Professionals Refuse to Take the Treatments They Demand Their Clients Take
Chloe Lambert
When faced with a worrying diagnosis, invasive procedure or risky operation, probably the smartest question you can ask your doctor is: 'What would you do?'
With years of experience, they know better than anyone which treatments and tests are worth having - and which are better avoided.
So here, leading doctors and researchers reveal what they would personally avoid, many of which go against the established view. Their comments may surprise and enlighten you...
Psychiatrist who'd never take anti-depressants
Dr Joanna Moncrieff, senior lecturer in psychiatry at University College London and author of The Myth Of The Chemical Cure.
I've been practising psychiatry for 20 years, and in my experience antidepressants don't do any good at all. I wouldn't take them under any circumstances - not even if I were suicidal.
All the research shows is that, at best, antidepressants make people feel a tiny bit better than a placebo. But this doesn't mean they actually treat depression.
After all these years of brain scanning, we don't even have evidence that depression is related to a chemical imbalance in the brain, so the whole idea that we can treat it chemically is questionable.
I believe depression is an extreme reaction to our circumstances, and the best way to recover from it is to work out the cause.
Sometimes that means talking therapies and sometimes it means changing your circumstances, such as getting a new job or addressing relationship problems.
There are, of course, some people who are depressed for no apparent reason, but there is still no evidence they suffer from a brain disease or that antidepressants can help. It's still better to try and find new things and break the cycle of thoughts and behaviour.
Antidepressants are psychoactive drugs -they alter the mind, like cannabis or alcohol, and I've always thought that were I depressed, I'd want to have all my faculties to get me out of the rut - not be clouded by a drug whose effects we don't really understand.
Weight-loss GP who wouldn't go on a diet
Dr Ian Campbell, GP and founder of Bodylibrium, a weight-loss programme.
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