Voices for Health

By Susan Grout, MA. Psych, LMHC

As simplistic as it sounds, I am in the business of making people happier. No one walks by my or any other counselor’s office and says, “Hey, it’s a nice day, think I’ll go in for counseling.” Clients come in because they’re carrying around problems that need discussing, if not always solving.

Long ago, I read a pivotal study by Dr. Martin Seligman that positively influenced me. In the 1980’s his group performed an unkind experiment with dogs on “learned helplessness.” They shocked the dogs randomly until they just gave up, lay down in their cages and awaited the next jolt. They had induced despair. The story could have ended there, with a pack of neurotic dogs. However, these were scientists who had hearts as well as brains and they decided to see if they could help these dogs recover. So, using sausages as rewards, they coaxed the dogs out of their pens. With some of the dogs it took as few as 10 times dragging them by the collar to the sausages, with others as many as 50 times, but ultimately all of the dogs recovered. It made me think that perhaps I could help clients find the particular “sausage” that would coax them out of their own cages.

The drug companies would have you believe that only with their particular drug can you recover from depression. Pharmacology does have its place in psychotherapy, but significantly less than the drug companies would have you believe. The truth about antidepressants is that, in controlled studies, placebos did almost as well. [Turner et al, University of Oregon Health and Science 2006 and a 2005 article in Scientific American]. Pharmaceuticals is a multi-billion dollar industry and the last thing they want you to know is that there is a more natural route to recovery from depression that is nearly as effective as their drugs. [Caution: If you are taking an antidepressant and want to stop, do not cease taking your medication. Talk to your doctor about withdrawing slowly.] The alternative and, in my opinion, superior route to happiness consists of simple things like following a healthy, nutritious diet, exercising regularly (that means most days), having good supportive friends, becoming aware and mindful in your life and seeking counseling when troubled.

To be fair, I have seen cases where clients have been diligent about this non-drug approach and still were not able to escape their cage. In these cases antidepressants may also be a necessary adjunct. Numerous studies have shown that psychotherapy coupled with antidepressants greatly enhances recovery from depression. Yet, this seems not to be well understood in our culture. Is it because people are embarrassed to seek professional help? Most of us can’t make our own sausages so we turn to the butcher. Sometimes people just need a little tug on their collar in order to view their life in a new way. Counseling can provide that tug on the collar.

Susan Grout is a licensed mental health counselor here in Friday Harbor. You can reach Susan at 378-3212.