Did you catch the 60 Minute interview of the researcher from Harvard who has been researching placebos and their effects for the last 35 years?  Based on his research, he claims that the chemical constituents of antidepressants are not effective nor do they relieve depression.  Antidepressant drugs work merely through their placebo effect.  Now, if that’s all they did that would not be so bad.  I don’t think anyone would argue that if the drug is going to relieve depression, whether through a placebo effect or the chemicals that are actually in the drugs is not important, but the antidepressants come with huge, sometimes fatal, side effects.  Today, one of the most common medications for teenagers is antidepressants.  I recently learned from a parent that their 6 year old child was on antidepressants.  The second cause of death among teenagers is suicide.  I don’t believe there is any conclusive proof that antidepressants cause suicide, but I believe experts suggest they could be a cause.  Are the large quantity of drugs consumed by our teenagers responsible for their violent and aggressive behavior?  We are the most overmedicated country in the world.  Our population in the United States represents 5% of the world’s population yet we consume 50-60% of the world’s manufactured drugs.  50 years ago we did not see the violent behavior, aggressiveness, suicides and school shootings as we do today.  But then again we did not dispense prescription drugs in the 50’s and 60’s as we are doing today.  I absolutely am convinced that our downward spiral of human life is due to the poor quality of food and the choice of the American diet.  Some people live on junk food, eat all of their meals out of a fast food restaurant, and think that pizza is a meal.  Junk food manufacturers and fast food purveyors are changing the way Americans look at food.  There is no one who has the funds or the power to refute junk food advertising.  Americans are so susceptible to TV advertising.  And, after it’s drummed into Americans lifestyle, it becomes acceptable.  I could not believe that a coke manufacturer would create a national ad showing a family (father, mother, and children) at a dinner table pouring coke to consume as the main drink during dinner.