[DanBC]

Depression is different for different people. It's an umbrella term that captures many different types of illness.

Anti depressants do work very well for some people; not so well for others; and not at all for others. Some people may have to try different meds. We know there's a genetic factor with effectiveness too.

But it's useful to have other approaches to treatment, and that's where the good psychologists come in.

There is always a bit of a kerfuffle between psychologists ("It's all psycho-social!") and psychiatrists ("It's all chemistry!") (the analogies with computer language flame wars are obvious) and the truth probably lies somewhere in between.

[0xcde4c3db]

Indeed. It blows my mind sometimes how much people, including people who really ought to know better, grasp at the ideal of having the One True Explanation and One True Treatment for depression. It's not even just the division between biological and psychosocial approaches; I've seen some very troubling, almost childish bickering among adherents of various psychotherapeutic schools (some of the more esoteric and old-school types denounce CBT in much the same terms that they denounce drugs), and have learned the hard way that if I ever hear my psychiatrist tell me that something is "a really good drug", I need a new psychiatrist.