Posted by KaraS on March 27, 2005, at 16:22:31
In reply to Re: Motivation?, posted by TomG on March 26, 2005, at 19:10:57
> I definately smell a block in in the air, but my doctor has told me the same thing. There is *no* medicine made for motivation or really no medicine that specifically gives motivation. Rather, I think as mood improves and certain depresssions are lifted motivation improves.
I don't really agree with that as I've heard from many posters as well as my doctor and my own research that the noradrenergic and dopaminergic meds can help with motivation. Wellbutrin is often successfully used for this purpose. I have a friend on it now and he claims he is now motivated to study again in his graduate program.
Unfortunately, I was not able to tolerate it when i tried it years ago. Others here have claimed that Parnate and selegiline have helped with motivation as well but I have not fully trialed either of them.There is also considerable evidence that the SSRIs can depress motivation by having a negative effect on dopamine. Increasing serotonin without concommitantly increasing dopamine can lift mood while causing apathy and amotivation in many people. I've read posts where people have said that they had motivation on SSRIs but eventually it went way and was replaced by apathy. The boards are full of posts about SSRI apathy.
In my own case, I've had mood lift from SSRIs and Effexor (primarily serotonergic particularly at the dosage I was on) but had zero motivation. I know first hand that mood lift and motivation do not necessarily go hand-in-hand.
Kara
poster:KaraS
thread:475917
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050326/msgs/476297.html