Page 100 - The Memory Program How to Prevent Memory Loss and Enhance Memory Power

Page 89

diabetes, usually for years without end, and yet refuse to take a medication to treat a disorder that is
affecting their most vital organ, the brain. I decided to bring up this point as a tactic to get Joan to
take her prescribed antidepressant medication.

“Please tell me something, Joan. You take Prilosec for your stomach problems. And you've been
taking it every day for how many years? Five? Okay, five years. Now would you consider that a

crutch? As being dependent on the medication?’’

“No, well, that's different,” she replied.

“How so?”

She paused, unable to give me a rational answer.

“You're not alone in this, Joan. A lot of people are willing to take medications for all kinds of
illnesses, but when it comes to their own minds, it becomes a no-no. It's as if the stomach, or for that
matter every other organ, is more important than the brain!”

She was taken aback, both by my tone and the content of my little speech. Her resolve began to
waver, and I pressed forward. I warned her that her only hope to save her job was to follow through
with antidepressant treatment, and after some hesitation, she agreed.

After one month on 100 mg of Zoloft, she had become more energetic, her memory was now fine,
and she was no longer having any trouble at her job. In fact, she was effusively grateful and was so
talkative that I became worried that the medication was flipping her from depression into mania,
which is a syndrome characterized by the symptoms of hyperactivity with very fast speech, elation,
grandiosity (statements like: I am unique, superior to everyone else), and impulsive, reckless
behavior. I asked Joan if she would permit me to speak to her family or friends, and she gave me the
telephone number of a close friend. Her friend informed me that Joan was now back to her old self,
and that Joan's bubbly, outgoing personality had always helped her to be successful in sales. I was
delighted that Joan wasn't cycling into mania. As part of the clinical study, a series of
neuropsychological tests was repeated at the end of the twelve-week treatment trial. Her cognitive
performance, including the results of memory tests, showed a marked improvement compared to
how she had initially tested in the depths of her depression. This helped confirm my diagnosis of
major depression, because a patient with dementia would not have shown this degree of cognitive
improvement.

After the twelve weeks were over, on my recommendation she continued Zoloft for another year,
after which I gradually tapered off the medication and eventually stopped it. Fortunately, Joan's