Antidepressants

Tracy, it’s not so much that physical illnesses have more validity than mental, it’s the perception of each. Physical problems are accepted as time-honored facts of life. Often, they’re pointed to with pride: “she has (whatever) and she still goes to work everyday”; sometimes they’re a useful cop-out: “oh, he has (whatever); he can’t be expected to do much”. Mental illness, on the other hand, still carries stigma and, because of that, is very much mis-understood: “are you crazy?”, “there’s nothing wrong with you, just pull yourself together”.

Education comes from within. Until those who don’t understand mental illness want to learn about it, they won’t.

Lyman, I was talking to a physician turned acupuncturist and chiropractor the other day and mentioned that I was taking medication for asthma. He started to launch into a thing against it as we were talking about the over prescription of drugs. Finally he asked me why I was taking him. I replied that I wanted to breathe and it allows me to do that.

Hard to argue with that one. Do what you need to do to get yourself to neutral. Once there you can make other decisions or the same. However, it is difficult to live when minimum prerequisites like sanity, air, and food are not met.

Nneka

Hey Lyman,

Antidepressants aren’t a crutch. We’re more than our brain, but we have to work through it. Mind-brain is a two way street, each affects the other. I’ve seen people who have depression with and without antidepressants. Usually they’re better off taking them.

Change works through natural channels. Use the tools available – spiritual, mental, and physical. There is no need to feel guilty about using any of them, even if it for the rest of your life.

I agree with you, mental illness is so misunderstood. Where physical illness like a broken arm or open wound. The mental illness is not as tangible you cannot touch it. I have battled with depression all my life and now that I have begun to take my meds seriously I am realizing how much they really help!!!! When someone has physical pain we tell them to take a pain pill so when someone has mental “pain” we should encourage them to get medicine to help. While pills are not the complete answer it can help you see things in a better perspective and work through the “pain”.

some ideas: Smokers cringe when one of their friends gets cancer, drinkers cringe when their drinking buddy falls down and breaks his crown, a person admitting to depression reminds people of their own “weak” or honest moments with themselves. I have 11 years of sober aa living, and 8 years of anti-depressants. I don’t fall apart when a pet dies, or parents, for that matter. I also don’t get drunk, take my clothes off and climb the flag pole. I think I’m better off.

Hi Lyman,

Came here via Steve Olson’s blog, and I just wanted to give you props for realizing what needed to be done and then for doing it.

I’ve struggled with depression (came uncomfortably close to ending that struggle the “wrong” way) and finally found that, for me, it wasn’t a chemical imbalance nearly as much as it was negative thinking. However, if I had taken antidepressants earlier in life, I might have been able to deal with that negative thinking that fed the chemical depressive cycle.

I think that I’m probably one of the lucky ones, though I don’t know of too many definitions of “luck” that include “fifteen years of torturous emotional pain”… though I will count “being alive” as one.

James

Hi Lyman:

Came here through your blog carnival post to my mental health website. I want to thank you for sharing this in a public forum.

It is important to do what you can to get better – and if it means taking antidepressants for a depression relapse, then you’re doing what you decided is best for you.

I find it a pity that some self help gurus deride modern medicine as if pills are one big corporate conspiracy. I may be biased, having worked for over a decade in the pharma industry, and also having benefited from antidepressants that effectively relieved me of decades of depression.

While I have enjoyed some of Wayne Dyer’s books and have purchased his books and products in the past, I was bothered by a gross generalization of pills in some of his programs.

If I want to use some of the “principles” of cause and effect that self help speakers use, I would marvel at how wonderful it is that we live in an age where we have as many medical choices as we have today. We all get to choose which therapies work best for our conditions – including non-medical approaches.

It’s so sad that antidepressants are seen as some sort of “happy pill” that solves everything. Nothing could be further from the truth. Last Fall, I attempted to also leave behind my medication. Yeah, well…that didn’t work too well, and I’m back on. You know what? I’m happy about my choice, and it’s just fine.

