Anti-Depressants

[Custard_Angel]

As someone who has been through depression (and beaten it), I have to say that pills work, but beating the source of depression is the best way out.

I knew I was depressed for years but didn't do anything about it. I thought I was a social misfit, that I had no interesting features about my life, that I was a bland, boring and completely unfulfilling person to be around etc etc etc blah blah blah.

I can't pretend to know the source of your depression or how you're feeling, but identifying the true source of your depression is the first step to overcoming it. Maybe you should talk with someone. Maybe you should join a support group. Maybe you should do something different with your life.

tl;dr - Pills treat depression, but they don't cure it.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

You are sick, take your medicine to get better. Your condition doesn't define you, it prevents you from being the happy person you're supposed to be.

If I have bronchitis I don't say "It's just who I am, I'm the kind of person who coughs a lot!" I take antibiotics until I feel better. Mental illness is not different, people with it should seek treatment and stick with it until they get better.

Can't you imagine how good it will feel to be healthy again? It's like the first time you don't feel pain after a big car crash, you've never felt so alive and overjoyed to be healthy! Trust your doctor, allow yourself to change for the better.

 

[ran88dom99]

Depressed people can't have practically any fun, are less happy in the same situations than others or are constantly but not brought done by something?

 

[taciturnCandid]

I feel like the "may cause suicidal death" as a side effect defeats the purpose.

And I've never met anyone who was suicidal that didnt benefit from a stiff kick in the ass and a does of reality.

Try nearly every person who's bi-polar or schizophrenic.

There's a difference between being suicidal because your girlfriend left you, being suicidal for reasons you don't even understand but you feel insanely depressed anyway and being suicidal because your toaster is telling you to kill yourself.

I'm not going to argue this, but thats just my personal experience with anyone who was depressed or suicidal. for whatever reason.

How many people have you even met who were depressed or suicidal? I think your the one who needs a stiff kick in the ass and a dose of reality. Also, you can have unipolar depression for reasons you don't understand, not just bipolar disorder causes that.

You know what it is like to be suicidal? I'll tell you what it is like. An over-powering urge that you need to die. It is all that is on your mind. At that point, you are fully aware of reality. You also know of how you feel and how godawful it is.

Giving someone who is depressed or suicidal a kick in the ass will only make things worse. IT ISN'T CALLED MENTAL IlLNESS FOR NOTHING! When you have a physical illness, something is wrong with your body. When you have a mental illness, something is wrong with your body. Only it is your brain. Calling attention to reality and a pep talk/ talking down won't help one bit.

It is thinking like this that makes me angry. Really angry. You do not know what it is to have unipolar depression. You do not know what it is like to be suicidal and have a mental illness. You know what a stiff dose of reality is to someone who is clinically depressed? That they are suffering from something that can't be overcome by good words. That they are suffering from a chemical imbalance in the brain. That they have no control over. That is reality. Their reality is a nightmare and you making fun of it only makes things WORSE. So go educate yourself. People with mental illness deserve to be treated with respect, not told to buck up.

 

[Best of the 3]

I haven't been in this situation before but my friend has and I can say what he said to me.

The drugs work, scary yes but they do work. Only a slight drawback, your mind sometimes goes a bit mushy. The best thing to do is to get rid of the depression and wiene (spelling is crap I know -.-) off the drugs eventually. It might take a long time but it is something to aim for. He found that having 1 very close friend to confide in on no matter the problem was the biggest help. Just one person (not family) who would always be there for you. He told me that was a great help.

Sorry I can't really do any more and I hope you can beat this depression.

 

[Yoshemo]

Using meds as a crutch should be the last step you take. You should see a psychologist or do research on how to reduce the symptoms of depression before you start any regulatory medicine. Anti-depressants don't cure you, they just make it less apparent and can make you unable to handle the symptoms if you stop taking them for some reason, but they can help if used with proper treatment. Plus they increase risk of suicide (its not made up, chemicals can do weird stuff to your brain) and won't be a permanent solution on their own. Try therapy, it starts off slow but it really does work.
Both me and all my psychology professors (I'm training to be a psychiatrist and they're already to that level) agree on this. The reason doctors are so fast to prescribe anti-depressants is because they make a lot of money from it. Take the pills if you really can't function without them, but at least get therapy help.

 

[Tdc2182]

That's the depressed you talking.

I never saw what the big deal was. I wish I could take anti-depressants. I'm not even depressed.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Listen to your psychiatrist.

As someone who suffers from a mental illness, i'd seriously reccomend following their advice. My illness was bad enough that i was about to fail out of collage. Now i'm able to function after treatment. Like every person i've seen go through treatment, it really works if you stick to it. Medication doing the wrong thing? try another one. Don't give up.

Taking pills for the rest of your life ain't a bad thing. People with diabetes have an insulin pump their whole life and they arn't in any way inferior. You have a chronic illness. That must be treated as such.

 

[Worgen]

If you can't function then just take the damn pills.

I honestly don't understand why every-other person says they have depression. Surely things aren't that bad. Buck up.

there is a difference between being sad and being chronically depressed, its totally possible to be sad for no reason, emotions are governed by chemistry and if that gets out of wack then boom, sadness with no reason, I imagine it really sucks

 

[Shockolate]

I can't say I'm the same way.

