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Section 20(a)

(i)       Gail Bell, pharmacist, essay The Worried Well: The Depression Epidemic and the Medicalisation of our Sorrows dated 27 June 2005

Pharmacist Gail Bell, author of The Poison Principle and Shot, investigates how the prescription culture actually operates, basing her findings on interviews with drug reps, GPs and psychiatrists.
 

Since 1990, the number of prescriptions for anti-depressants has risen from 5 million a year to 12 million in a population of 21 million.  Many of these drugs, which are meant to be used only for major depression, are being handed out for less severe cases and are also being prescribed to children.

Ms. Bell -

(a)        contends that anti-depressant drugs "on their own" are often not enough because the depressed person returns to the lifestyle out of which the Depression developed; 
 

(b)        raises concerns that jiggling neuro transmitters in the brain with drugs where the long-term effects may not be known without a Support Network offers its our perils; and 

(c)        looks at solutions to the ever-increasing spread of anti-depressants.

The Event Organiser contends that recreational bicycle groups often provide an effective LCCBSG of like-minded friends.