Posted by Tomatheus on January 28, 2006, at 15:35:59
In reply to Dont do it!!!!, posted by Daniela23 on January 27, 2006, at 8:44:17
Daniela,
You wrote:
"You do not need meds to make you better; they will not make the underlying part of what is 'wrong with you' go away"
I agree with others here who have said that your post appears to contain some inaccurate generalizations that could clearly be offensive to many of the members here. Even though success stories on this board are relatively uncommon in comparison to the problems that people report, success stories do exist. Some of those who have posted success stories here tried several times to go without meds only to see their symptoms return. They are feeling better only because they endured a lengthy process of trial and error with meds until they found either a med or a combo that helped them achieve remission. Others here, despite the fact that they write mostly about the things that are wrong with their medications, are doing "better" on meds in the strictest sense of the word. In other words, although these patients may not feel that they are achieving remission from their illnesses, they feel noticeably better on the meds that they're taking than they felt during the periods when they were med-free.
I would consider myself to be one of these patients. I personally waited years watching my depressive symptoms worsen and eventually level out to a point where I would just about always feel moderately to severely depressed (on occasion, I would just feel mildly depressed -- usually after sleep deprivation). I tried making various lifestyle changes and going to therapy, and even though I saw the positive values in these endeavors, they did nothing for my depression. I've also been med-free several times between med trials, and I would always end up feeling exactly the same way that I did before I was taking meds. Even though I do not think I have quite acheived a state of remission, I feel a lot more functional and productive than I was when I was taking no meds, and my emotional reactions to the stimuli in my environment are a lot more consistent with the "normal" reactions to these stimuli than I was when I was depressed and med-free. In other words, I no longer feel deeply depressed in situations when everything inside of me except for my affective state is telling me that I should be feeling happy. Without meds, I would feel depressed when I'm supposed to feel happy, depressed when I'm supposed to feel sad, and of course, depressed when I'm supposed to feel anywhere in between. Now, I can usually experience at least a little bit of joy in response to doing the things that I truly like. In this sense, I would say that I am doing at least somewhat better because of the meds I'm taking.
Now, do I claim that all of the depressed patients on this board and elsewhere are exactly like me? Hell no, I don't. As research data indicate, some patients with depression and other psychiatric disorders respond quite favorably to therapy alone are don't require medications to achieve remission. It is my belief that others, however, are more like myself and have symptoms that only respond slightly (if at all) to things like therapy, exercise, and personal commitments (and actions) to pursue more fulfulling endeavors and avoid excessively stressful activities. For patients who experience no significant benefits in their psychiatric symptoms after trying non-pharmaceutical treatments, the next choice is usually one between taking meds (and hoping that they might at least produce some positive results) and continuing to be hampered by debilitating psychiatric symptoms day in and day out. And as the posts here indicate, some patients still do not receive significant benefits from medications. But unless I'm imagining things, it is clear that there are more than a handful of patients who have benefited significantly from medications (and not just any medications, I mean the "right" medications) after having remained fully symptomatic for years as a result of either taking no medications or the "wrong" medications.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is strong evidence (both here and in the psychiatric literature) that some patients require medications to achieve remission, or least a partial remission. This, of course, is not the case with all patients. But in saying "you do not need meds to make you better," you made a generalization that is clearly inconsistent with the experiences of several members here, including myself. After trying non-pharmaceutical approaches to treating my depressive symptoms without success, seeking psychopharmacological treatment as a last resort, going through unsuccessful medication trials for about three years, and finally finding a medication that has allowed me to achieve partial remission (and may ultimately allow for full remission if augmented in just the right way), do you think that I feel offended by your statement? You betcha.
Finally, with respect to your statement that medications cannot make the "underlying part of 'what is wrong with you' go away," how can you make this statement with 100 percent certainty? Granted, there is no way to say for sure with respect to any given patient to what extent their medications might be getting to the underlying pathology or pathologies causing their illnesses. And of course, no doctor can say with 100 percent certainty that a patient does have an underlying biochemical abnormality simply by making a diagnosis using a questionnaire. But you said that meds "will not" make the underlying cause(s) of a disorder go away. This, to me, is an absolute statement. But seriously, how do you know for sure that medications do not treat the actual causes of psychiatric illnesses in *any* cases? I'm not saying that they do for sure, but unless you're privy to some all-conslusive research information that I'm not, I doubt that you know for sure that meds absolutely cannot treat the causes of psychiatric illnesses.
So, all in all, I find it perplexing that you decided to begin your post by saying "with all due respect" when you then proceeded to make a statement that would obviously offend many of the members here due to its lack of accuracy. Perhaps you did not mean to generalize or to offend in your original post. But judging from the responses of other members here, it seems that your post came across that way to a lot of people.
Tomatheus
poster:Tomatheus
thread:603370
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060122/msgs/603790.html