I'm too impatient to find the right medicine and dosage.

 

[Archemetis]

If you can't function then just take the damn pills.

I honestly don't understand why every-other person says they have depression. Surely things aren't that bad. Buck up.

It's a chemical imbalance issue, bro.

No amount of bucking up can help that.

OT: My girlfriend has pretty bad depression, apparently the kind you can claim as a legitimate disability.

Fair play to her though she doesn't let it come to that, she's insistent that she can function through it.

She was on the pills before I met and for some time after that, eventually she'd had enough and decided to come off them.
She was fine for a while. Then she started getting serious bouts of depression, I've never seen her as bad as she was getting.

She moments when she was on the medication but obviously being off them wasn't helping too much.

So she recently decided she was going back on them, but in a much milder dose.

That's what my suggestion to you is, OP.

If you're going to start off, go for a mild dose, don't just take what the doctors fling at you, work out your own dosage.

Bare in mind though that if you end up with something similar to what my Girlfriend is taking, you'll feel a lot worse before they really start kicking in.

I was honestly very worried for the first two weeks she was back on them for...

 

[Rathands]

I know that some members of my family have tried antidepressants and that they didn't work for them but it's different for everyone and you seem lucky enough to have some choice in what you take so by all means, you should at least try. If you feel that your depression and discovering that you are transexual is linked in some way then definitely take it up with a psychologist or a professional who is trained to approach these subject matters better than an internet forum.

Oh, and don't put yourself down about your job interviews. That's one of the first things you have to try and stop doing. They didn't pick you, they probably had lots of other candidates for the job and you were just unlucky. Move on. Do not EVER think that they can see your depression and the fault lies with you for having it. If Chronic depression was so recognisable then doctors would go to you first (which by the way, good for you for seeing them about this). Why not try to think of your pills as 'supplements aiding the recovery of mental illness as part of a balanced emotional lifestyle'? It gets easier to cope with if you don't rely on just the one thing as a miracle cure so take them alongside the exercise others suggested, goal making really can help if you're a terrible procrastinator and, if your college experience was anything like mine, get outside! It's much harder to hear that poisonous little voice in the back of your head when you're in the open. Seriously, tell that voice to fuck off - unproductive little bastard. All it does is make people feel like shit. If you knew a person like that you'd distance yourself as much as possible, so try using these things to distract yourself whenever it tries to make itself heard. And of course, keep talking to your doctor. It doesn't get better by itself.

Although laughter can be the best medicine...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lb8fWUUXeKM

 

[The Lost Big Boss]

Anti-Depressants are, in short, bullshit.

Get out and take a jog and lift some weights and take some B-Vitamins.

The B-vit. do what the drugs are supposed to do, make your brain chem. balanced, but without all the extra fucked up shit that comes along with the drugs.

 

[SailorShale]

Snip

Well, you know how people can sometimes tell if other's are in a bad mood even if they aren't showing it? And, well, sad moods tend to spread, so I was thinking that maybe if I wasn't showing it, the interviewers were still feeling it.

The video got me giggling though. His laugh is so contagious. I love the Joker :0.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Anti-Depressants are, in short, bullshit.

Get out and take a jog and lift some weights and take some B-Vitamins.

The B-vit. do what the drugs are supposed to do, make your brain chem. balanced, but without all the extra fucked up shit that comes along with the drugs.

Get out. Now. Do some real research on medicine. Anti-depressants exist for a reason.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Here is something to help you in the meantime


Hope that makes you feel a little better

 

[Double A]

Isn't one of the side-effects they list "thoughts of suicide?"

Can someone please explain to me how the fuck thinking about suicide isn't a sign of being even more depressed? Why don't we just call anti-depressants "depressants?"

Anyway, don't. If you smoke, stop doing that. Smoking is a depressant. Play more video games with friends and watch more funny TV shows and web videos is my diagnosis, for all the good it'll do you. I guess My Little Pony would help? I dunno, I'm not a doctor. Then again, I don't get paid to subscribe people medicine, which is probably why your doc wants you on anti-depressants.

 

[taciturnCandid]

Isn't one of the side-effects they list "thoughts of suicide?"

Can someone please explain to me how the fuck thinking about suicide isn't a sign of being even more depressed? Why don't we just call anti-depressants "depressants?"

Anyway, don't. If you smoke, stop doing that. Smoking is a depressant. Play more video games with friends and watch more funny TV shows and web videos is my diagnosis, for all the good it'll do you. I guess My Little Pony would help? I dunno, I'm not a doctor. Then again, I don't get paid to subscribe people medicine, which is probably why your doc wants you on anti-depressants.

The problem with anti-depressants is that they alone do not fix depression. They help with the symptoms. So what happens if the person doesn't do everything else to cope with their disease is that their suicidal symptoms remain. Without the lack of motivation. So that is the danger.

The suicidal thoughts is the cause of the depression, not the medication

 

[HellspawnCandy]

Stop taking them. All I can say, anti-depressants are horrid horrid drugs. Side effects are pretty awful and it usually takes forever for any feeling to kick in, but it could all be a placebo effect.