According to the Utah Department of Health, Utah ranks fourth in the nation for the greatest consumption of antidepressants. But the problem is that these medications "do not work on most of the consumers to whom they are prescribed."

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1010&sid=15849609

I'm no expert, but I have a theory on why this is so. Taking an antidepressant medication, but failing to address the underlying reasons for your depression, will not heal your depression. I further believe most mormons in Utah suffer from an unconscious, unrecognized notion that the religion they've based their life on is a complete scam (it isn't hard to discover the scam, the really hard part is admitting it to yourself and others).

Bottomline, the reason we are so depressed is due to a large divergence from our behavior/lifestyle and our true beliefs, whether consciously recognized or not.

I would actually like to hear from the true experts on RfM about this. Why are Utahns so depressed?

I was very dishonest with myself as a mormon, but that doesn't mean that every mormon is. In fact I think many are quite sincere in their beliefs. And I have lot's of experience from depression. Depression arise from a sense of hopelessness, if there is nothing I can do to make my life more interesting, worthwhile, then yes I get depressed. So things like unemployment, social status, friends (or lack of friends), abuse e.t.c. is a big part of the problem. Also, depression is in a sense learned helplessness, you have learned that it doesn't matter what you do, and one need to unlearn this destructive belief. For many I think it's only a matter of having something meaningful to do, a job to go to or friends to hang with.

I can certainly see why mormons might be depressed, never being allowed to do what you really want, never allowed to feel what you really feel or think what you really think. Your'e definitely on to something there. Also taking care of families bigger than they have neither money nor energy to support puts alot of stress on them and their marriges, and on top of it all they have their church callings. It's easy to start to think that it doesn't matter what you do, when experience shows you just how true this is. They teach that you should pray when you have troubles, but when you pray and pray and pray without result then it's either your faith or self-esteem that has to go, and TBMs tend to choose the latter.

13%? That's all?

Because they are suffering from individual and collective dissociative personality disorder orchestrated primarily by the brown shirts in CES.

Seriously.

This thread is so depressing. I think I need some prozac ;) Better yet I think I'll go watch Mr. Deity delve into the depressions/headaches of being a god.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ksa5FNQLrA&feature=fvsr

No wonder Mormons get so depressed. Being a god in the CK sounds like a lot of work, depression, and headaches ;)

I LOVE that guy (but don't believe in the real one...wait...does that make sense???) LOL

Even several members of the royal Osmond family take anti-depressants. Hmmmmm!!!!

Besides Marie, who else would it be?

The other 87% are actually depressed...

Interesting correlation

"Utah sits right in the middle of the "suicide belt," which stretches along the Rocky Mountains from Wyoming and Idaho, through Utah and Nevada and down to Arizona and New Mexico."
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1010&sid=15849609

I had to leave mormonism to save my life. Because of the way I had been treated by my "brothers and sisters" who were more like Job's accusers when tragic events struck my family, I began to believe that I had brought this evil upon my family or that because I was not worthy enough God did not help me overcome it. So yes the culture and belief system set me up for suicide. I am sure I am not the only one.

I take anti-depressants. I am not resigned from the church officially (I can't my wife would leave), but I know it is false.

Mormon beliefs had nothing to do with my depression and OCD behaviours. Moving seven times (ACROSS the US) AND starting NEW jobs had alot to do with it. I could even argue that the church helped me in terms of having something familiar when I arrived in the new locale.

My TBM wife takes anti-depressants. She is married to me, so maybe it is "catchy" (ha, ha!). My daughter did for a while, she is off them. My older brother and sister take them. I know several neighbors that do. In the case of one neighbor in particular, the church MAY have something to do with it. She has a fucked up view of life and expectations resulting from too much Mormonism.

So why are so many people in Utah on anti-depressants? I read an article one time and it was NOT about Utah's "problem", it postulated that the more educated one is, the more likely one is to get help (drugs) when depression strikes.

Some of you on here are depressed, it seems. I can see why. We have left the church and are abandoned by friends and family. Maybe suffered a divorce, etc. Depression is fairly common. Getting help is stigmatized, and it should not be.

Let's be fair here.

http://www.utahfoundation.org/reports/?page_id=532

Except Utah's education rates have been declining rapidly. Used to be fifth in the nation, now at least down to 18th in 2008.

