I edited my post a bit Moxie...I'm not discouraging individuals who want to go to therapy to not go, but like I said, MH treatments are in the dark ages.

But to answer your question more specifically, daily exercise, for example, is shown to be more effective than medications. So why is the standard to people put on pills, sometimes on a merry-go-round for years until something works, instead of exercise? St. John's Wort is the first line of treatment in other countries. Ketamine can instantly erase severe depression in some. Just some examples.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...cation/284587/

Here's one article, but articles with the same conclusions are available from multiple sources. If the flawed research is being used to promote treatments, then perhaps that same research can also be used to promote free and/or safer treatments.

The standard first line of treatment has been therapy and medication. There are so many risks with that recommendation, not just with the medication side effects or interactions with other drugs the patient may be taking, but with the therapy opening Pandora's Box, for example, and the client deteriorates. I am one who went to a provider for a minor issue, and ended up so much worse than before. I wonder how things would be if I was prescribed exercise at the onset of my symptoms? Of course, I may have ignored that treatment advice anyway, but just emphasizing the risk here.

This are numerous complexities for this issue (e.g, people are dx with depression and anxiety without getting tested for magnesium deficiency, Vit D deficiency, sleep disorders, etc.), someone who has borderline might be dx with bipolar, etc. I'm just pointing out an example of an alternative here, not trying to answer such a huge and complex question.

All in all, the status quo sucks.