The depressed have been betrayed by the medical establishment. In fact, telling a doctor you are depressed can be a dangerous move in this drug-happy 21^st century.
Since depression is being treated as a disease instead of a temporary or long- term response to a troubled existence, depressed people often find themselves prescribed extremely dangerous and barely tested anti-depressant drugs.
There are alternatives to this heavy drugging, and the depressed (and those who love them) have a right to this knowledge.
First off, one may consider getting a thorough physical checkup by a competent MD (not a psychiatrist) to find out if a deficiency or a disease could be causing the depression.
Psychiatrists, who are also trained as doctors, conveniently eliminate this basic step (though they should know better). Many physical conditions can cause debilitating depressive symptoms.
Here are some often overlooked physical causes of depression:

• Nutritional deficiencies
• Lack of sunshine
• An underactive or overactive thyroid condition
• Adrenal not functioning properly
• Food allergies
• Dental problems
• Sleep disturbances
• Cushing’s disease (overproduction of pituitary hormone)
• Many different types of infections
• Heart conditions
• Diabetes
• Multiple sclerosis
• Candida (yeast infection)
• Mononucleosis
• Heavy metals in the body
• Head injury
• Liver disease

The list goes on and on. These are but a sampling of the wide variety of possible physical causes of depression.
It takes very little skill or training to write a prescription for a drug.  And very little concern for the disaster that drug will eventually cause the depressed person.
A doctor well-trained in the body’s systems would first ensure there was nothing physical causing the depression. Unfortunately, a psychiatrist does not perform this crucial action.
The very drugs supposed to “cure” depression often lead to tragedy, both for the depressed person and for those in his or her environment.
Here are some pharmaceutical drugs, including psychiatric drugs, which can cause or make depression even worse:

• Beta-blockers
• Tranquilizers
• Antipsychotic drugs
• Amphetamines (withdrawal from)
• Antihistamines
• High blood pressure medications
• Birth control pills
• Anti-inflammatory agents
• Corticosteroids (adrenal hormone agents
• Cimetidine (used to treat heartburn and peptic ulcers)
• Cycloserine (an antibiotic)
• Indomethacin (an anti-inflammatory drug)
• Vincristine (an anti-cancer drug)
• Reserpine (lowers high blood pressure, and used to treat schizophrenia)
• Vinblastine (an anti-cancer drug)

It is a dangerous thing to accept the opinion of an “expert” when that person is a psychiatrist who is trained to do one thing; diagnose per his Bible, the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), without doing any research whatsoever on the possible physical causes of depression.
The possible side effects of just one commonly prescribed drug for the depressed (Prozac) includes anxiety, panic attacks, mood or behavior changes, trouble sleeping, irritability, hostility, aggression, restlessness both physically and mentally, suicidal thoughts and increased depression. (italics mine)
Getting a thorough physical checkup by a competent MD and doing one’s own research on alternatives to drug treatment are rights every citizen has. There are ways to treat the depressed naturally.
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/articles/depression.htm
http://www.alternativementalhealth.com/
http://www.drugs.com/prozac.html