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A survey released last week by drug distribution company Express Scripts found that residents of Utah were prescribed antidepressant drugs more than those of any other state and at twice the national average. According to the research, some 10.14 percent of adults in Utah "experienced a depressive episode in the past year and 14.15 percent experienced serious psychological distress. Individuals in Utah reported having on average 3.27 poor mental health days in the past 30 days."
Seventy percent of Utah's residents are Mormon. When Express Scripts issued its first national survey of prescription drug use in 2002, it sparked a heated debate across Utah about what, if any role, the church played in the state's high dependence on antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft.
"In Mormon culture females are supposed accept a calling. They are to be constantly smiling over their family of five. They are supposed to take supper across the street to an ill neighbor and then put up with their husband when he comes home from work and smile about it the whole time. There is this sense that Mrs. Jones down street is doing the same thing, and there is this undercurrent of competition. To be a good mother and wife, women have to put on this mask of perfection. They can't show their tears, depression or agony,"said Dr. Curtis Canning, a Logan-based psychiatrist and former president of the Utah Psychiatric Association.
"Obedience, conformity and maintaining a sense of harmony" are unspoken but widely recognized behaviors, which all contribute to what he calls "the Mother of Zion syndrome."
My personal theory? Imagine being a Mormon and having most people identify your religion with Mitt Romney. That is enough to drive anyone to the medicine cabinet.
7 Comments:
If Stepford family mormons suffer that much, can you imagine what women in islamic countries must endure (without the meds!) And it's even worse for glbt people in both cultures. Gary (NJ)
posted by Anonymous, at
3/08/2008 11:26 AM
Have they been able to trace that most of the users of antidepressants are women?
posted by Emily K, at
3/08/2008 6:10 PM
Interesting that this was 100% focused on women as if Mormon men aren't restricted and bound by gender roles and gender biases.
Men also suffer from gender role enforcement. Among Mormons males MUST go on a two year "Mission" whereas women don't. Men are basically drafted into service (an oxymoron) and have two years of their lives taken from them by the church.
Mormon men are also expected to be absolute protector and provider. That is just as much of a trap based on gender as any gender trap that Mormon women find themselves in.
posted by Anonymous, at
3/08/2008 10:12 PM
I'd be depressed too, if I was brought up in a religion based on magical undies.
posted by S., at
3/11/2008 10:34 AM
