h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

SAD has been in our (Canadian) news occassionally the last few years. But just as with clinical depression, it is a rare bird diagnosed with it. Maybe our health care system just doesn't go much for the diagnosis-of-the-year thing so much?

Nick, it's possible that Canadians have worked out ways of coping with winter darkness. Resilience is a virtue.

I haven't yet addressed the issue of why more people seem to suffer from year-round depression nowadays than in earlier generations. I would ascribe some of this increase to the mix of medications for other conditions such as hypertension. Take beta blockers such as propranolol. I saw one study that found 44% of the people taking that medication showed symptoms of depression. There may be other medications that contribute as well. Maybe this will level off or decline if newer blood pressure medicines come out without this side-effect.

Well, I'll go on the guess that generations of dealing with a lot of weather extremes has toughened many of us.

But another thing that I have noticed is the rapidly rising incidence of asthma. As a child, I knew one lad that occassionally suffered during pollen seasons. Now, it seems 2 out of 5 kids, and a lot more adults, are bothered by it some or all of the year. A few things in our newspapers seem to suggest the dirtying environment, but also a much softer and easier life. The bodies aren't as hearty, and so don't fight off common ailments as easily.

So without guessing too hard or far, there may also be subtle and worsening environmental conditions around much of the UK that aggravate the succeptibility to depression? It being mostly caused by chemical imbalances, if I've got that much correct.

My dad Suffered with depression (it seems to run's in our family, mum suffered with it in her teens) and it did get progressivly worse in the winter, he could only work in the late spring and summer months, Mum also gets moody in december I don't know whether it's psycosematic or not but she tend to snap out of it after 21st December, the shortest day

There may be something to that. Time will tell.

Unfortunately, people nowadays get much less exercise than previous generations got, and this is manifesting itself in rising obesity rates, which will raise the number of people needing treatments for hypertension.

I still think that doctors are unwilling to get to the root of someone's 'depression' to see whether it really is depression or someone who's just unhappy with their lot or 'wallowing', it's easier and quicker to write a prescription than to find the root of the problem and of course there's perks from the drug companies

Reefgirl, I've seen magazine articles that agree with you. I've also seen various other attempts to grapple with the issue. There *are* people who can get "cured" with a few visits to a psychiatrist or clinician. This is because skilled therapy can rewire the brain. There are others who respond with therapy sessions *plus* medication.
I think that some HMOs balk at paying for therapy sessions. That is a big part of the problem, I think.

Ummm, isn't HMO an American term? For a medical insurance carrier of sorts? Here in Canada, we have pretty much standardized health care across the country that would cover such investigations and treatments. So it would fall to the doctors as to how creative, imaginative or stuck-in-the-50s they might be.

Any other insurance, BTW, is used to cover some of the non-standard costs, like prosthetics, private room, etc.

My Doctor was pretty good when dealing with me but as I said I was pregnant at the time so they couldn't pump me full of drugs, they had no choice but to choose therapy, Dad on the other hand was medicated, he used to say there were more pills in his medicine cupboard than there were in Boots (High street Pharmacy)

Boots the Chemist

His dad was a cobbler, never suported his son in his ambition to be a chemist, Instead he remarked on the fact that noone would ever go to a chemist named boots!

Yes, but the son apparently cobbled together enough resources to start his chemist shop.

Did he have a cousin in Canada? Boots is a common enough chain in our maritime provinces ...