Why are anti-depressants so misunderstood?

[hedgehog]

I keep reading about people trying to get off of them. That's fine if you have a one time episode of depression. Remember that depression tends to cycle, though, and for a lot of us it's a life-time condition. My reading suggests that if you cycle on and off anti-depressants, they eventually lose their effectiveness because the act of cycling alters the brain structure. They are not "happy" pills and they aren't tranquilizers. They are no more addicting than insulin. Given the side effects, why would anyone take them if they weren't necessary?

[DemExpat]

1. People take them for many reasons, imo.

Because they are desperate for some relief that they can't find elsewhere.

Because the doctor pushes them as the most effective treatment, or because treatment with meds is far less time-consuming and/or expensive than other therapies.

The aggressive advertisememt campaigns in the media


They are misunderstood because one person's depression is not another's - the meds work so differently and with different side-effects for different people.

The verdict is not in whether most people's depressions are physical or mental/feeling (or possibly spiritual) states of imbalance or dis-ease.

My understanding of anti-D's.

It is good to hear that you have achieved balance with your medications,(and light therapy) hedgehog. :hug:

:hi:

DemEx

edit:
For some people they are truly a blessing - for others a nightmare or mixed bag - it is up to the individual, with professional support, to find the best approach for his/her self in dealing with Depression.
It is not a question of one or the other imo - meds or not - it is up to each to find the best way. There really is no one size fits all!

I am happy for anybody who finds (long-term) relief from chronic depression through whatever means.

[hedgehog]

2. I agree with what you say

My point is that a lot (Most?) people treat anti-depressants as a sign of failure, as in "you wouldn't need them if only you'd...." As a society, we have a prejudice against using a crutch. Well, if you need a crutch to walk, what's wrong with using one? Anti-depressants aren't for everyone and most people have to try several combinations before finding something that works. But if you need them to stay healthy, you should be encouraged to use them and not treated as someone too lazy to cure yourself oer as some kind of addict.

[rockedthevoteinMA]

6. I agree with you as well hedgehog...

The stigma attached to mental illness has prevented me from doing some things in my life.

I think it is terrible that people are made to feel that way. My belief is, since people can't see mental illness, they don't believe anything is wrong with the ill person. I had my uncle look at me and tell me I just needed to "Pull myself up, and get on with my life." He had no clue.

I sometimes wish there was a way for people who believe mental illness is jusst a weakness, to see inside of someone's brain when they are in the thick of it. Just to witness the inundating parade of thoughts that can be uncontrollable at times. Then maybe the stigma would dissapate.

[DemExpat]

10. I see the opposite mechanism in society too......

Someone who wants to avoid medication for whatever reasons is often looked upon as avoiding responsibility - like by not taking meds they "really don't want to get better" or some other ludicrous assumption. That they are being selfish and not thinking of others by refusing the drugs.....:eyes:

Some people get peeved or do not understand that if the drugs are there for "relief" or a "cure", why on earth wouldn't anybody take them?

That is also why I am so wary of increased drugs for mental health problems and for testing at schools - frightened of reaching a point in society when not taking meds would be a reason for not getting health coverage, for not being accepted at a school, or for not getting/ keeping a job, for example.

Bottom line - some are going to put you down for WHATEVER choices you make, or decline to make, and I LONG ago learned to ignore - totally ignore - what others thought or said about me and my struggles.

But I can see that the other side of the coin, scorning those who need meds, also exists in society.

This mechanism doesn't exist much in society here in The Netherlands, but I do recognize it in the US - I believe stemming from the survival of the fittest philosophy underpinning almost everything in society there....

Anyone showing any weakness gets pounced upon - no matter what they do.

:puke: :thumbsdown:

DemEx

[Ladyhawk]

15. Anti-depressants for depressives are like insulin for diabetics.

There shouldn't be a stigma, but there still is. I've fought it for most of my life. An optometrist once tried to give me his take on why I was depressed...I ate his eyeballs with a side of fava beans and a nice chianti...slurp, slurp, slurp.

No, actually I was stupid and listed my anti-depressants under "medications." I don't do that anymore. An optometrist does not need to know I take anti-depressants.

[hedgehog]

16. I do the same thing

My doctor and dentist get the full list, but not the guy doing the pre-employment physical.

[rockedthevoteinMA]

5. Hi DemExPat, I am sorta new here,

but I have been reading your responses for weeks now, and it sounds like you have an excellent understanding of what I feel about meds, and mental illness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and advice. It's so cool to hear someone else thinks there are other ways possible to get well.

I know I "should" take them to be "normal," but I hate the way they rob me of myself. I have been trying over the past year to just let the feelings wash over me, and let them go (and sometimes it feels near impossible) but then one day I wake up, and things are okay.

*I'm not saying that I believe people shouldn't take meds. I believe for many people, they work wonders. I understand how many people need them to function normally. It's just for me, they don't. The side effects are killer. I seem to be affected with every side effect listed and then some. That's my experience.*

[DemExpat]

9. One of my closest life friends is bipolar....

and I have supported her for years in staying off medications that she greatly feared (had tried lithium when younger with negative outcome) while her husband who is a doctor wanted her to try meds.(understandably, I must admit - she could be so hard to be around sometimes)

Sometimes I wondered whether my support for her going to a therapist every week (who also supported her staying off of drugs) was the best thing to do, for her family sometimes suffered from her manic periods, as we all did.....:-(

Still, this is what she wanted to do, and I must say that now she is rarely manic and never depressive like she used to be....either she worked out the pressures of the feelings fuelling the imbalance somehow in therapy, or has somehow grown out of it...I don't know.

