Posted by Emme on September 21, 2004, at 16:43:14
In reply to No More Anti-Depressants for Me, posted by L McLean on September 21, 2004, at 14:08:31
>
> My name is Lenard. I have been dealing with major depression for about 3 years now, and I am going to win the fight! I have been hospitalized, and treated by several different mental health agencies.I'm sorry you have had such difficulties. It's good that you have such strong perseverence.
> They all provide little counseling, and quick prescriptions. They tell you that Depression is a serious problem, (and it is).
Counseling is important. Research has shown that the best results come from receiving both medicine and counseling. Many on this board do both.
I can't help but wonder if your strong opinions against medication are the result of having received poor care. You've said you've been treated by different agencies and you probably didn't get the most consistent care and may not have gotten the most knowledgable pharmacologists. And as you said, not enough counseling.
> However, from my experience, MOST people do not need these risky drugs.
It's problematic to generalize from your experience to the general population.
> They talk of the amazing effectiveness of the drugs, but usually skip over the stories of the people who have had negative, and even deadly effects from the medications. Let me tell you, there are many problems with some of these substances!
On a logical basis, most of those who have had good and ongoing success are not posting on the internet. They're going about their lives. On an anecdotal basis, I have personally known a number of people whose lives have been enourmously improved or even saved by either the temporary or ongoing use of psychotropic medications. From an epidemiological point, one of our members has summarized the results of studies tracking suicides with antidepressant use. Check out the above threat on AD use and suicide.
> I use the term SUBSTANCES because, often these drugs have delusional, and even addictive effects.
The difference between addiction and physiological dependence has been discussed many times on this forum. You might wish to check the archives to see what's been said in the discussions.
> At the same time, these drugs usually do not offer the groundbreaking results that the manufacturers boast of.
Again, sampling effects (populations on internet boards). Even for those of us that do not have miraculous results, the partial responses that we get are crucial. I personally owe my diploma to an antidepressant restoring my mental and emotional capabilities.
> misrepresent there narcotic like products.
The antidepressants, benzodiazapenes, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics prescribed for our conditions are not narcotics. It is unclear what you mean by narcotic-like.
> As I stated, I have battled depression for several years. I have been prescribed about three different Anti-depressants (who’s names for legal reasons, I cannot say).Is there a reason you can't tell us? We discuss specific drugs here all the time. Actually, three tries isn't that many. It's tiring to try a lot of different drugs, but sometimes you do hit pay dirt after several attempts.
> However, I can tell you not one of them have done me any good. They have even caused mind boggling heart rate fluctuations, and very disorienting euphoric delusions, and that’s just the “expected reactions” while you are using the drugs.
Without knowing what you were on, it's hard to comment, but the disorienting delusions makes me wonder if there's a bipolar issue that wasn't caught.
> This is clearly a case of searching for that ideal quick fix. Courage in a pill, but that just isn’t what most people get.
We are not simply looking for a quick fix or courage in a pill. We don't *want* to take them. We are looking to stop the mental torture so that we can do the work of regaining healthy lives. The decision to take medication is done with careful thought and discussion with a mental health professional.
> I have said all of this, but I should say that there are a few people who are ravaged by mental illness who benefit from some of these drugs.I suspect that few would number in the millions.
> However, the most common situation is people like me who just needed to change their living situations, and habits, and not the frightening side effects of some of these substances.
Again, it's not informative to generalize from yourself to other people. If you get remission from changes in your life situation alone, that's wonderful. As you noted above, depression is a serious illness. The only people to judge the correct treatment for someone is that person and their doctor. Remember, everyone here is pretty well versed in the pharmacology and we're already familiar with the pros and cons of psychotropic medications.
poster:Emme
thread:393374
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040921/msgs/393406.html