Is it okay to take Anti-Depressent's?

Question

Basically, I bought some before, But im having a bit of a morale issue with them before i take any.

The way i look at it.

-If you take them:
You delude yourself from reality with a false form of mental comfort from just how bad the world around you is.

-If you don't take them
You just continue to feel like crap all the time.

So what do you think, Is it smart to take them?

sa230e · Accepted Answer

Whatever your preconceptions are about antidepressants, you'll probably be disappointed when you actually take them. Most people who haven't tried them either think of them as magical "happy pills" or they them as these things that hijack your brain and turn you into somebody else.

In reality, most antidepressants are very, very boring drugs. You take them and you think "this is it?". You expect to see or feel or sense something but you don't. You're still you. Their effects, good and bad, are usually pretty mild and subtle and you don't notice them immediately.

I would argue they're also pretty ineffective. I've been on many of them and they were garbage as far as I'm concerned. They seem to function mostly as an emotional anaesthetic and numbed me out. I just felt flat and spaced out on them.
Nonetheless, I believe all psychoactive drugs can teach you something if you listen, even if it was a bad experience. SSRIs taught me that the happiness is not the same thing as the cessation of depression, and the cessation of feeling is not relief. And I think that says something about the way the psychiatric community views depression. Shitty models give way to shitty drugs.

In the end, the decision rests with you. I could go on shitting on antidepressants for paragraphs but your experience may be different. Some people say antidepressants saved their lives. Who am I to tell them they're wrong?

You have to summon all the wisdom available to you and make an educated choice. If depression was a clear-cut problem with a sure-fire solution, you wouldn't have all this uncertainty and wouldn't be debating taking pills. It's most likely whatever steps you try first won't work (or might even make things worse) but you learn from that and you can make better choices the next time.

It's an iterative approach and gradually you come to know yourself and understand your condition through those mistakes. There are some things in this life no one can tell teach you. You have to find out for yourself. Wisdom and self-knowledge comes with experience.

The important thing is you try things, you keep searching. The answers are out there.

Red_Arrow · Accepted Answer

Taking them can protect you from a false sense that the world is worse than it really is. Many cases of depression are chemical imbalances in the person and anti-depressants help. And even when it is not due to chemical imbalances, anti-depressants will help the person fight whatever is causing the depression.

But they should only be taken under a doctor's orders. They can be dangerous in some people and also in combination with other medicines. Doctors (and pharmacists) should be aware of other drugs being taken. this is one reason to get all your prescriptions from one pharmacy that has a computer system that looks for problems with each new prescription.

GirlsLie · Accepted Answer

I used to be really against them because I felt the same way, I didn't want to feel fake and I thought I could get over depression without them. But if you think about it, depression is already deluding your mind, it's not beneficial to think the way that depression makes you think and feel.

The medications that I tried made me feel like a zombie and I never took them for more than a couple of days at a time.

Then I started taking Trazodone for insomnia and it's also a mild anti depressant and it made me feel so much better, I didn't feel like a zombie, I had literally no side effects at all, like the other meds, I even cut the pills in half and took them. There was also no side effects when I decided to stop taking them.

I took it for like a year until I felt like I just didn't need it anymore and now I don't take it, except for like once a month when my insomnia decides to take over lol.

They made me feel better, so it made me want to make myself feel better and to get off them, if that makes sense. I felt good so I worked out and ate healthy and started taking care of myself better and I started thinking better emotionally. So once it gave me the motivation to do that, I didn't need them anymore.

There's no shame in taking them in my opinion, it's such a struggle without them sometimes and if you try a mild one, it could really make a difference and it could really make you feel better. It doesn't have to be a life long thing and there's no shame in taking them in my opinion.

EmpatheticLady · Accepted Answer

I think taking anti-depressants can be worth it if you get the right medicine or combination of medicines. If you do, I have seen it work well for people without them slipping into a false sense of reality. However, I also have seen people not get the right medication and have it not work - whether it'd be making the person feel no emotion at all or increase their negative emotions even more.

