SELL YOU A PILL THAT PROMOTES DEPRESSION, THEN SELL YOU AN ANTIDEPRESSANT — IT’S A GREAT BUSINESS MODEL! More than a third of American adults take prescription drugs linked to depression, study says. “More than a third of American adults are taking prescription drugs, including hormones for contraception, blood pressure medications and medicines for heartburn, that carry a potential risk of depression, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. . . . The work is part of a provocative and growing body of research that documents how polypharmacy — the use of multiple prescription drugs at the same time — has risen in the United States. The number of Americans taking at least five prescription drugs at the same time rose sharply between 1999 and 2012, and the elderly are particularly at risk for dangerous interactions between drugs.”

The drugs can also be godsends, of course, but it’s worth paying attention.