Poll: Antidepressants, do people really want these?

[templargunman]

I suffer from relatively severe depression, as in I have considered suicide (not that I'm any where close to performing that act, but I have considered it, and options related to it). I personally don't want to be put on antidepressants because there is something that helps me more in less time. I'm in the process of trying to get my OMMP (Oregon Medical Marijuana Permit) because I honestly feel a lot better after smoking weed than with anything else. Of course, regardless of whether or not I get the card, I smoke every day.

 

[Swaki]

i used antidepressants for 2 years, the only side effect i had was that when i sat down my leg would shake a little, not a big deal just meant i couldn't pull of "the thinker", i think its fine that you try and do what you think is right by warning other people, but there are plenty of different antidepressants, and endless variables to consider, not everyone will have side effects especially not at lower potents.

I think a reason that that many people at your gymnasium wants antidepressants is because they don't know what they do, they don't make you happy, some people seem to think of them as this wonderful drug that makes you happy and fills the world with rainbows, and best of all its legal and sometimes the government will even pay for it, its free meth for the working man.

But they do help allot of people, and every psychiatrist that would give them a receipt will also warn them about the possible side effects, you don't need to run around and warn them.

 

[loc978]

...I have been prescribed, and taken, antidepressants in the past... and I voted do not want*.
They didn't make me feel sick, but they did make it hard to think. I felt mildly intoxicated all of the time, which is not a feeling I like to have stick around for long. This did not make me feel better about myself. It made me feel more useless.

Basically what I'm saying is: everyone reacts to pharmaceuticals differently, and there is no "cure" for any mental ailment. There are only treatments... and the life changes necessary to treat depression always fall on the patient to complete in the end.

 

[smashmaniac64]

I'm on antidepressants because it's illegal for me to truly get help for my real problem untill I'm 18 for some reason.

a lot of the stronger medications for depression aren't safe to use before your an adult
ironically, the medicine that helps with depression can cause suicide -_-
either this has less effect on adults or adults are allowed to make the decision for themselves, idk for sure

 

[XzarTheMad]

They're not meant to cure pain. They're mean to fix the chemical imbalance in your brain during a depression. People want them because without them they want to kill themselves. Take it from someone who knows it.

 

[GodofCider]

Well, I am not depressed, so I don't want anti-depressents. Otherwise, I suspect I might.

 

[SketchyFK]

Depression is becoming the "mental disease of the month" if you will. Many people are saying they have it. I'm not quite sure why they do, though. I mean, I get depressed, but I don't have any sort of depression. I just get sad sometimes? and the word depressed is used to describe when you're sad, people (stupid ones) think that the two are related?

No one should want medication without knowing for a fact that life would change for the better because of it.

The above words I find very interesting and truthful. I was diagnosed with severe clinical depression (I think I was at 29 on their scale, although I don?t know how many people understand the NHS? medical scale). They said I should be suicidal I was so bad. I wasn?t mainly because I was like that throughout my teen years. They put me on antidepressants and sleeping tablets (the depression badly affected my sleeping pattern).

However, I didn?t take them.

No-one should want to have anti depressants...
Calumon: Normal happy is the best happy. :3

The reason I never took them is because one of my friends, who has experience in this area, said that they get do work BUT as soon as you come off the medication the depression kicks straight back in again. So the happy doesn?t last.

the word depressed is used to describe when you're sad, people (stupid ones) think that the two [depressed and clinically depressed] are related.

I?m not so sure ?stupid? more as misinformed. I hate and hated talking about my depression, this was also one of the major reasons it?s taken me so long to recover. Since few people talk about it most people won?t know any better. I think it?s more stupid for people to be ashamed if they become clinically depressed. While there is nothing to be ashamed of, every ounce and fibre of our bodies want us to be stronger than that.

 

[Chrono180]

Funny you should ask this because I was thinking about this exact topic when I saw your thread. My situation is very complicated, to make a long story short the anti-psychotic medication I am put on to control my Asperger's and paranoid tendencies has the side effect of making me so numb and depressed that I spend all day wishing I was dead. Problem is, without it I am unable to function in society because I start thinking everyone is part of some worldwide conspiracy out to get me.

So I am currently trying various anti-depressants in hopes of finding one that works. Problem is, they tend to either not work and/or have side effects. So far, I have tried Lexapro, which made me unreasonably angry at the world and didn't help my depression, prozac which did absolutely nothing as far as I could tell, and I am currently on zoloft, which is helping but has side effects that are not really appropriate to discuss on this forum.

