Taking antidepressants without being diagnosed is such a bad idea

Another difference: In all European countries which I know advertising for prescription drugs is banned.

Gen Z self diagnosing the imaginary shit out of themselves.

Most people are not depressed…they are unhappy and miserable. There is a big difference

The expectation that you should be happy all the time is completely unrealistic. I get searching for happiness but don't go into a coma just because you're not.

Getting paid $10 million a year would sure cheer me up.

"General pretty good." I shopped the other day, bought things on sale, walked out with one small bag of groceries $70. Yeah, pretty good.

Old man yells at clouds

People can’t afford basic necessities like housing, transportation, and food. Purchasing power is the worst in decades.

Tell people to get hobbies too. That will help them be happy too.

His point is valid. It's not about money. We have to acknowledge the role that drug advertising, Drs and social media plays. The overuse and misuse of real mental health issues is beyond rampant and self-fulfilling... Hasn't anyone been given that stupid 10 question quiz at their Drs office? I went to the Dr for unusual fatigue and other transient symptoms. I knew something wasn't right. The nurse asked the questions and the Dr diagnosed me with depression before walking in the room. He would only prescribe antidepressants and refused to consider anything else. I walked out so pissed and saw another Dr. But now depression is in my medical record. I had to convince him to do bloodwork. Turned out I had a Vit D deficiency (vegetarian and wear sunscreen all the time). I took prescription Vit D, felt better and made changes to my diet. This kind of shit has happened to a lot of people I know.

Getting away from the virtual world, to get out into the REAL world helps too.

Social media ITSELF is "yelling fire in a crowded theater."

The cost of healthcare is the huge elephant in the room.

I live in Kansas. No legal weed for us! 😂

Punching down is tasteless

We want a home, retirement, and stuff that matters. Not tvs and porn on the phone. We were happy with the magazines.

My only disagreement here is that while a big screen might cost $60, 3 meals worth of groceries is $100

5 bags of groceries cost me 300.00 today.

Stop gaslighting us, the housing market is three times more than it was four years ago when you consider interest rates

News is also partly to blame for the negative views, it's cyclic and, in turn, report the negative feelings they have continuously fed the people.

Well. I do agree about people being on medication without a reason. But... Things are not going well in our country for most people unless you are wealthy.

I wish more multi-millionaires had the courage to tell the masses that the reasons they take prescription drugs are insignficant. Smoke more weed, right Bill?

I blame phones, 24/7 news, and social media. How can one possibly be happy and sane while constantly streaming negativity and all the horrors of the world into your eyeballs?

This is easy to say when you dont have to worry about bills and food amd you are living check to check while paying off several loans.

Life is pretty good when you don't have to step into the street or grocery store with us lower people in this economy.

No mention about student loan debt ,health insurance, rent, or buying a house, forget saving for retirement.

It’s because when you are online all the time, reading negative news, it’s gonna affect your mental health.

This is why CBT is such an effective therapy. It's like exercise for you thoughts. Many people can get better just by training their brains how to think right rather than mood stabilizing drugs.

Practicing gratitude is always helpful.

Bill, wages haven't gone up as fast as daily expenses, rent has gone up outrageously because the companies that own large apartment complexes utilize external algorithmic methods to determine the price that they should charge by feeding that algorithm all the data they can on the rent they charge and unit usage. In other words they are price fixing the costs of renting. Food manufacturers are doing the same thing, where they are charging what the market can bear and not having to keep there prices as low as they can to be competitive because over the last 40 years the consolidation of companies has made it so that the market isn't competitive because it takes 5 different companies making a comparable product for the price not to be fixed by the companies that create those items. For almost any good that makes it to a consumer there are very rarely 5 or more companies that make a type of good, because the government let them get over consolidated.

I used to think the country was over-medicated. I took one look at a Trump rally, and now I think it’s under-medicated.

ADHD is more than just boredom, it’s lack of executive dysfunction skills that really impacts people

i love bill, but it's easy for a rich guy with ZERO worries to tell you to cheer up.

I've been diagnosed three times in a year with PTSD... You know what I do? I take care of a paralyzed husband whose brain is mashed potatoes because of a stroke. Big fucking deal. It's not like I was drafted into a war and had to kill innocent villagers. PTSD? My ass... That's called LIFE. I'm absolutely sick of doctors wanting to put me on meds. If I fall asleep from drugs, my husband could choke and drown on his own vomit. I don't need meds. I need someone to give a damn. His family lives 200 steps away from my front door. Haven't seen one of them here to even visit since late October. Screw it. Let me handle it... 24/7. For four years. I'm not sick. I'm exhausted and now I'm broke because I cannot leave the house. I'd have to earn $46/hr just to profit because the people who could care for my husband cost $45/hr for care. Why bother leaving the house for $8 a day? It's ludicrous. I'm not depressed. I'm outraged. I'm tired. I don't need meds. I need help, and the government conveniently pays $74 a year over the amount to even qualify my spouse Medicaid. I'm 47. We've been together 22 years. This is what we worked for our whole lives? Shameful. Don't blame it on us! Blame it on the system.