Depression is still stigmatized, too. I think that the very concept of depression is one that people simply don’t understand because of the very fact that EVERYONE feels down at some point. Most of the public don’t get the fact, however, that those down periods are well nigh impossible for some of us to bounce back from, due to chemical imbalances. It doesn’t compute that such a common feeling can be so insidious.

Anyway, good luck on your journey!

Thanks for the “Carnival of Depression…” post – it led me to this post by you which I somehow missed before.

Anyway, I think I’ve been battling mild to medium depression for many years, but I’ve never been diagnosed or prescribed anything for it. My mother has a history of depression and even bi-polar disorder, so it might be something that runs in the family.

I’m not opposed to taking medicine, but I always try to find natural remedies first. Do you (or anyone) have experience with natural anti-depressants such as St John Wort, SAM-E, or others? Do they really work? Are they worth trying?

And what about just eating right and exercise? I’ve read that exercise alone can greatly improve depression.

Finding the right antidepressant can be quite a journey; what works for one might cause some problems or a lot of problems for another. Just look at Lyman and Elsie’s experience. No numbing or withdrawal for Lyman, where Elsie experienced both. If you check the net, you’ll find that kind of contrast (or worse)with most ANY antidepressant. Perhaps the results can be used to help select the right antidepressant for that person. I learned recently that Prozac tends to be more activating, Lexapro more sedating and Effexor is between the two. I certainly found that to be true of Lexapro. Just depends on what that particular person needs. My guess is a doc that is really good with the meds can tell a lot from what didn’t work. If you ping the wrong synapses in the wrong way, or the right synapses in the wrong way, what’s one person’s miracle will be another’s nightmare.

I’m just starting to work with the LOA stuff and was wondering how antidepresants fit into that scheme. LOA states that you need to focus on what feels good and the thoughts that are present in that state will begin to shift your universe. Does an antidepressant assist you with that process? Perhaps the advise of “if taking a pill works, take the pill” fits here as well. I don’t know one way or the other.

I’m disthymic myself and looking at taking Prozac. I’ll be interested to hear the experience of others that are using an antidepressant that “fits” well with them.

JH

Lyman -

>>I, personally, wouldn’t suggest anyone get on antidepressants in order to speed up the Law of Attraction (snip).

I agree wholeheartedly. I think taking an antidepressant ONLY to get a leg up on LOA would be missing the point at the outset.

I was wondering whether or not it might hinder the process. For instance, taking an anti-anxiety med (assuming it’s warranted in the first place) might leave you with too much of a good thing. It seems LOA uses (what we consider) negative feelings as an indicator of your thoughts, conscious and unconscious. Blunt them too much with the wrong meds or too much of the right meds and you could end up with the wrong results. I think, for instance, that noticing anxiety within this context is useful. On the other hand, if you’re overly anxious and can’t seem to get a toehold on it, that’s not workable either.

Similarly, with depression, if you don’t have any desires and you don’t find adequate stimulation in your world, it can be rather like trying to play handball with a wad of clay. Conversely, the ability to recognise problems that you can transform into opportunities would seem like a healthy and necessary source of contrast. Just a matter of striking the right balance, I guess.

Regards -

JH

I would say that if you feel more in control and seem to be producing the results in your life that you like, then you’ve got it nailed. You’ve done exactly what you need to put yourself in play again.

One might also be numbed by not taking a drug when it would help to do so. Taking too much or the wrong one might leave you perfectly happy with the stacks of magazines and garage sale items piling up and up and up. That was one person’s Prozac story, yet another might say “I took Prozac and 2 weeks later had my place looking like a model home”.

My guess is that a bit of the right antidepressant and a bit of LOA and one could be in a whole new place in life.

JH

It took me many years of anxiety and depression (with a sojourn into alcohol along the way) before I truly accepted that I suffered from a medical condition and not some personality failing. What brought this about was an antidepressant that worked for me (Effexor as it happens). It has allowed me to feel calm and think clearly; it has not numbed emotions but tamed them to a manageable state.

I recently discovered that there was a cause for my anxiety/depression – a faulty gene which makes me a carrier of Fragile X Syndrome. A fault on one part of one gene. Imagine what research will reveal in the not too distant future.