I've noticed that quite a few orgers mention being on anti-depressants or similar prescription drugs. I've personally never taken them and honestly I'm a little alarmed at how casually people talk about them. Is this a worldwide thing, or more in the US? Is it a recent thing? It's all alien to me to be honest.

Do you take such meds and what do you take them for? Do you think it's beneficial to be on them? How do they make you feel? Aren't they bad for your health?

I have taken them

I don't at the minute but think i need them

I have taken them since the age of 16 and to be honest i think they are too casulalt prescribled to most, i am sick of hearing its the easy way out

of it wasn't for antidepressents i would be dead now

I didn't used to talk about it because people will use it to explain certain behaviour and say stuff like "oh you must be having one of those days again" when in reality it's not just bad days I have, but rather bad weeks. Nowadays I don't care too much anymore.

When I'm on anti-depressants it's to fight one of the symptoms of borderline personality disorder. Depression is only part of it.

I don't now but I have taken them, but I was a minor at the time and wasn't given a choice. Apparently 15 year olds aren't mature enough to tell the difference between happy and sad.

I think anti-depressants and other mood altering or controlling drugs are both over and under-prescribed. I'm still young, but already I've known so many people who desperately needed help and couldn't get it for whatever reason, yet I've also known people who were put on anti-depressants or anti-psychotics when there was nothing at all wrong with them.

never took them

meow85 said:

I know they prescribe anti-depressants very easily, but anti-psychotics? I doubt there was nothing wrong at all. I assume they went to see a doc because they had a problem and if I knew nothing was wrong with me I surely wouldn't be taking any meds. People who do take meds at least acknowledge there's something wrong.

Most doctors see the anti-depressent as an easy way out

some doctors dn't even think of mental health as worht treatomg

some doctors should be struck off just for there attitides






been drnking alot sont' hold this againg't me

eikonoklastes said:

I'm talking about minors, mostly. The decision is made between the doctor and the parents, the kid having no legal right to refuse medication. My mom is a psychiatric nurse, and she couldn't even begin to tell you the amount of kids she's come across over the years who were prescribed anti-depressants and even anti-psychotics without a real diagnosis of anything out of the ordinary-the motivation usually being that the kid is kinda weird or doesn't "fit" into how their parents expect them to be. I know a few people personally this has been done to as well.

A minor can't refuse medication, and they aren't allowed to see their medical records either to see what they've been diagnosed with if they haven't been told.

drunk edit
[Edited 4/10/05 6:10am]

p0pRocks said:

But honestly, why go to a physician for treatment? I mean it's a first step, but they're not specialized in it. At least my doc was honest about it and admitted he knows no more than the basics of it and the only thing he can really do is diagnose whether or not it's likely there's a problem.

meow85 said:

That's a fucked up situation in your country. Over here forced treatment is simply not allowed by law. You can be admitted if you're an immediate threat to yourself or others, but not treated against your will...which has pros and cons.

i tried paxil briefly a long time ago to help with seasonal affective disorder. it did get me through the winter, but when spring came around i knew i was feeling better on my own and i didn't want to keep taking the paxil because it did tend to make me feel a little blearghy at times...weaning myself off the stuff was a chore, and because i don't think even doctor-prescribed drugs should make me feel like a freakin' pill popping junkie, i just deal with getting through the winter these days.

actually, what cinched getting off the paxil for me was watching 'requiem for a dream'.

meow85 said:

Minors are a real problem and often neglescted I'm sure i would make more sense tomorrow but this is somthinf i feel passionate about.

at 15 i tried to take my own life and STILL DIDN'T GET ANY TREATMENT till i was 16 and requested it from a totally different doctor

As an under 16 i was not tsken seriously and suffered an incredible amount due to an incompent doctor

lucky i came through it and didn't end up making the most terrible mistake ever by taking my life and not having the oppotunity to get wekll

it makes me sad there is sucj a stigma about mental illness as if it is something rto be ashamed off it isn't.

fuck public opinion..... drugs are not the best way to get over it but sometomes they can make the difference to someone in the interim

I will always be honest about what i went through and hope that i can encourage people to seek help and get what they need be it councilling/druf therapy or just needing a friend.

eikonoklastes said:

in the uk you GP is always your first port of call and they can make the difference to your care with referals to specialist and can make a massive impact on the care you recieve or wether you get neg;ecyed in my area of the uk mental illness especially in the under 18's is hugely undiagnosed and neglescted

p0pRocks said:

Oh it's the same here. Guess I'm lucky with mine then. I just need to tell him what it is I want of him if it's obvious he hasn't been able to help me out and he'll give me a referral.

Very interesting. See, I don't doubt that some people need them and that they're very beneficial. It just seems like they come up with new disorders daily.

How did people deal with depression and mental health problems before all the drugs? I wonder if sometimes people turn to them rather too readily, especially if it becomes a very typical thing in your country and culture.

