Should I take antidepressants?

Of course they can. Can a crutch help you heal a broken leg? Sure, but remember it's a crutch and your goal is to not need it one day.

>>18418644
Yeah, they totally help me. I take duloxetine. It took me a really long time trying a lot of different medications to find one that made me functional.

>>18418649
Should my mom get off of her synthetic thyroid medication? Hope that the black void where her thyroid should be will step up and "not need it" anymore?
I agree in part that having proper coping mechanisms and whatnot are important to go along with the medications, but you shouldn't be acting like medication should be taken begrudgingly

>>18418644
Yes they can help and they could also make it worse. Every medication has risks but antidepressants are the worst offenders.

>>18418757
Don't be stupid, dude. Nobody needs to be hooked on antidepressants for life. It's not a fucking blood pressure medicine. It's a psychoactive, psychotropic substance that creates severe dependency. By your logic, someone with a broken arm should keep taking their pain meds and just be an opiate addict too.

>>18418760
Can you go into further detail regarding the side effects or risks you mentioned because that's the thing I'm the most concerned about at the moment.

>>18418781
What's the harm? I've been taking antidepressants for 7 years and I have no intention of stopping. If they're keeping me in my job and preventing my suicide, isn't that worth it?

>>18418795
And some people need crutches for life if they are really crippled.

My point is must people DON'T. And it's much better to not need them and not use them, than not need them and stay dependent on them.

>>18418809
>And it's much better to not need them and not use them, than not need them and stay dependent on them.
And what about the situation that they need them and don't use them?
People who are depressed already have a hard enough time seeking treatment. Thinking that they're a burden, that they don't deserve it, that they aren't "depressed enough", that they deserve to feel bad, that they should just suck it up.

You're introducing this extra layer of doubt into OP's mind. Why? If OP's doctor ends up wanting to take him off of antidepressants, let them make that call. But you shouldn't introduce the concept of "when will I be able to live without these drugs?" Don't add that extra layer of shame in. There's no shame in needing to be on a medication for a mental disorder. We should do whatever works to keep us functional.

What are the draw backs to taking antidepressants? Tell me. What are the risks you're talking about?

>>18418822
>Don't add that extra layer of shame in.

This. We should treat people who need antidepressants more like people who need glasses. They're not broken for needing help. If this is what they need in order to have a satisfying life, why make them start thinking they need to eventually be able to live without the glasses?

>>18418788
Personally I went from depressed but able to enjoy some things to not really sad but not really happy and unable to enjoy anything and have been unable to fix it so far.

>>18418644
DO NOT LISTEN TO ANYTHING HERE EXCEPT THIS:

See a psychiatrist BEFORE making any decisions about prescription drugs. Or any drugs for that matter. Don't let ANYTHING stop you from seeing the psychiatrist. Psychiatrists are licensed physicians who have the know-how to prescribe drugs for you. People on 4chan don't have that type of experience. Just see a fucking doctor. Please anon. This is coming from someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression for 10 years before seeking help. This is not the place to seek help.

>>18418830
depression is caused by something wrong in their lives.

It's like treating a broken arm with pain medicine. They may need pain medicine, but without fixing the fucking arm, it's going to get worse and they'll just have a broken arm AND hooked on bullshit.

The goal should be to resolve the underlying psychological issue, not dope people up.

>>18418854
Not necessarily clinical studies have shown that depression can be caused by neurological misfires in the brain that can trigger changes in personality and mood. If you look at a CT scan of a person with depression and without you will notice a huge difference between the two. Depression is also shown to be hereditary as those with depression have an increased risk of their children developing depression.

>>18418835
Thank you I'll take this in consideration and try to make it to a psychiatrist and discuss it with him and get a second opinion if necessary.

>>18418872
Those misfires and differences are physical manifestations of a mental disorder and physical dependency on psychotropic drugs is not the answer.

For example, anxiety is a physical reaction that lights up those electrical activity scans (not CT scans, btw, those are simply xrays and has nothing to do with what either of us are talking about), but it can be resolved through breathing exercises, clear as day.

Those medications are crutches, and like crutches if you need them you need them, but if you don't, it's better not to use them or you never fully recover. My main point is that the underlying cause must be resolved.

>>18418891
Then what do you consider an effective forum of treatment, counseling perhaps?

>>18418891
>the underlying cause must be resolved.

Some people's depression and anxiety is caused by something that they will never fully work past. Some people spend their entire lives working on their issues and never resolve them. What are they supposed to do?

