The fact that a large number of prescriptions are written in Maine for antidepressant medications does not necessarily mean that Maine has unusually high rates of depression.

Today’s antidepressant medications are multi-purpose drugs. They are used, often with FDA approval and often very successfully, to treat insomnia (Remeron), smoking cessation (Wellbutrin), eating disorders (Prozac), premature ejaculation (Zoloft), anxiety and panic disorders (Paxil), diabetic neuropathy (Celexa), chronic pain (Amitriptyline), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Luvox) and multiple other maladies that are sometimes, but not always, associated with depression.

That said, I would be willing to bet that a carefully designed epidemiological study would indeed document unusually high rates of depression – and also of anxiety – in Maine, particularly in Washington County, where I live and work.

The reasons for these increased rates could be many, but I would speculate that they include a fairly concentrated gene pool, widespread poverty and little economic development, high rates of alcohol and drug abuse, poor access to mental health services of any kind, multiple people who have been disabled in the lumber industry and suffer both chronic pain and a sense of uselessness, harsh winters with little sunlight, poorly maintained roads so that travel is arduous and expensive, and various other facts of life Down East.

Any pharmaceutical companies that want to support true epidemiological research can contact me.

Susan E. Bailey, M.D.

Machias