The brain is an incredibly complex chemical and electrical engine. You walk into your doctor or psychiatrist's office, he decides you have depression and prescribes you prozac. You take it and it doesn't work. What's wrong with this picture? Your doctor/psychiatrist.
Basicaly anti-depressants work in a number of ways, but essentially they all alter the levels of selected brain hormones (mostly seratonin, but also some others), either up or down a little (or limit the amount you can use at any given time). Now your psychiatrist or doctor has no idea precisely what your current levels are or what the magnitude or source of the imbalance is. Basically he's taking a HUGE guess in terms of the correct anti-depressant (there are different types that do different things) and in terms of dosage. People ***** a lot about psychology being a "fuzzy" science, but what doctors and psychiatrists do makes psychologists look good, if only people knew.
The standard protocol your doctor/psychiatrist SHOULD have followed is to start you on the drug he/she guessed was right for you (yes, it is a guess) with a follow-up consultation in 2 weeks. Why 2 weeks? Because the brain is delicate and you don't just smack it with drugs, anti-depressants build up slowly and take at least 2 weeks to build up in your system. By 2 weeks you should be feeling some effects and if you're not or if there are side-effects then it's a sign you need to either change the dosage or type of medication. If you change anything then you're back to square one, you have to take 2 weeks to come off those meds and then start the new ones, so another follow-up in 1 month. If the meds are working then another follow-up at the 1 month mark when the full effects should be felt and you and your doctor/psychiatrist can have a chat about whether they're doing everything you need them to do, whether you're experiencing side-effects (flattened mood, etc) that might mean you need to tone the dose up or down, etc.
These are BASIC clinical procedures, and if your doctor/psychologist didn't follow this pattern of treatment then you need to do two things:
1) Find a new doctor/psychologist
2) Sue him/her until they're hurting as much as you are (no, seriously, any doctor/psychiatrist who doesn't know the basic procedure for prescribing anti-depressants is a danger to everyone around them and needs to be put out of practice)
There are lots of anti-depressants on the market and one of them will work for you. You don't need to feel like shit just because your doctor is a moron (remember, some doctors passed with 51%, which means that 49% of the time they just don't have a clue).
I also recommend a good psychologist, but the same advice applies, if they don't produce results after a couple of weeks then find a new one.
Basicaly anti-depressants work in a number of ways, but essentially they all alter the levels of selected brain hormones (mostly seratonin, but also some others), either up or down a little (or limit the amount you can use at any given time). Now your psychiatrist or doctor has no idea precisely what your current levels are or what the magnitude or source of the imbalance is. Basically he's taking a HUGE guess in terms of the correct anti-depressant (there are different types that do different things) and in terms of dosage. People ***** a lot about psychology being a "fuzzy" science, but what doctors and psychiatrists do makes psychologists look good, if only people knew.
The standard protocol your doctor/psychiatrist SHOULD have followed is to start you on the drug he/she guessed was right for you (yes, it is a guess) with a follow-up consultation in 2 weeks. Why 2 weeks? Because the brain is delicate and you don't just smack it with drugs, anti-depressants build up slowly and take at least 2 weeks to build up in your system. By 2 weeks you should be feeling some effects and if you're not or if there are side-effects then it's a sign you need to either change the dosage or type of medication. If you change anything then you're back to square one, you have to take 2 weeks to come off those meds and then start the new ones, so another follow-up in 1 month. If the meds are working then another follow-up at the 1 month mark when the full effects should be felt and you and your doctor/psychiatrist can have a chat about whether they're doing everything you need them to do, whether you're experiencing side-effects (flattened mood, etc) that might mean you need to tone the dose up or down, etc.
These are BASIC clinical procedures, and if your doctor/psychologist didn't follow this pattern of treatment then you need to do two things:
1) Find a new doctor/psychologist
2) Sue him/her until they're hurting as much as you are (no, seriously, any doctor/psychiatrist who doesn't know the basic procedure for prescribing anti-depressants is a danger to everyone around them and needs to be put out of practice)
There are lots of anti-depressants on the market and one of them will work for you. You don't need to feel like shit just because your doctor is a moron (remember, some doctors passed with 51%, which means that 49% of the time they just don't have a clue).
I also recommend a good psychologist, but the same advice applies, if they don't produce results after a couple of weeks then find a new one.