None of that translates into coming in fourth in use of anti-depressants. It isn't education level driving the pill popping. It's more likely the social pressure to be happy clashing with the reality of not being happy.

Which is more likely--Mormons re-examining their lives to find out why they are unhappy, including all the mental pressure and manipulation put on them by the church and related social structures, or popping a pill. The church doesn't encourage rethinking, it encourages more pressure be placed on the member. Conformity is their solution to unhappiness, which quite frankly is every cult's solution to unhappiness. It's part of blaming the victim for not enjoying their brainwashing.

Sublimation through chemistry is a natural out-growth. Too bad it won't actually work if there isn't a chemical problem to begin with. Or maybe that is a good thing. More people might realize it doesn't work and rethink the church. If they survive long enough.

As for me, I do not blame the church for my depression, but for the severity. Had we been met with compassion and understanding instead of dogma and ignorance, I doubt that I would have been suicidal. True I would have been melancholy, but with love and support would have found a way through with some treatment.
But when you are already feeling like a failure, and the response you get is that you feel that way because for some reason you're unworthy of God's love and compassion, that doesn't exactly make one want to continue living. So much for "fair".

My TBM mom and older sister take them and they live in SLC. My younger brother is crazy as loon and takes everything (he too lives in SLC). My younger sister takes them (lives in AZ). I do not take them (I live in CA) and my older brother does not take them (He lives in MA).

I know that on my mom's side of the family, there is a history of nut cases and addicts. Funny, they are ALL Mormons and lived thier lives in Utah, AZ and/or Idaho. My fathers side of the family is from the east coast (all non-mormons) and no history or record of depression and/or addiciton.

I wonder if anyone has ever done a study about depression running in the families of Mormons? Especially those that live in Utah, AZ or Idaho?

Utah is about 68% LDS. Of that 68% it has been estimated that only about 40% of those members are active to various degrees in the church. That means that only 27% of the people in Utah are active participants in the LDS church; a sad comentary in itself. So any social statistics, such as anti-depressant use, that are quoted are going to mostly represent the remaining 73% of the Utahns which are either non-LDS or are inactive LDS. Perhaps it is the 27% active Mormons who are causing the others to take more anti-depressants :-)

Either being Mormon or being around them creates one of the highest Prozac usage rates in the world. Kind of bad image for god's only "true church". You'd think it would be one of the lowest with so much speecial witnesses of Jesus and priesthood power and happy holy ghost flowing through this corner of the world.

They've saved my life and my sanity.

Here here. I can totally relate.

My opinion about antidepressants is that half the population is on them.

The other half NEEDS to be on them.

I personally have taken antidepressants for almost 30 years. I think they are mislabeled, and certainly misunderstood. They aren't "happy" pills or mood elevators. They affect the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, and the correct antidepressant simply equalizes the the chemical soup in your brain.

~VOW

As a NP, I prescribe anti-depressants. However, if you are the type of person who does not "get to the root of the problem", you will never "be happy or content". A pill is for short term. I tell my patients, life long use is not the answer, dealing with your issues is...

I would have thought it would be much higher than 13%, though what do I know, maybe that is very high, as I remember hearing years ago that we here in the morridor were the prozac capital of the world.

The article mentions that anti-depressants don't seem to work for Utahns as effectively as for the broad general public. Could this be that the depression that is being treated is not "clinical depression" which is caused by bad brain chemistry but that the depression is a real reaction to a real problem in their environment?

Clinicians distinguish between "clinical depression" which is treatable with anti-depressants and depression as normal reaction to a horrible situation.

My TBM dad had serious bouts of clinical depression which he called "a nervous stomach" he self medicated with Maalox, and Hugh Nibley books.

My mom was a "what if" thinker and had symptoms of OCD,hoarding and anxiety. She had trouble getting rid of anything. If 2 years food storage was good, 10 years would be even better.

Not surprisingly, my tbm brother has ocd symptoms that he refuses to get treated for. His TBM primary mormon doc told him if he could keep a job he didn't need any help. I told him his doc was misinformed and suggested several sites online for him to check out. The thing is, the ocd IS affecting his life and making him an anxious miserable wreck.

