An American Addiction Centers Resource

New to the DrugAbuse.com Forums?Join or

Depression medicines

Discussion in 'Prescription Drugs' started by sweetkymom, Oct 3, 2014.

  1. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    I don't know about that Rob. I am not saying that in the immediate they might not need some sort of medication, but I am totally against that in the long run, I believe in another therapies.
    nessarconde likes this.
  2. Rob93FL

    Rob93FL Senior Contributor

    Oh no, I'm not saying that every depressed person should resort to downing depression medication. All I'm saying is that it takes a lot more than doing fun activities to cure clinical depression.
  3. RoseK

    RoseK Active Contributor

    It's one of those "slippery slopes" unfortunately. I suffer from depression, anxiety, motor tics and PTSD as well as addiction to alcohol. It's not only a matter of finding the best medication for your unique brain, but also a working relationship and clear communication with your doctor and people who are willing to be there for you. If something isn't working, be proactive and tell your doctor what you are experiencing. I've had difficulty with this in the past, because by telling another about what you are going through...you are admitting to yourself that everything isn't perfect.
  4. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    Yeah, this is true because depression works pretty much like an addiction, it's something that takes a while to go away. So the therapy it pretty much the same and occupation can make a difference, doing something we love.
  5. nessarconde

    nessarconde Member

    I am sorry you feel that way about my words. It wasn't my intention to offend anyone. I'm sorry if I did.
    I must say I don't agree with you at all. My mom was diagnosed with major depression about 20 years ago, and still struggles sometimes. I was just a little girl, but I remember clearly the way she was for many years. She always had the saddest look in her face, spent whole days in bed and was takind meds all the time. I din't understand at the time. As I grew older, I began to feel really useless for not being able to help. After nearly 10 years, she wasn't improving at all.
    When I was 15, we moved to a small village in the countryside. She left her stressful job. We began eating more vegetables, in fact we grew them. We walked a lot; at first, 5 minutes a day, then we increased the time. I now have 24 years.
    What you call "fun activities" helped my mom more than meds ever did. Now she is capable of living a "normal" life. She deals better with all the bad things, and is even capable of helping and advising others.
    There are many more factors influencing depression than just hormones. Even in that perspective, exercise was proven helpful in depression treatment, and its helps release endorphins. Diet is also very important, as a nutrient imbalance is well known to affect humor and well-being sensations and has been linked to depression development and possible treatment. Meditation is an effective therapy, already used by many patients and recommended by well-informed and open-minded doctors. I could give you many more examples, all science-based, apart from my personal experience.

    Most of all, what I think is very important to people, especially if they have depression, is hope. Tell someone with clinical depression that "it's a hormonal issue" and that's it, that you can't do anything about it other than taking meds and that whatever you do/try won't help at all; I think that's what they should be offended about.
    When you are really depressed, most of the time you don't actually feel sad. The problem is not feeling anything at all. Feeling like a spectator in your own life. Feeling despair so deep, think that you can't change and climb out of the pit you feel trapped in. Feeling like you have control over your life and its outcome, even if it's just a little, is a major step. And it is what they need the most. Never forget, the mind is a powerful thing.
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2015
    RoseK likes this.
  6. RoseK

    RoseK Active Contributor

    I think many mental illnesses can be seen as "elephants in the room" because they are so-called invisible diseases. It's a rare thing to find people who do believe when a person says they have a mental illness. For me, it took a lot of courage to admit that I do have a couple "invisible illnesses" and that they aren't just dreamed up for attention.
    Teresa and nessarconde like this.
  7. Teresa

    Teresa Senior Contributor

    I think there is no one right treatment for everyone, some people may need medication, others may not and some may need a combo of medication and alternative therapies. Personally, the ant depressants I had been prescribed just made me feel worse and honestly I don't think I was what could be considered "clinically Depressed" In my opinion it was more a brief loss of hope do to being in a situation I could see no solution to or way out of.
  8. hellonamesdana

    hellonamesdana Senior Contributor

    I think it might depend both on the person and what type of drugs your doctor gives you to help your depression. At the moment I'm on Sertraline AKA Zoloft and Buspar, and at the moment they're not even working.
  9. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    So if they are not even working, why are you taking them in the first place? They are not benefiting you, but believe me, they are harming your body and mind.
  10. catherine_sky

