To think that anti depressants and time off work are suggested too freely to life's problems

[reallytired]

Depression and anxiety are real illnesses and when there is medical depression or anxiety then medication can save lives. I feel medication should be reserved for those with moderate or servere depression.

I have just left my job with nothing to do go to. It was hell on earth where I worked. I have made a scary step, but I feel it was the right decision. I feel a massive wieght has been lifted off my shoulders.

There were people who went off sick or took medication because they could not hack where I worked either. Where I worked there was a culture of taking a few days off just because the working enviroment was stressful. My boss (who is not a doctor) suggested medication when I told him I wanted to leave. I think he meant well, but I did not have a medical problem.

I feel that GPs should be suggesting self help books and self help websites for mild depression or anxiety or possibly limited councelling. Being unhappy is not a medical problem and anti depressants do not help true unhappiness. I also think that being happy is not always the default state for a healthy human being.

i think that gps sometimes do assume depression rather than an actual illness to be causing symptoms - i am not sure how common it is for that to be the case though.
My dh spent a miserable year feeling awful lost his job etc. He was told by his gp it was depression and given medication but finally when he turned yellow they realised his symptoms were caused by an actual illness (he had an infection which was affecting his liver etc by that point).They never looked for an actual cause for his lack of energy etc just went straight to depression. Once he was better (within weeks of having liver scan etc - no treatment the infection seemed to resolve itself while the gp and hospital were still faffing - although he has yellowish eyeballs to this day i dont think that will ever go) he is prone to depression now i think simply because he lost his job he had worked for and we had to move home as a result of this.

But should add the other way I have suffered horribly with anixety attacks for years, couldnt leave the house or in fact my bedroom at certain points (embarrasing to admit) and my gp has pretty much told me to sod off repeatedly so not sure how that works!

Some GPs think that if you have a history of mental illness then you and your children are somehow magically immune to all physical ailments.

Poweredbypepsi I hope you have changed your GP.

I hope your DH is feeling better.

YANBU

There was an interesting thead on Feminism a few weeks ago about new research into the effectiveness of anti depressants. The results were quite shocking, insofar as they were often as effective as a placebo. They also change the wiring of the brain in ways that doctors are unfamiliar with and so long term effects are in the lap of the gods.

My old GP tried to palm me off with them when I knew I was really physically ill. I lost three stone before he would finally take bloods. Because I had recently had a baby, been bereaved and moved house, he just told me I was depressed. I have a new GP now.

Can't believe the OP got so flamed on the last page. IMO She's not judging anyone's actual prescription - just the poor understanding from bosses etc as to the nature of depression.

Of course anti-depressants work - but a more resilient and effective 'cure' for depression might exist, especially for people with mild depression or anxiety. How is that controversial?

Not controversial in the real world BettyCash, just seems to be a very 'right on' defensiveness on here. Off message is not allowed.

I was pissed off because the OP was more about blaming other people for how they were handling a situation that she was able to walk out of. It showed a complete lack of understanding.

I suffer from depression and, unrelated, have been bullied at work for the last year in a job that I have been in for many years and have loved until now. I can't afford to just walk out, I have raised the issue with management but it's getting me nowhere and, with 3 months left till I go on maternity leave I am more stressed than I have ever been in my life and finding it a real struggle to walk through the doors every morning. Not everyone is in a position to just up sticks and the OP labelled people like me as work shy. That is why I am pissed off.

I have/had moderate to severe reacitve depression, my DH has clinical depression. We have both been treated with ADs at times, the difference is that my treatent with ADs was short term and helped me get out of a hole enough to help myself further via cbt etc. Without the ADs, I wouldn?t have been in the right mental state to get that help ? the doc giving me books and websites would have been pointless as I wouldn?t have been able to use them.

And for those who think people shouldn?t be offered ADs for bereavement, my reactive depression was due to bereavement. Bereavement in childhood and the way that was treated within the family unit has fucked up my mental health and my ability to feel and process emotions. It is only in the last 4 or so years that I have come to realise how much.