What’s depressing is our politicians are bought out and we can’t progressively get anything accomplished. We’d rather fight each other than see that we all deserve better. It’s just plain sad and frustrating

Oh, thank goodness. I was worried about the price of gas groceries and rent soaring, but flat screen tvs are more affordable now. I can breathe a sigh of relief.

We're f**kin drowning in medical debt, living paycheck to paycheck and trying to scrape enough to get by every month .... You can cheer tf up

Wages are rising.....😂 at 1/100th the rate of inflation....try context next time ❤

I may anger some people here with this comment. As a person who was terribly depressed for countless years, was on every antidepressant know to man, tried drinking to feel better and it worked, problem was I had to drink all the time to stay that way and it almost killed me. My saving Grace was, changing the way I was thinking, and the things I was thinking about. I was depressing myself with my own thoughts! So being depressed, for me, was my own damn fault. The many who have said, " What you think you become" are absolutely right. A change of thought and attitude can work wonders. It takes time to change thought patterns that are so ingrained, but it can be done. Think of the serenity prayer, Change the things you can,accept the thing you can't, become smart enough to know the difference. It worked for me, don't see why it won't work for others. Good Luck all!

PTSD is for ICU and ER medical workers too

"Cheer up!" Thanks I'm cured.

Bill many people live from paycheck to paycheck and are in dept. Do your research.

Its okay to be sad. Actually its quite helpful. Sadness and sorrows and Fears and regrets may look look demons, but they are actually angels here to help you. Being human is hard. If its the end of the day and you are still alive? You are by definition a successful human.

So, tell me, Bill. Should we eat cake? Or beer and circuses?

It’s easy to say that everything is awesome when you’re a multimillionaire living on the hills… come down from that hill where the regular Americans live and ask them how they feel about the uncontrolled immigration, a fd up house market with rates no one can afford, soaring gas prices and groceries… but yeah everything is just peachy on the hills.

Diagnostic creep is real. When I started teaching, students with learning disabilities were rare. When I retired, 15% to 30% of the class had them, and my university had a whole department dedicated to providing help. All the incentives are for more; no incentives for reducing them.

Who is the dude at every episode who yells “WOO!” At everything bill says.

Bill there's a massive difference between being sad and being depressed. By far the worst moments of my life were me being sad. Being depressed was chronic and nothing seemed to take it away. 20 years of depression was so much worse than having to take my best friend off life support. Yeah I was a wreck but I got over it. Depression took some powerful drugs to get past.

spoken like a rich old man that can afford a hospital visit

Bill having creature comforts is in no way an indication of happiness

The housing market is still horrible, rental prices are insane.

Bill, you don’t struggle to put food on the table for a family like many Americans do, so stick to what you know. Being wealthy 🙄

Try being poor in the land of milk and honey Bill. Things are pretty bad for those of us who struggle while the reat of you have energy and time enough to contemplate yourselves...

Sure, yet this crybaby literally just fired his agents because he wasn’t invited to an Oscars party 😂 Cheer up Bill!

yea folks dont be bummed out! look at all these modern conveniences! doesnt the fact that you can endlessly amuse yourself make you feel so much better about the rapid artificial decline of your society?! come on maaaan! lets boost those approval numbers!

Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert should get married

Well said.

I’d say stay off social media

yeah, its that we are all depressed, not our lying eyes. Who gives a shit what a tv costs when it costs the same to feed my family? yeah everytime i make dinner, its like buying a TV - how is that better?

Miraculously We avoided a Recession...thanks Joe!

Televisions for $60.00? Nah, I don't think so.

Ah, it's great when a rich guy says "oh, things are going great."

I’ve got depression and AD and I use meds, if I don’t use them I can’t function

You first Bill.

"Because you don't want to go to the office party? Nobody does." - This comes from the guy who fired his agents at CAA because he wasn't invited to the company party. LOL!

What world does Bill live in? Because it's not the real world.

I have been through one big and a couple of minor "clinical depressions", and I'm on the spectrum (Hi functioning Asperger). I kinda agree with Bill... -the thing is to not give up! Pills don't cure you, they are to prevent you from jumping off a roof while you get real help. Sometimes that help is a change of perspective. Sure, I can't do what I used to be able to do, but pretty girls are still pretty, and chocolate still tastes sweet. My go-to is Stephen Hawking. He had an awful, crippling, decades long disease, and still contributed to society. If your highlight of the day is that you put your shopping cart in the rack, or held the door for an overloaded mom at the store, that counts! Take your wins, accept your inability to be who you dreamed you'd be, and live with who you are! :)

Bill out here channeling Matt Walsh.

Talk about being ignorant about a matter he doesn't understand 🙄

Who can I complain to about Bill telling me not to complain.?