    catherine_sky Member

    Medications for depression definitely have their place and can work really well. When considering prescribing any medication whether for depression or for attentional issues, the first thing that has to be considered is - would this person benefit from this medication? From there you have to consider whether the side-effects or interactions outweigh the benefits of what the medication would offer the person in the first place. Obviously 'risk' factors are always considered throughout this process.
    Medication for depression are started at low dose and side effects monitored. The medication can then be moved upwards to a therapeutic dose. Most side effects are initially experienced and then they disappear. If they continued then this is balanced with pros and cons of the medication taking overall. The medication, if needing changing or coming off, is done slowly. Not all medications need a particularly slow weaning period but quite a few people do because they can feel they have possibly dropping in mood or experience adjustment effects (possibly physically). I don't believe this is an addiction effect, I think it can either be a psychological 'worry' or dependence on the belief that if they are not talking the medications then they will feel bad then negative thoughts can creep back in. If the person feels 'not good' when being brought down from the medication, then this can be done more slowly or at a different time. Therapeutic input is very useful at this point.
    Its seems in times gone by, a lot of people were prescribed anti-depressants and told they needed them and that it would sort their life out. These medications don't sort your life out, they can give you a 'support' from being totally in the depths, to being able to feel you can move a bit more/think a bit more/feel a bit stronger. Its then that the person needs to be supported to move forward and this combination is what can help a person recover. I don't think the modern anti-depressants (as described above in another post about the SSRI's) are addictive. I am a believer that these medications do have a part to play in help individuals feel better and should be continued to be used and reviewed (not left for years) and the person be helped to stop taking them when the time is right.
  11. catherine_sky

    catherine_sky Member

    How old are you? Was this the first line of treatment options they gave you as (I am presuming here by your picture) that you are fairly young.
  12. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    What do you mean by that catherine, you are saying that the treatment is inadequate? I don't know those drugs, but I do feel doctors tend to drug their patients a lot, sometimes with no need.
  13. Mackmax

    Mackmax Active Contributor

    There are a large amount of depression medications, each with different side effects. Many people do get addicted to the emotional numbness that depression medications provides, and others despise the feeling and actually stop taking the medication altogether. Wether or not you'll get addicted is up to the chemicals in your brain, the chemicals in the medication, and your level of self-control and willpower.
  14. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    I just wish that the treatments were not drug based mostly and that doctors could be more therapy creative. Filling a person with drugs is hardly the solution to treat her.
  15. juno

    juno Community Champion

    All medication should be taken under the strict care of a doctor. Depression medication is a prescription drug like any other that people get addicted to. Many college students use it to give them a slight elevation in mood, so they do use it like a drug.
  16. Janie

    Janie Active Contributor

    I'm not positive that you can become either addicted or dependent on antidepressants.

    With the case of sometime taking them for years, I think a couple other things can be at play. I think there might be the fear that if they go off them, their depression would return, and if you've been through enough depressions, you'd certainly want to prevent that. So it's not particularly that they are "dependent", just unsure if the symptoms would return, and they don't want to take any chances.

    Another thing is that a doctor may just continually prescribe them, and they are just following doctors orders. A lot of people do not think there is anything wrong with continued use of medications, and they don't see weaning off of them a goal, especially if their doctor isn't concerned.

    Also I think the medical community believes that antidepressants should be taken at least 6 months for one case of depression, and at least 1 year for cases of reoccurring depressions. So taking them for over a year is really not long at all in the case of these particular drugs.

    One final thought - if their depression included suicidal thoughts or actions, then taking antidepressants indefinitely might be the right choice for them.
  17. missbishi

    missbishi Community Champion

    As far as I am concerned, my depression is due to an imbalance of chemicals in my brain. Nothing natural can remedy that. If I had £1 for every person who told me to treat myself, eat chocolate, take a bath, whatever, I would be very rich indeed. Stories that anti-depressants are "addictive", in the same way that nicotine or heroin is are just scaremongering. You just stop taking them gradually so your body has a chance to adjust.
    Rob93FL likes this.
  18. Peninha

    Peninha Community Champion

    That is a fact miss and I fully agree. The brain doesn't produce the right chemicals or in enough quantity, but how can we balance that, is there an effective formula?
  19. pwarbi

    pwarbi Community Champion

    I myself was diagnosed with depression last year and I too was aprehensive about taking the pills that i had been prescribed, in the end i chose the option not to take them and to try and deal with my depression in other ways, obviously i'm not saying that i know better than a doctor, but in this situation i just decided that it wasnt worth the risk.
    I had done a lot of research on the various ways of coming out of depression and not resorting to medication, i spoke to the doctor and although he thought the medication was the best option for me, we discussed this and i told him my reservations and he was willing to let me try other ways of dealing with it.
    Thankfully this worked for me, obviously each to their own and everybody has to look at their own situation.
  20. tasha

    tasha Community Listener Community Listener

    Depression is really a difficult thing to get through and for many they do not understand that their moods effect the family. Medication is sometimes necessary for this but you cannot continue to stay on it for too long as life then becomes a little numb and you are still not present in anybody's life.