>>18418995
Also so you have sources for the breathing exercises that supposedly clear up anxiety clear as day?
A-asking for a friend of course

>>18418854
Not always the case dummy. It can be 100% somatic.

But i would in first hand recomend seeing a therapist.

Also antidepressants got me low, never excited or happy about anything, never really sad. Your feelings just get put on ice.
Its super diffrent for all of us. If you look at statistics about how many people its actually helping, you wont be baffled

>>18418644
They but it takes trial and error. Everyone is different including their brain chemistry, and anything that effects it could go wonky.

If it makes you feel better medication is just one of the treatments. They also teach you thinking strategies, give mental exercises, and try to find root causes in your life.

For example: if its because you have an insanely stressful job or a shitty group of friends, the treatment will be more focused on getting you a new career path or changing your friend groups.

Or if its caused by loops of negative thinking, they may have you do an exercise like keep a journal at the end of the day where you write down positive things that happened that day, which actually actively encourages the building of new neural structures and makes positive thinking a habit.

Or if its because of your sleep you get sleeping pills and you must enforce an active effort to repair your sleep schedule.

Or if its nourishment problems then they enforce a new diet.

Or if its a thyroid problem you get thyroid pills.


I could go on. Theres a million causes of depression, and anti depressants arent always the answer. (dont get me wrong. Sometimes they really are.) It would help a lot to see a therapist, they will go through all this with you and work with you to find the right course of action.

>>18418998
It is called meditation dude.

One approach is to distract yourself from it.
Other approach is to persuade yourself that it is normal and simply chill out during it.

Work on it anon. It is all inside your head. Try solutions untik you find working one. Also placebo helps a lot. Simply do some ritual and BELIEVE that IT WILL HELP.

Good luck!

>>18419047
I'm mostly asking because I've got IBS and just being anxious enough can trigger some vicious diarrhea. The problem with anxiety triggering IBS is that it becomes a neverending cycle: feel stomach rumble, anticipate diarrhea, anxiety, anxiety makes more rumbles, repeat. The other problem with this situation is that it's hard to distract yourself from the abdominal pain and cramps, whether it's actually IBS about to happen or my stomach's just bluffing. And then it's also seems impossible to persuade myself that it's normal and "simply chill out".

I'm choosing to focus on the IBS stuff because that seems less hopeless than trying to work on my problem of being anxious about everything

>>18418854
Not always friend. In most cases it is. But your brains a machine that relies on proper neural firing and chemical production..

So your car is using a fuck tonne of gas. Sometimes you gotta stop slamming your foot on the accelerator, sometimes you gotta take it into a mechanic.

Same deal dude. Some people get depressed because their lives or attitudes are terrible (and ill say again. Most.) some have an actual problem that requires medical intervention.

Hell, hypothyroidism will cause depresssion. And if you have that you need medication sooner than later or you have a fuck of a lot more to worry about than how you feel about life.

>>18419063
Posts like these reminds me how grateful i am for being born "normal".

I literally live life on easy mode.

Sorry for not being able to help you.

>>18419071
It's alright dude. I'm a pretty good sport about it until I'm driving on a bridge and get the signal that I've got about ten seconds before I spew brown lava

File: images.jpg (10KB, 192x262px) Image search: [Google]

10KB, 192x262px

How functional are you in your day to day life? How do you describe the depression? Don't use a check list of symptoms on the internet to describe your experience. Use your own words.

>>18419078
KEKek.

I dont know about the diaretha part, but really, the anxiety is only in your head. With right mindset you should be able to beat it. I believe if you learn to accept your grumblings stomach as normal, it should help with your anxiety.

Anyway good luck.

>>18418835
While this is good advice not to trust random 4chan posters dont mistake somebody being a licensed physician as a reason to not do your due diligence, case in point my pdoc had no clue that DXM or ketamine were good for treatment resistant depression until I told him and even then he didn't believe me until I showed him case studies.

>>18418644
They work good by leaves u a little drowsy and sexually down been taking Paxil since I was 15

>>18419345
Each AD has its own side effects. Plenty have no sexual side effects while some have a lot.

>>18418644
Watch
https://youtu.be/XfiubXSzzz8

https://youtu.be/Ep1ODxCoYlI

Read
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0230574327/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497509323&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+myth+of+the+chemical+cure&dpPl=1&dpID=51pes9FagyL&ref=plSrch

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0036S4EGE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497509560&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=anatomy+of+an+epidemic

You're welcome.