Antidepressant Addiction

It boggles the mind how many modern people rely on drugs, medication, antidepressants just to function.

What is the percentage of people taking daily antidepressants? Anxiety meds? Mood stabilizers?

Is this number higher in high-tech secular western countries or in “third-world” traditional countries?

How many have become completely dependent on the drugs just to get by, and then their bodies get desensitized so they are forced to increase the daily dosage just to get through the day?

How many have gotten addicted?

What are the side effects?

What is the long-term impact on the body?

Why do modern women rely on antidepressants more than modern men?

What is the percentage of modern women who are barred from pregnancy due to a chemical dependency and their inability to wean themselves off the meds in order to safely carry a baby?

How many women get pregnant and continue taking medication that crosses the blood-brain barrier, carrying the drugs to the developing fetus?

How many children have been diagnosed with newly-minted conditions like ADHD and Asperger’s, then kept medicated through their childhood and formative years?

What has historically been the percentage of medicated people in the population of human beings across time and space, prior to modernity?

What conditions, which are unique to modernity and ubiquitous in our current secularized societies, have contributed to this state we’re in today?

What factors are responsible for this massive human unrest, this devolution of our collective human condition?

Some profound questions for us as Muslims to ponder.

Allah says in His book,

الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

“…those who believe and whose hearts find tranquility in the remembrance of Allah, for indeed in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find tranquility.” (Surat Ar-Ra`d, 28)

هُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ ٱلسَّكِينَةَ فِى قُلُوبِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ لِيَزْدَادُوٓا۟ إِيمَـٰنًۭا مَّعَ إِيمَـٰنِهِمْ ۗ وَلِلَّهِ جُنُودُ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَلِيمًا حَكِيمًۭا

“He is the One Who sent down serenity upon the hearts of the believers so that they may increase even more in their faith. To Allah ˹alone˺ belong the forces of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” (Surat Al-Fath, 4)

وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّـٰلِحَـٰتِ وَءَامَنُوا۟ بِمَا نُزِّلَ عَلَىٰ مُحَمَّدٍۢ وَهُوَ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ ۙ كَفَّرَ عَنْهُمْ سَيِّـَٔاتِهِمْ وَأَصْلَحَ بَالَهُمْ

“And those who believe and do righteous deeds and believe in what has been sent down upon Muḥammad – and it is the truth from their Lord – He will remove from them their misdeeds and amend their condition.” (Surat Muhammad, 2)

May Allah grant us guidance, descend upon us His sakeenah (سكينة, serenity), and amend our condition, ameen.