The important point here is to keep up communication with your doctor should you decide to go on anti-depressants. Let him or her know what is and isn't working.

Decemberxbluex · Answer

"-If you take them:
You delude yourself from reality with a false form of mental comfort from just how bad the world around you is."

This is absolutely a misinformed thought process. Anti-depressants do not change your perception of reality as if you're oblivious to the ills of life. If anything it makes you see reality for what it truly is.

A depressed brain lacks neurological activity in areas which are abnormal to a healthy functioning set of neuro-receptors. The individual then reacts to events in emotionally abnormal ways. The most tragic of all is that the depressed individual tends to react in emotionally detrimental ways without any negative trigger at all..

Thus, in actuality, a depressed brain WITHOUT anti-depressants is the culprit in seeing reality for what it isn't.

You may try anti-depressants and feel like it's having no effect - this is perfectly normal. There is no way of knowing for certain which neuroreceptor in your brain is functioning improperly, thus your psychiatrist must go through different medications and combinations simply by trial and error. Have patience, have hope.

Good luck.

LightsOff · Answer

Depression is a disease. When people are depressed, they tend to see bad things where there are none. They tend to sometimes feel bad for no reason. Yes, many people are depressed because of some sort of traumatic event, or because of a low point in their life, but a lot of people are pretty much depressed for "no reason". It just happens. I think taking anti-depressants is no different from taking any other kind of medicine to heal any other kind of disease. For some people they work (anti-depressants), for others they don't. It's not about deluding yourself with fake mental comfort. It's literally about getting rid of a mental disease. Key word: DISEASE. Being cynical is a completely different thing. Not all people who are cynical are depressed, and not all people who aren't cynical are completely ignorant to the world and its horribleness.

Ozanne · Answer

Not really. It depends first of all on why you're needing them, then it depends on what you take and what the dosage is. If your doctor recommends something, read up on it first and check the side effects. Also, ask what kind of depression they are treating. For me, when I took an anti-depressant it was just to get me out of bed because I was starting to call in sick just to stay in bed all the time. I needed a pick-me-up, and what I was prescribed did that. I also didn't want to take it long term. My doctor had reservations about my decision to go off, but I thought six months was plenty long enough to take the training wheels off. We're all different, so it just depends on you and what you find is agreeable with your system.

InconspicuousBox · Answer

I wouldn't, for the exact reason you said. I would rather be genuinely happy or angry or sad or just numb, rather than have a false sense of happiness that in actuality is just a delusion from how you actually feel. Maybe they'd make me feel better, but I'd probably end up happily avoiding the multitude of issues of why I'm feeling all those things in the first place.

But then again, that's just me. You might be an entirely different story.

HoneyButterCup525 · Answer

There is no medication in the world That can cure depression... its all in the head... your better off not taking any at all and considering your age you shouldn't be too depressed were you turn to medication. you should ne easly happy with School, firends and food!!

Noboddy · Answer

I wrote a MyTake about this awhile back. It can go both ways.

HookingSwan · Answer

It depends if u really need them or not. Have u seen a doctor about this?

Anonymous · Answer

There good in moderation. But if u take too high of a dosage that isn't suitable for u... it messes ur brain up. My aunt was on them and she didn't need them. She is 43 years old and has the mental capacity of a 10 year old.

Xelebrum · Answer

As long as you take them as prescribed and don't plan on being on them forever, it's perfectly fine.

Anonymous · Answer

my friend got so screwed up after he started taking anti depressants. dont take them they have to many side affects. look them up

IAmCluelessToo · Answer

Clearly it won't root out the long term issue but it's a quick fix that'll help for right now and the present

DoraLikesSugar · Answer

Implying they actually work. Anti-depressants are trash. They just make you emotionally numb to everything and really lethargic.

TheButterfly · Answer

If your depression is like mine, you feel depressed no matter what, so to me, its not false comfort.

Bards · Answer

doesn't work for everyone. Bee careful.

GeorgeLDavis · Answer

Maybe just on a doctor recipe.

Anonymous · Answer

its not worth it.

Is it okay to take Anti-Depressent's?

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