Personalized medications, not that there's anything wrong with that

At the risk of sounding like a drug-pusher, I agree that some medications are needed for depressed people. Depression (and other mood disorders) is often a brain-biochemical issue, and in my personal observations of clients and others, this bio-chem sometimes needs a little boost. Not 'happy pills', not 'drugged-out living', but balancing of the chemicals which are lacking.

(At the risk of also supporting an over-prescribed, over-anxious population, I also agree that many people taking medications actually need to learn how to use their minds better; some people who are often depressed may be under-functioning in healthy "let's take a step back from this situation" behaviors.)

In the meantime before everyone gets into their lifelong mindfulness, news is coming from the medical research world that soon, people suffering from depression might soon be prescribed the perfect medication for their own needs. Until now, depression-sufferers often had to go through weeks of testing to find the medication they needed, often feeling ill from an incorrect medication, or not having any mood-lifting at all.

The new news reported by the New York Times discusses the new direction of medications: genetic testing, which matches a patient's genetic profile to steer him or her to the right class of medications, which will remove weeks, months, and years of emotional anguish while improper meds are taken:

"... it will soon be possible for a psychiatrist to biologically personalize treatments. With a simple blood test, the doctor will be able to characterize a patient’s unique genetic profile, determining what biological type of depression the patient has and which antidepressant is likely to work best.

Scientists have identified genetic variations that affect specific neurotransmitter functions, which could explain why some patients respond to some drugs but not to others. For example, some depressed patients who have abnormally low levels of serotonin respond to S.S.R.I.’s, which relieve depression, in part, by flooding the brain with serotonin. Other depressed patients may have an abnormality in other neurotransmitters that regulate mood, like norepinephrine or dopamine, and may not respond to S.S.R.I.’s."

In addition, when genetic testing becomes the wave of prescribing, then no longer will advertising be needed to encourage one medication over another (the test will determine need) and drug reps will no longer have commercial sway over doctors.

In other words, medicine won't be:

--a guessing game
--a popularity contest
--a panacea snake oil cure-all

...it will be medicine.