So I am really in a catch-22 because if I take anti-depressants I start having side effects, but if I don't my depression causes me to seriously ponder suicide. So I don't know what to do.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

People want them because without them they want to kill themselves.

Not entirely true. Suicide is not the only end-point scenario for severe clinical depression, nor does clinical depression always have suicide ideation as one of it's symptoms.

 

[Lynx]

I suppose antidepressants are commonly mistaken for "a quick fix" for sadness. It sounds arrogant, but most people who haven't experienced a clinical depression don't understand the difference between that and mere sadness. And I don't think the people who do understand it would make the mistake of "wanting" the antidepressants.

I myself was on meds for both depression and anxiety for 2 years. My side effects weren't that bad, but my dosage wasn't that high either.

 

[timeadept]

That may be the reason, actually. Because it is called depression, and the word depressed is used to describe when you're sad, people (stupid ones) think that the two are related. So when they feel depressed, they think they have depression, thus driving them to crave these antidepressants.

You're forgetting that not everybody speaks English. In German, for example, there is a clear difference between being depressed and having depression. So no confusion there.

I see your point though, depression is treated like the sniffles nowadays, the general image is that everybody gets it at some point or another. Many people don't realise that anti-depressants are for people with a real mental disease.

"depression is treated like the sniffles nowadays, the general image is that everybody gets it at some point or another. Many people don't realise that anti-depressants are for people with a real mental disease."

pretty much this

 

[Kitari]

I used to be on a drug called Citalopram. It was awesome. No more struggling to get out of bed, no more constant downers and the best side effect I've ever experienced: Lasting an hour to an hour and a half in bed - Not that I had issues with that before, but it did boost my ego.

After a 6 month course along with some therapy, plus life improving in general, I'm all better now. Unfortunately I lost the massive sex drive/ability, and for a week after coming off of citalopram I was finishing in thirty seconds or less, but that stopped.

Was it because of the drug? The therapy? Life not sucking anymore? I have no idea, but it didn't hurt.

 

[Canid117]

Why do people want them? Because life sucks and people are too lazy and scared to just deal with it.

Oh FFS, because there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, it's that everyone with problems is a giant pussy. Aren't you the enlightened one.

OT: I take Zoloft to help with 'Bi-Polar disorder'. I put that in quotes because I am leery of the psychiatric field, but after several failed drugs (some with awful side effects indeed), the zoloft seems to help 'take the edge off'.

Not everyone is like that but most of the self diagnosed people are.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Anti-Depressants are used to treat Major Depressive Disorder. They work by adjusting the uptake levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. The reason for clinical depression(Major depressive disorder) is mainly an imbalance of said chemicals. Treatment without medication using placebos and therapy is roughly 60% less effective than medication.

The problem with anti-depressants is that they do have side-effects, but they are the most effective thing for balancing chemical levels in the brain, the bigger problem however is not in the drugs being used but in the doctors prescribing them.

In many cases mood disorders(Depression, Bi-polar disorder, etc) are misdiagnosed and patients are simply given an antidepressant. Treating bipolar depression with anti-depressants made for treating mono-polar depression... is not a good idea.

Essentially nobody wants anti-depressants but they are overused because they are relatively effective and easy to prescribe.

NOTE: Depression=/=Sadness, it is a serious chemical mental condition.

 

[meece]

Treatment without medication using placebos and therapy is roughly 60% less effective than medication.

That's assuming they can't identify the placebo, studies have shown that in up to 90% of cases doctors *and* patients could identify if they'd taken a placebo or not due to the presence or lack of side effects. Otherwise you're quite right.

 

[Sightless Wisdom]

Treatment without medication using placebos and therapy is roughly 60% less effective than medication.

That's assuming they can't identify the placebo, studies have shown that in up to 90% of cases doctors *and* patients could identify if they'd taken a placebo or not due to the presence or lack of side effects. Otherwise you're quite right.

Regardless I assure you that chemical problems do not simply disappear if the patient thinks they will.

 

[Raven's Nest]

Why do people want them? Because life sucks and people are too lazy and scared to just deal with it.

Oh FFS, because there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, it's that everyone with problems is a giant pussy. Aren't you the enlightened one.

OT: I take Zoloft to help with 'Bi-Polar disorder'. I put that in quotes because I am leery of the psychiatric field, but after several failed drugs (some with awful side effects indeed), the zoloft seems to help 'take the edge off'.

Not everyone is like that but most of the self diagnosed people are.

