Meds vs. Meditation for Depression
Both can be effective, but is one superior?
This article is part of a Wise & Well Special Report: The United States of Depression.
I will never forget the moment a couple of years ago when my bupropion kicked in. I was sitting on the sun porch of an Airbnb on a family vacation. I had started taking the antidepressant about six weeks prior, but had not noticed much difference in terms of my anxiety and depression.
But that morning on the sun porch, shortly after taking my daily dose, I distinctly felt a flicker of well-being. Then it flickered out. Then the next day it flickered on again. Over the coming weeks, that sense of well-being grew from brief flickers to my predominant experience over the course of the day.
Then again, my mindfulness practice has also grown into something that profoundly shapes my experience of each day.
Which “med” deserves the most credit? Medication, or meditation?
Medication: a glass half-full
For many of us affected by depression, modern antidepressants have been literally life-saving. The first antidepressant medications to be approved in the US were monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or “MAOIs” (such as isocarboxazid), and tricyclic antidepressants, or “TCAs”…
