PricelessHo said:

Yeah, the day they lose their job because they can't find the energy in their bodies to get out of bed and function for weeks at a time. . .then I wanna hear them talk about "learning to deal with your problems".

Is that the solution? I don't think so, and while you try to do that in the face of crashing brain chemistry in a world where the sun has stopped shining, life will pass you by. The world doesn't stop turning for us to try a bunch of expensive, unproven supplements either.

This world is hard when you're well. If all you really feel like doing is laying down and waiting to die, and you CAN'T for some reason. . .it's not hard, it's impossible. That ain't sadness, that's illness, and I think you should feel great about swallowing a pill if it brings things back to a place where coping is possible.

I my meds. Better living through chemistry? Hey, it's better living.

I started taking antidepressants when my mother had died back in 1988(I was 17 at the time). My mother was suffing from not only cancer but diabetes for a long time. Then I had to deal with a verbally abusive father on top of it was to much for a little girl to handle. Imagine when you were a child and you have to deal with a mother who is physically weak due to the constant trips to the hospital getting her chemotherapy AND then having to deal with a father who not only drinks too much but very verbally abusive. Even today my father is still the same but I still love him regardless. Right now my father is suffing from cancer and he is in a nursing home for the rest of his life because his health is not looking so good. Even though I know longer take antidepressants but I still seek counselling because I can't stop thinking about my past.

PsychedelicButterfly said:

Thanks so much everyone for your input and honesty and personal sharing. I wish I could engage more in the discussion but I've been too busy. Sorry about the flaming, but I think both sides of the argument have valid points and I'm glad to see a valuable discourse that includes really different points of view. And thanks Carrie for not deleting the thread before I had a chance to read it.

Rhondab said:

This really clarifies things for me. Thank you!

I hate them and how they're issued constantly without proper assessments. Those things are harmful in the long term. I was on them for a couple years and didn't feel like myself anymore, I felt better for some time, and then worse, then I reduced my dose and eventually went cold turkey and I've been fine since.