Higher men are suffering from nihilism, and the eternal reoccurrence of life. They realize that life is not only meaningless, but that nature goes on forever for everyone and everything to return as everyone and everything an infinite number of times through evolutionary processes. As an atheist, you would think Bill Mayer would have seen deeper into life, into eternal life.

Not everyone can afford to be blazed all the time Bill

We are in an era of unprecedented societal change. People are transforming from a life lived in reality to a life spent looking at a screen. And that's the cause of much of the misery & suffering people experience nowadays, IMO.

One thing i learned is that while depression causes (SEVERE) pain, it is the attachment to happiness / aversion to that pain that causes the true suffering. Those are very different things.

That last line was hilarious!

This happened when humans began isolating and making their phones their number one buddy. Since we have no idea how the human experience really works anymore we over dramatize basic simple life. Before the Internet we had heartbreak songs , sad songs, the blues, and everybody could identify. Now we have triumph songs and self affirmation songs. Songs that prove to world that we never lose. Yet we’re cranking out losers by the millions

We also have landlords who ask for more and more. We have jobs that pay far below the minimum and ask for more and more. All the things you mentioned are the things we use to escape reality. We're not enjoying them anymore. Everyday is a brutal struggle, especially here in Oklahoma where the ignorance comes sweeping down the plains.

BECAUSE FOOD IS DOUBLE THE PRICE AND RENT IS 50% HIGHER THAN IT WAS. INSURANCE AND TAXES AND INTEREST RATES ARE EXPONENTIALLY HIGHER. Maybe this doesn't effect those like yourself in your bunkers, but the rest of us live with it every day

Nice TV’s cost 60 bucks? Cool. Too bad micro apartments cost 2K a month

Didn't Bill fire CAA for not being invited to the office party?

Agreed. Its ok, not to be ok.

As somebody who does suffer from anxiety attacks, I think a lot of people overreact to just being nervous. The first time I had one, I thought, "Oh no, this is it. I'm dying." Is this an aneurysm? Is this a heart attack? What does an apoplexy feel like? Which, of course, just adds to the whole situation. After multiple attacks, I went to the doctor, and they prescribed me Prozac and I haven't had any attacks since. Some anxiety, yes, but no attacks. There is a huge difference.

At a time when we love to dictate mandatory school learning programs, how about we return to teaching three essential fundamental life skills, (1) personal responsibility (2) the Golden Rule. in case you don't know it, "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" (3) "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me."

I have to say this one hit home. Pathologizing (then monetizing) the inherent difficulty of human life does feel like a trend out there. Maybe it is a natural consequence of how performative we've all become on this and every other social media platform. Normally I'd just shrug my shoulders, roll my eyes and move on, but the amount of political and economic resources consumed by this trend may be creating a real opportunity cost to better care for those who are in fact the most vulnerable among us; the intellectual / developmentally disabled community. This community has an unsurprisingly, disproportionately high rate of mental health issues. Moreover, their disabilities and MH disorders often result in unsafe behaviors including self injury, and aggression against caregivers. These problems in turn lead to disproportionately high rates of medical emergencies, and acts of abuse, neglect and abandonment by the very systems of care they rely upon to survive, let alone thrive. My point is, there are real people out there that desperately need better comprehensive care including mental health. But they are too small a voter base, and too poor to profit off unless you are willing to engage in some form of Medicaid fraud.

Wages do not pay the bills Bill.

Bill, are you kidding me. So many people are under water economically and isolated persoonally

I totally agree with Bill here. It took me two years to convince my youngest adult son to get off anti-depressants, he never really needed them in the first place.

Notice how bill has changed his tune since coming back this season? It’s an election year, must protect the precious! 😂

Delirious

Maher is so fkn out of touch it’s embarrassing

If you didn't have a bad day once in awhile how would you know when you had a good one.

How dare you Bill. Nawwww!!!! Just kidding!!!😂

I made a choice-to work in a toxic environment for Uncle Sam for forty years and to make it palatable YES to take Paxil. Job Security was very important to me. I am no sycophant and knew bosses wouldn't like me so I stayed. Good benefits at least before Reagan. I don't begrudge anyone feeling the need to medicate their pain. I could have bounced around in private enterprise but I was a do gooder. I did tough it out but am grateful for that little pill that allowed me to again sleep and face those awful co workers day after day year after year decade after decade.

I don’t need a new tv. I need a new truck

It is well known that traumatic stress is not only from military experiences.

Mental health professional here. I agree with 95% of what was said. The one thing that got missed was childhood trauma. That is a legit reason for PTSD. But if people would exercise and stop eating like crap, Maher is right - a lot of this goes away. And the one best practice to feel better? Focusing on GRATITUDE. We literally have it better than at any time in human history. And we need to pay attention to that.

money solves a lot of things. When your rent is 3000 bucks a month and you have to bust your ass and never see kids....yeah, it kinda is hard to crack a smile after years of this..... I should really get a talk show with "Special guests"

Who gets credit for the $60 TV? China. 🙄

It’s true, diagnoses do become a self fulfilling prophecy 💯