RT Journal
A1 Ash M
T1 TRicyclic antidepressants
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 1979
FD August 10
VO 242
IS 6
SP 511
OP 511
DO 10.1001/jama.1979.03300060013006
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.1979.03300060013006
AB To the Editor.— 
    The article on the use of the tricyclic antidepressants illustrates the function of the physician as technician rather than as a humanist. The first function is supported in an editorial by Nathan S. Kline, MD. Yet, the same issue of The Journal also contains three articles on the function of the physician as humanist (240:2257, 1978; 240:2273, 1978; 240:2311, 1978). Depression is such a common phenomenon because life is difficult, and inevitable disappointments can be crushing.For example, an older man may have been greeted less heartily than usual by his employer. This slight may have made him aware of the limits of his achievement, the aging process, and the inexorable passage of time. Should he be given an antidepressant, or should he have the opportunity to discuss his confrontation with the inevitability of waning power and death with an understanding person—his physician? A woman older than