Would I be right in saying that more people tend to take such meds in the US than in Europe and the rest of the world? Are the people, for example in the UK, who might not even think about taking these drugs simply because it's not so prevalent a custom, better off or worse off?

eikonoklastes said:

You are lucky, i have founfd out he more i have worked within the health service and the associtated care givers and voluntary sector it is somthing that needs to be addreseed and hopefully the stigma is decreasing

the fact this thread exsists shows barriers are breaking down

p0pRocks said:

That so many more people take such drugs these days does suggest that it's a very important issue.

Fauxie said:

I think in the adult population in the uk is quickly catching up on the american side

i think as i said before hand prescribing needs to be looked at, there are alternative ways to deal with depression but doctors can see it as easy to get a "problem" patient out of his room

But i also agree with miow, it is widely under prescribed, i feel true depressed people are usually so obsorbed with there illness they don't even realise they are ill and it is these people who go underdiagnosed and end up ona cold slab.

mental illness is not atracticve and doesn't attract publicltu unless it is some paranoid schiznophrenic who has killed someone, while most schitzo's can barely make a sandwhich and function on a day to day basis never mind kill another. It is the dismal public opinion that stops the money getting though and valubale research that could clear up the black spots in the health care that is provided that makes such a problem

Fauxie said:

I don't think the amoint of people taking antidepressents is a true reflection on menatal illness and depression as i have said before i think the drugs are sometimes an easy fix all for GPS

Fauxie said:

I think that in certain societies it's a bigger problem because of the extrernal pressure. See in other parts of the world if you feel like shit you just go chill under a tree for a while or do something else less stressful that's still useful. Try to do that too often here and you get sacked.

Is there really such a big difference in use of anti-depressants between western Europe (like it or not the UK is part of it) and the US? I'd like to think people using it are better off especially if not getting proper treatment leads to things like self-injury and suicide.

eikonoklastes said:

Lolly girl, im feelin what youre saying soooo clearly. and, ive wanted to talk about this for quite a while now, but as joey said ( btw) people here will use this as a "here she goes again" thing.... but, you know what ? i dont care anymore its time to be honest with myself enough to say it out in the open and not be ashamed

i have fought depression since i can remember. i tried to kill myself when i was about 13 i think, looking back, it wasnt that it was that i wanted to 'die' so much as it just felt good. i was cutting up my wrists as best i could, and although it sounds crazy, it actually FELT better... at least i could look at my wrists and say - now THAT hurts.... instead of feeling this empty horrible pain inside that i couldnt describe to anyone...

thus began a series of doctors, all with separate opinions, each with different answers and still a young girl, i didnt know what to believe. my mother was scared to death, and i was still hurting... there was no answer.

then, as i got older, and paid more attention, i was able to see that there were other things that i was feeling as well... and put them together to find the answer. i got a FANTASTIC doctor, he worked really hard with me, and i was EXTREMELY honest with myself and with him. turns out, i am bi-polar. its just a fact, one i live with i take a host of meds to make things even out for myself, and i have to live with the daily struggle of 'am i making the right decision' ??? i have great days, i have high days, i have low days, i have days i wish i was dead, i have days i believe im flying.... thats all part of the deal i guess.

its good to say it, and i know a few folks will love to toss this in my face, but ya know, its all good to me... this is who i am, and what i deal with, so honestly, im all good with whatever anyone says about me until you walk in another man's shoes, you will never know the feelings they have

again, Lolly Joey

for what its worth, i think you both are great people !

In an excellent book on depression (I've mentioned it before--"The NoonDay Demon: An Anthology of Depression", by Andrew Solomon), there's an entire segment on the history of depression and mental illness.

Apparently, depression's not a new phenomenon--it's just been called different things over the centuries. i.e., in some cultures, it was considered being possessed by demons; in others, it was considered having too much of a particular type of blood.

I think a big part of the focus on the medication aspect is that science is now able to literally SEE the brain chemistry, to SEE the levels drop and rise and they are addressing it from that aspect rather than the moralistic, "pull yourself up by the bootstraps"/s-he's just attention seeking" kind of thinking that used to be prevalent.
[Edited 4/9/05 22:06pm]

nakedpianoplayer said:

I'm sorry but anyone that can toss what you just said in your face isn't worth worrying about

lollyp0procks said:

girl, you are one of a kind, and im glad i have gotten the chance to get to know you

thank you....

I quit a coke addiction cold turkey, and as horrible and miserable as I was for like 3 months, the only thing that got me through it was to keep reminding myself that it was only temporary and what I was feeling wasnt real, and eventually things would return to normal.

My withdrawl symptoms were self inflicted obviously, but I sypmpathize with anyone who has to suffer through depression and discontent daily. That shit is very real and crippling.

Tom said:

a for you...

and im glad you made the choice you did