Fact remains, that she did it how she wanted to, and the outcome seems to be very positive - for her as well as for her family.

I hope that you find a way to handle and deal with your package of mental health challenges that suits you and feels right for you (and your social circle).

I wish you all the best, rockedthevoteinMA! :kick:

And thanks for your sweet words of appreciation.

:hug:

DemEx

[TrogL]

3. In my case it's the side effects

I went from anti-depressant to anti-depressant trying to find one that worked but without disabling side effects.

See rant here - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x727#927

[hedgehog]

4. I read the rant - it doesn't sound like fun at all

although you seem to have kept your sense of humor. My impression is that physicians are reaching the point of using the reactions to different medications to determine diagnosis; for example, type A depression responds to Pixel, Type A with anxiety responds to Pixel plus Buspar, Type Bresponds to Zoloft, etc. Brain imaging is moving ahead so fast that doctors may be able to make better decisions as to what to try first.

The point is that some of us are wired differently and need the medications to function. There shouldn't be a stigma attached to that.

[TrogL]

7. Found the side effect

Farts

I spent most of yesterday farting....and farting....and farting.

We'll see how today goes. I may just need an anti-flatulent.

[TrogL]

8. They can be abused

Given the side effects, why would anyone take them if they weren't necessary?

Some people use them to get super-charged and manic. I had a friend who did that and eventually crashed and burned.

People also use Prozac to come down after taking or overdosing on Extacy.

[hedgehog]

11. Do they actually cause the mania

or do they trip a cycle from depression into mania - somewhat like going from a high blood sugar level into insulin shock? I've wondered before if the suicides associated with some anti-depressants are a result of this. Suicides tend to peak in Spring as many (most?) people with bi-polar disease cycle from depression to mania naturally.

[hedgehog]

12. Come to think of it,

many people with bi-polar illness will take the anti-depressants but refuse the lithium because they enjoy the high of the manic phase. The problem is that it is easy to tip over into a serious episode of mania.

[derbstyron]

13. I think they are over prescribed imo

I don't know if you were referring to my post (re: Effexor)
but I'm aware of what they are and what they are supposed
to do. I simply have gotten very little use out of any
of them.

The only thing that keeps me going are the other meds in
my cocktail.

I seriously think this advertising garbage is to blame.
Everywhere you look (tv, mags, etc.) are these stupid
commercials (climbing mountains, driving through fields with
a stunning wife/husband, etc.)

And now Zoloft has this little rolly polly cartoon that
it can shove down kids' throat. Disgusting. People are
being "brainwashed" (pun intended) to believe that these
drugs can solve all their problems.

Bad day at work, boss yelled at you? You're depressed, take a
pill. Afraid to ask out the cute boy/girl then you must have
social anxiety, take a pill. Kid hyper? He must have ADD, take a
pill.

Disgusting!

And please note: this comes from a person who is on (and with
at least some of them) will be on 7 meds a day. I know what
they can do and I know how they can save lives but, IMO, they
are waaaaaaaaay over prescribed. Especially with kids.

And I think this hurts our (you, me, and those who take them)
believability when we try to argue they aren't happy pills. But
the commercials said they would make me feel "better!"

I agree with you about the side effects though. Anybody
expecting a happy pill is going yo be in for a rude shock, aren't they?

[hedgehog]

14. You're right about the commercials

They do trivialize depression. I've tried to explain to people that while depression can be triggered by something bad happening, ( the straw that breaks the camel's back) the real problem is that depression is independent of outside reality. You can be depressed even when things are going well. Even worse, depression makes you dysfunctional so things start to go bad, starting a viscious downward spiral.

The one good thing about the commercials is that they raise awareness that depression is not a normal condition. I went years without treatment because I thought everyone was this way!

[sans qualia]

17. It seems like it's fashionable to believe

that taking antidepressants is tantamount to "selling out." I've had people tell me that they'd rather be "sad" than take pills to get some sort of "fake" happiness. But of course I'm not just "sad," I'm suicidally depressed, I'm being eaten alive from the inside out, and any happiness, fake or not, is a welcome relief... or maybe I just complain too much...

[no name no slogan]

18. I am so sick of hearing that, too

I think it's because people don't actually know the difference between feeling depressed and clinical depresssion. Comparing the two is like comparing a stubbed toe to an amputated leg.

One is a temporary inconvenience, while another has a major affect on your life. You're stubbed toe may be painful, but it will eventually heal. A missing leg, OTOH, will probably not grow back, and will alter your life in many different ways.

I used to think that drugs were a cop-out-- until I went on them to save my life. Now they've helped give me control over my life, and allowed me to live somewhat normally. Sure, I don't like taking them, but the alternative is a hell of a lot worse.

[hedgehog]

19. people think feeling sad is the same as feeling depressed

It's not

[DemExpat]

20. Feeling depressed for me is not being able to feel sad....

or angry, happy, caring, motivated, etc. etc.

Depression is being blocked from any real feelings imo.

DemEx