He thinks he can pray it away and doesn't want to take a med because of negative stigma, re: he will see himself as spiritually inferior. He must endure to the end. Blah Blah.

When it comes to mental issues there are a lot of unknowns. Sometimes "the root of the problem" is just bad chemistry caused by genetics and DNA.

I tend to believe that a lot of depression/anxiety disorders in Utah is bad brain chemistry that goes back to the pioneers and early converts who found some comfort in mormonism. They treated their depression with sermons by Joseph Smith & Brigham Young.

And then, of course, the converts remarried and remarried and remarried within that group.

And Voila! Utah

"His TBM primary mormon doc told him if he could keep a job he didn't need any help. "

Chemistry has a lot to do with it, but environment can do a lot to either help or hinder one's capacity to deal with it. When my DW had a total breakdown, major mixed episode of bi-polar disorder, she was told to "get over it" and that if we really had faith that it would pass. Now this episode she had was preceded by 1) A bed rest pregnancy 2) Months of "pain management" for said pregnancy 3) Hernia surgery 4) Another bed rest pregnancy (failed birth control, abortion is immoral) 5) More "pain management" 6) Premature birth of last child 7) Hernia surgery again 8) Diagnosis and treatment of cancer of second youngest (2 years old at the time) 9) Relocation due to cockroach infestation 10) Broken washing machine. Needless to say the rapid sequence of these events combined with her natural imbalance would make anyone crazy. What was the reaction of our local faith community? You're being punished/tested/don't have enough faith/want the attention. Really? That is what we NEEDED to hear?! It gets worse one of our older children had his mental illness manifest as well. The love and support of the community, was more like Scrooge asking if there were no poor houses or orphanages or debtor's prisons. "Let the State help you." If you have faith in God, he will not let these things overcome you! Bullonly! The logic of that statement is that a) if you are not helped then you do not have enough faith, or b) if you are not helped then you are evil and deserve to be punished. This brings me to my depression and suicidal thoughts/actions. I was actually accused of not having enough faith in God for being depressed by the destruction of my family and that as such deserved the outcome. Great way to give someone hope and a reason to live... This is why I am not surprised to see a correlation with the "suicide belt" and the "Mormon belt". The culture here can cause depression, and if someone is predisposed due to biological makeup can be enough to cause them to go over the edge and actually try to end their life. But hey maybe that would be "killing them to save them"

Anon to protect the anxious Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My TBM dad had serious bouts of clinical
> depression which he called "a nervous stomach." He
> self-medicated with Maalox, and Hugh Nibley books.

Very interesting coping mechanisms.

After hearing all this stuff and looking back, I wonder how I survived the idiotic cultural mindset of YBU. O_o!

I was on so many "happy pills" when I was living in UT. They all knew I was depressed, cause I didnt fit in.I refused to conform to their standards and cookie cutter life. They really tried to turn me into something I was not! So, theyd toss me in a psych ward, drug me up, send me home, and right back into that environment that was the problem to begin with! My exDH knew that UT was destroying me mentally and destroying my mental health as well. I finally got a divorce, and decided to get out of that miserable place. I am so glad that we did NOT ever have kids!I have been gone from there for 2 years now, and my doctor here has taken me off all the meds, cause it was UT that was the problem, not me. I am single again and loving it! As far as why Utahns are so depressed, I will put it in a nutshell for you...It is because there is a very high expectation put on women to reach the "bar" and if they cant, then they dont fit in. We were trained to play the stepford wife, and when that does not happen she is "shunned" to a certain extent. Just add in a few infertility issues, and you got a good recipie for failure. Then that will most likely lead to depression. I heard so many Mormon women say to me "Well, you cant have kids cause you are unworthy, and God must think you have done something really bad cause you cant have them." OR, they would say..."You can have them in the next life". I was like WTF??What did they mean by that. The expectations are so unrealistic that we get depressed when those Mormon standards are not met.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/08/2011 11:22PM by utahmonomore.

If you dont like orgasms take anti depressants so you can quit having them. The side perk is that you are hungrier and eat more so you get to be fat too. Yay! Go!

Overweight and sexually frustrated? Sounds like the Utah I know.

Maybe I was either wrong or weak, but after about a month and a half, life is finally starting to look like something worth keeping.