Nibbs

Dear God, I reckon PB has got a job writing for the Sunday Times

Seems as though Perth people are the most sad, scared of all Aussie cities with Melbourne and Sydney not far ahead. According to this (dubious??) report only QLD folks are happy.

Add to that the 4.5m great white at three mile reef and the start of the stinger season and it's a right cheerful read.

Now I know about the stiongers and sharks, goes with the terriory but manic depressives as well

dotty

Its true, QLD has the happiest ozzies, personally I think its to do with the parties

ABCDiamond

Sounds about right to me I've been happier since I got to QLD from Sydney

But then, they do say that more Sun makes people happier !

How's the sale of anti-depressants going in the UK these days?

Nibbs

Hi Dotty,

Should meet my brother. After 16 years of running a bus. in the UK and not getting a mortgage or nuch in the way of savings, he now has a nice house on 42 acres (bit of a country boy) a good job and contacts plus the ability to go fishing whenever he wants.

Still a right whingy old git

Edit : Brisbane BTW

dotty

In Perth?

dotty

Shusssh, dont bring that up, its actually very high here. I think PB brought it up once, Doctors prescribe heaps of them here or so he said. Know my husbands parents used to have a fruit bowl of them! Still they never did get used to the shock of him marrying a Pom.

Jirrupin

Don't know about the UK but here are some figures for Australia

DEPRESSION IN AUSTRALIA

Mental health is an issue for many Australians and their families and, as depression diagnoses and antidepressant prescriptions rise, there has been a greater recognition of depression as an important health issue.

Major depression is likely to be second among the leading causes of disease burden throughout the world by 2020, according to World Health Organization predictions. Recent research and surveys have demonstrated that the problem is very real in Australian communities.

Rise in antidepressant use
The Report on Government Services 2001, released in January this year by the Steering Committee for the Review of Commonwealth/State Service Provision, found that depression is the fourth most common problem managed by Australian GPs, even more common than conditions such as arthritis or diabetes.

The report also found that in the period 1998 to 1999, GPs in Australia wrote more than [B]500 prescriptions for antidepressants per every 1000 people [B](over 15 years of age

Another study, published in the 6 November 2000 issue of the Medical Journal of Australia, highlighted the rise in the use of antidepressants by Australians between 1990 and 1998.

The research found that 85 per cent of antidepressant prescriptions written in 1998 subsidised by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme were written by GPs, and that the number of antidepressant prescriptions had risen from 5.1 million in 1990 to 8.2 million in 1998.

The researchers stated that before the 1990s, depression had been reported as ‘under-recognised and under treated’, but the past decade has seen a big change in the number of people diagnosed with depression and managed for depression, and there have been changes in the available options for drug therapy and in the amount of antidepressant drugs prescribed.

dotty

500 per thousand, thats what PB claimed half the pops on poppers. I suppose tho some people go through packets of them each year.

What I hate is standing at the chemist for a prescription, you know $28.00 a pop. Kids had asthma once and it was $140.00!!!!!!!!!

But most of the other people, usually with a pad full of scripts are handing out the dole card to get the $2.80 taxpayer funded ones. It really gets me, especially if you can see or smell they can afford fags tho.

Megalania

Doctors are fashion victims too. Pill pushers go to great lenghts to bend the minds of Doctors to their will.

I hypothesise that much, even most, of what is diagnosed as depression is actually sleep debt which could be cured by better sleep.

I further hypothesise that Doctors get close to zero training in sleep methods and medicine and consequentially Doctors have a medical blind spot regarding sleep.

Assess Your Sleep Online

The Z files

podgypossum

In that case maybe we should up the doses of sleeping tablets..that will cure it aye??

Megalania

If your Doctor is ignorant direct them to:

Postgraduate Courses in Sleep Medicine

Paediatric Sleep Medicine

or you could just swallow.

podgypossum

Did you know that one of the symptoms of depression is sleeping too much?

Megalania

Did you know that one of the symptoms of depression is dozing too much and not sleeping enough?

podgypossum

yes...and?

All i am saying is that you cannot make a generalisation that most depression is caused by lack of sleep! There are a million and one different reasons. Some environmental and some clinical

Megalania

Agreed that generalizations are not helpful without verifyable evidence. Do you have evidence to refute my hypothesis? Has anyone surveyed those being prescribed anti-depressants for sleep disorders or sleep debt?