though, that these antidepressant medications do help to adjust chemical levels in the brain. The question is though, is the medicine adjusting the right chemicals to make a permanent cure for the individual person, or is it only a temporary solution? Studies cannot prove this for the sheer fact that scientists and doctors can not be one hundred percent positive of not only what causes depression, of what chemical imbalance it is that causes it, as well as how much of the certain chemical is needed to make it better. If a result or finding is not a hundred percent true and accurate as well as can't be proven then it cannot be taken as true fact.
Along with giving medication to a person to help correct the chemical imbalance, come the aspects of how much to give, what medicine to give, and the amount of therapy that should be used along with the medication. It should also be taken into consideration the likely hood of a certain antidepressant drug becoming addictive, as well as being over prescribed, or overdosed on. Klein specifically states in her argument that "antidepressant drugs are effective when administered by doctors correctly and taken correctly by the patients." Due to federal and state laws, this should be common practice and most often is. However, there are doctors and patients out there in society that abuse not only the drug itself, but also the prescribing of it just so that they can make that extra bit of money.
From what I have observed, not only in my own life, but from the research presented in my argument and Klein's, there are problems both with giving antidepressant drugs and using therapy or changing your life style. However, for the time being, I choose to stand by my opinion that these drugs aren't all they are cracked up to be and that perhaps there is an even better option than doping people up just to make them feel better.

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