If you’re happy and you know it, it’s the Prozac

  Ariana Brookes Brookes is a fourth-year
English student who knows that Diet Coke is the drink of champions.
E-mail her at [email protected].
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Almost everyone I know is on the pill, and I’m not talking
about birth control. I’m talking about what I like to call
the “happy pill.” No, not ecstasy (that’s another
article all together), but antidepressants. Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the pill-popping generation.

I haven’t taken any official polls, but I think it’s
safe to say many students at our school take antidepressants.
Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Celexa, Wellbutrin ““ you name it, we
have it.

These pills help us get through break-ups, failed classes,
stress at work and plain everyday life. They keep us on that medium
ground between mania and depression. They keep us happy.

I’m all for taking advantage of the wonders modern
medicine has to offer. I am fully astounded every time a little
pill makes that frown turn upside down. I couldn’t be happier
that we live in a society where depression is both recognized and
treated. I just have one question: Were people always this
depressed?

This is one of the great questions that keeps me up at night.
Have people gotten crazier? Five hundred years ago, did college
students call up their parents crying and begging for Prozac?
Should we pat ourselves on the back for finally recognizing this
widespread problem of youth depression, or is the presence and easy
availability of prescription drugs simply creating a need for more
depressed people?

  Illustration by JASON CHEN/Daily Bruin Senior Staff We
know people have always battled depression ““ artists,
intellectuals, anyone with thoughts. Throughout history human
beings have asked that great question: What is the point?

There have always been ways to dull the excessive thought
processes surrounding this question, for example, Opium and cocaine
““ Freud and Picasso knew what was up. But in this age we no
longer have to turn to drugs of the illegal persuasion in order to
feel better. There is a big world out there full of psychiatrists
and pharmacies just waiting to fill out a prescription.

A friend of mine has a purse that empties out like Sav-On Drugs.
She has pills for everything. Every mood, distraction and
misconception can be cleared up by simply opening the childproof
cap.

And how does she feel about this addiction? Hey, maybe
she’s not happy about the fact that she has a chemical
imbalance, but at least she can get out of bed now. And then of
course there’s always the recreational upside. Adderal gives
a pretty good high when you’re bored.

Therein lies the great flip side to mood elevators. They are so
easy to get. Fake an anxiety attack and you’ve got a bottle
of pills that will last you and your friends a month. Prescription
pills are the cocaine of our generation. You take a pill because
you can’t stop thinking about your ex and your friend takes
one because there isn’t any beer in his refrigerator. It
makes you wonder what’s wrong with this picture?

Should we be using medicine to forget about our problems? If the
pills weren’t available would we mull over our ex for a while
and then move on? After all, life’s disappointments fade with
time, but once you’re on the pill it’s hard to get off.
It becomes a habit. You’re having a bad day and then you
realize, oh, it must be because I forgot to take my Zoloft. Problem
solved.

I accept the fact that some people suffer not because of
specific incidents, but because of chemical imbalances that they
were born with. For them, a few weeks of mulling will not solve
their problem. For these reasons I am grateful the medicine is
available. It takes strength to realize you need medicine.
Sometimes you cannot solve problems by yourself. And sometimes
taking medicine is not an easy way out.

So what are we to do? We, the forgotten generation that has made
boredom an art. Are we supposed to take this gift we have been
offered as a chemical nirvana? Should we get down on our knees and
thank all the gods in heaven for understanding our pain? Does the
strength lie in accepting help or in forging it on our own?

I think the strength lies in finding the answer within yourself.
I’d love to see the world as a happy place where no one is
ever feeling down.

Realistically, though, whether you take the drugs or not, I
admire the great strength of anyone who is suffering but can still
see the light at the end of the tunnel.