Anti-Depressants and Transits

I'm a little hesitant to bring up the subject of anti-depressants and astrology, for lots of reasons. But I'm going to mention it because the use of anti-depressants is so widespread in our society today, as is the use of other long-term medications that can have an effect on mood. Indeed, I read recently that there have been anecdotal reports of anti-smoking and asthma drugs linked with depression and suicidal feelings, even though the drugs aren't there to treat mood disorders. And of course, the use of ADHD drugs in children is another controversial topic. In some unsettling ways, it is as though we are all accidentally part of a gigantic social experiment in mood alteration. What does this mean for our personal lives and the astrology of our personal lives?

I'm not going to claim to know the answer to this really. But I think some of the questions are worth asking because they go to our values and beliefs as a society and as individual moral agents. For example, if a person's chart seems to show hyper-distractibility, irritation, and difficulty concentrating then I suppose one manifestation of that could be ADHD. If you treat the child, then does the chart become moot--or muted? If it does, then is the child's potential muted or nullified as well as the problems?

I myself would be hard pressed to deny a suffering child treatment for ADHD or something similar, regardless of the considerations of astrology or any other philosophical system (e.g., Scientology, which apparently opposes the use of any medications for such disorders). Nor would I ever want to advocate that a mother suffering post-partum depression or anyone else with a serious mood disorder not aggressively seek the best available medical treatment. A serious bout of depression can be a form of hell on earth.

Indeed, I have taken anti-depressants 3 times in my life. I took them twice during the 2-year period of my Saturn return (for 6 months each) and once for about 6 weeks a couple of years ago. In all three cases, I had noticeable physical symptoms that indicated a chemical imbalance as well as mood disturbances.  So I knew there was something physical that was wrong. In each case, I found the drugs extremely effective. They stabilized my biochemical problems quickly, and I went off them quickly.

But...I am not a typical case. I took older generation anti-depressants (before Prozac) during the Saturn return, and I took a newer generation drug for a very short period of time. Many people today are prescribed these psychoactive drugs for years at a time and are sometimes encouraged to stay on them indefinitely! For some people, this is a godsend. But is there a price?

I don't have a large enough sample size to know what effect anti-depressants and other drugs have on a person's expression of their astrological potentials. I don't routinely ask clients about their medications, although sometimes people volunteer the information. What I have noticed among the people that do volunteer the information is that the internal reaction to outer planet transits is muted, softened. There seems to be less internal motivation to respond to the pressures and opportunities the transits bring to bear. They are not completely insensitive to their internal impulses, but they are somewhat less likely to make significant changes in their lives during key astrological times of challenge or growth.

Perhaps people on mood stabilizing drugs have less reason to make changes as they feel that things are fine the way they are. Perhaps the internal sense of discontent that drives both unhappiness and achievement is softened. I have seen people on anti-depressants make significant changes during a transit when given external motivation, so perhaps it is merely the internal motivation that is tamped down by these drugs. (I have had some friends complain that anti-depressants do this--they get rid of the motivation to get anything done!).

Is artificial contentment a bad thing? My mother was of the opinion that genius or greatness required craziness. She seemed to believe you couldn't be unusual in a positive sense unless you were also unusual in a negative sense. I never really liked this idea, I have to admit. But...

I do see that in real life, large challenges spur great growth. Mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally--one of the prime causes of greatness seems to be discomfort. If you take away the discomfort through chemical means....what then?

For my own part, I think that sometimes the best thing to do is tamp down the discomfort associated with a transit. Some transits occur in conjunction with events or issues that are so painful that intervention is the best thing, although I do not believe the intervention has to be chemical. I think supportive psychotherapy or other forms of support can be just as effective. Indeed, the pain of a transit can be an excellent reason to finally delve into the roots of painful emotional problems.

But...big baby that I am, sometimes I literally grieve for the people who seem so stuck. Stuck in dead-end jobs, stuck in unsatisfying relationship patterns, stuck in marriages or towns or situations that never seem to get better. Transits and opportunities come and go, and yet these people remain right where they've been for years. When I learn that these people are on long-term psychoactive medications--I wonder. I wonder if they're being cheated of the thrills and joys and changes in life even as they are being buffered from the ravages of their central nervous systems. Are they really getting a good deal being on these drugs for so long?

I don't really know how transit astrology works in the physical world. But I sometimes think it works through a little tiny inner voice, carried by the neurons to consciousness that whispers sweet and scary songs about the future and one's destiny. Sweet and scary songs that turn into emotions, and impulses, and actions. Emotions and impulses and actions that power the long struggle towards the realization of our own unique potential.

And sometimes I worry that our chemical world drowns out that voice.