Way to generalize and stereotype "most depressed people"... People tend to self diagnose before they seek help in the first place, usually at this point clinical depression has taken over them and their brains stop functioning normally... A classic symptom of true depression is to deny there is even a problem and it usually takes some manner of intervention before someone self diagnoses and seeks help. Any time depression is trivialised by some douchebag who has a bad day, someone like you will hold a false preconception and disregard anyone suffering real, involuntary and physiological illness. So please stop spewing nonsense about a delicate topic you clearly know very little about...

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Now that I think about it, I really know nothing about actual involuntary depression. I just hate it when someone I know (who isn't clinically depressed) tells me they need medicine.

And if you go to your doctor and tell him/her that your depressed, chances are they're gonna prescribe you to something rather than say "Suck it up and be happy". When I was doing bad in school, the doctor's most logical reasoning was to take medication to 'help' me focus. They're a little too quick to go to the pills.

 

[Canid117]

Why do people want them? Because life sucks and people are too lazy and scared to just deal with it.

Oh FFS, because there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, it's that everyone with problems is a giant pussy. Aren't you the enlightened one.

Not everyone is like that but most of the self diagnosed people are.

Way to generalize and stereotype "most depressed people"... People tend to self diagnose before they seek help in the first place, usually at this point clinical depression has taken over them and their brains stop functioning normally... A classic symptom of true depression is to deny there is even a problem and it usually takes some manner of intervention before someone self diagnoses and seeks help. Any time depression is trivialised by some douchebag who has a bad day, someone like you will hold a false preconception and disregard anyone suffering real, involuntary and physiological illness. So please stop spewing nonsense about a delicate topic you clearly know very little about...

I didn't say "Most depressed people" I said "Most self diagnosed people." If you actually have depression then go ahead and ask your doctor for something to help but without a qualified professional saying you need these pills (like several people that the OP describes) then you do not need them. I am not depressed. I have had bad days but I am not depressed and do not need these pills. Neither do many who claim depression but in fact do not know how to deal with stress. I think you misunderstand who I am critical of. I am not critical of people suffering from depression but the people who think they are depressed because they had a bad day. I apologize for any mis-communication.

 

[Raven's Nest]

I didn't say "Most depressed people" I said "Most self diagnosed people." If you actually have depression then go ahead and ask your doctor for something to help but without a qualified professional saying you need these pills (like several people that the OP describes) then you do not need them. I am not depressed. I have had bad days but I am not depressed and do not need these pills. Neither do many who claim depression but in fact do not know how to deal with stress. I think you misunderstand who I am critical of. I am not critical of people suffering from depression but the people who think they are depressed because they had a bad day. I apologize for any mis-communication.

It's cool, thanks for clarifying what you meant. I do agree with your sentiment about people being quick to complain of depression when it is not true depression. This coupled with an apparent misunderstanding of what antidepressants are used for and how they work, just further clouds the issue for people who are suffering depression who may find it difficult to approach their GP about it.

In an age where Internet guided self diagnosis is ripe there are two sides to the coin. One one side, you have many people who might come across isolated incidents where they are struggling with certain aspects of their lives, look up advice on the Internet and arrive at a potentially false conclusion. These people are at risk because they end up saddling themselves with a much more serious problem if they attribute other problems in their lives to depression. It becomes very easy to convince themselves that depression is the cause of their problems and will convince a doctor to prescribe medication which ultimately won't help them address ongoing issues in their lives. I agree that doctors need to find better ways of distinguishing between true clinical depression and those who genuinely need medication against those who would probably be better served by talking to a trained counsellor over a period of time. On the other side, and this is perhaps the driving factor in the reason that many more people are coming forward with symptoms of depression, is that the wide availability of information is simply helping more people give a name to reason they feel the way they do. People didn't come forward before because their was so few people with a real understanding of how depression works, and they were very unlikely to approach these people because they didn't even know that they existed. I would also put it down to the "suck it up and deal with it" attitudes of the older generations but that probably did them more harm than good.

Self diagnosis is here to stay as like I said, it's usually a prerequisite to visiting a doctor about depression. Its not always necessary but it certainly isn't "mostly trivial". So the less false information and misconceptions about depression and antidepressants around, the better... I do believe that GP's should reasses how, why and to whom, antidpressants are distributed. I personally think it should be a trained counsellors call after 6 weekly sessions to properly asses the scale of a patients problem. it is way to easy for a moody 16 year old kid here in the UK to convince one of our "newly qualified" doctors that they have depression and that they think taking a few pills will make it all go away. The worst part is that the doctors don't even have to inform their parents that they are prescribing their children drugs as potent as 60mg of Prozac...