Ellington

It took a study to figure this out???

It's no exaggeration to call the brain the least understood organ in the human body. Despite the amazing pace of advances in psychiatric medicine over the past generation, researchers continue to reach surprising and perplexing conclusions about the proper treatment of mental health conditions. In the latest study to examine the effectiveness of antidepressant therapy, a Harvard Medical School study finds that a patient's socioeconomic background may strongly influence their response to medication. According to the study, low-income patients who are clinically depressed experience a significantly reduced positive response to antidepressant medication than patients from higher-income brackets. Low-income patients were also more likely to report occasional suicidal thoughts in spite of the antidepressants. The study's authors suggested that a patient's "social world," including their surroundings and the nature of their community, can significantly impact their prospects for recovery from depression.

Previous Comments

ID

104772

Comment

Perhaps that has something to do with guilt feelings over spending money on the anti-depressants. Says she who loves her happy pills and just blogged about them today.

Author

Heather

Date

2006-02-23T19:33:58-06:00

ID

104773

Comment

Financial woes could definitely have something to do with it. However, even with prescription programs that help some people to get their meds for free, the stigma of mental illness doesn't help much when you're already dealing with the stigma of being working-class.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2006-03-02T21:35:42-06:00