I have walked out of my job and taken a hell of risk. I do have mortgage, but DH is behind me, just as I supported him when he was made redunant. I just have to believe that I will find a job in the next few weeks/ months. I am planning to do casual work if necessary.

I am also investigating setting up my own social enterprise. Online CBT has taught me to think flexibly about myself. In the past I have been my own worse enemy with rigid thinking.

Cosmosis, there is nothing wrong with you being prescribed anti depressants to allow you to further yourself with CBT etc. I think that was a good use of medication. The problem is people being prescribed anti depressants with no follow up or anything else.

When I was medication I saw the doctor intially every week, then every fortnight and then every month and finally every three months. In the case of moderate/ severe depression I don't think its inappriopiate to discuss self help strageries on the first appointment. It makes sense to discuss self help strageries when the person has been on medication for six to eight weeks and is showing signs of improvement.

I worked hospital school where children who were in hospital pychatric patients sat A-lelves GSCEs or SATs inspite of being desperately ill. Some of the children got good results. Sometimes I think people underestimate what mentally ill people can do. This can have a knock affect on the ill person's confidence.

There is a huge difference between needing help and being helpless. I feel that treating someone as helpless is showing that person a level of disrepect.

I am not super rich. I have applied for jobs and

No one else's business but the person and their GP / Counsellor / nurse etc at to how they define their experiences and feelings. If they need, choose or want andtidepressants, great. Ditto CBT - which is not a cure all for everyone, at all - and ditto short period of leave, or counselling, or whatever.

Mental health is massively underresourced. Agree with that. But personally think it's not up to anyone bar the individual and their medical professional to judge whether they have clinical depression, unhappiness - reqctive or otherwise - or something else. And consequently what they feel will remedy that.

My last sentence

I am super rich. I have applied for jobs as I need to work. Many people suffer from negative assumptive thinking in believing that they are less employable than they really are.

And still you don't get it...

It's not a negative assumption at all - even if they believe 100% in their own abilities, there is massive discrimination against people who have suffered mental illness and are now seeking work. all the positive thinking in the world can't combat that level of stigma.

I think a lot of people are just not going to walk out of a job in this financial climate no matter how bad it is. Maybe they are the only earner in the family? Maybe they really need both wages and can?t do without even for a week?

I'm all for anti-depressants - they're a safe non addictive medicine. And if you have gone through a very stressful time where the body has been flooded with the stress hormone cortisol, a 3-6 month course of Antidepressants can be very helpful and balance you out. Too much cortisol for long periods of time has been proven to cause physical illness.

I've thankfully never been depressed, so am not qualified to comment on "proper" depression. I did however have an experience where I'd had some test to check for a life changing illness. I was very distressed waiting for the results (which took weeks) and not coping very well. My GP offered me AD's, which IMO was the wrong thing to do, I wasn't depressed, just not coping well with a specific circumstances. I needed to keep busy (and have the GP chase the results!!) On that occasion I do think AD's were offered too easily.

As far as time off is concerned, I do think it has it's place for managing a stressful working life. Someone suffering from depression will need other help too, but when work is getting you down (which can have a serious impact on your life without necessarily meaning you're depressed) a break can be worthwhile. A colleague of mine was feeling miserable and under pressure at work, to the point where he felt he had no option but to leave (3 dependants, so not as easy as OP's situation). He took a month off on advice of his GP and used the time to complete review and revitalise his life. He changed his diet, started exercising, completely changed his outlook on life and the importance of work within it, applied for and got altered working hours. Six months on he's still doing the same job, but is a changed man and actually enjoying work, as well as his home life. He was never depressed, but he was in a situation that was threatening his health. He's also a much better employee now.

The problem with your post OP is that you don't seem to realise that rest and medication can prevent RELATIVELY minor stress and depression from snowballing into more serious problems. Word relatively capitalised sine no depression is minor when experienced.

Mmmm. I think as you have probably seen from previous posts this is a sensitive and difficult issue HOWEVER. I too have experienced serious depression and lived with someone who has and I really believe that lying at home is one of the worst ways to deal with it. Not because its lazy but because it just doesnt help with repetitive thought cycles or the sleep and confidence issues that tend to be associated with depression. Excersize - even when its utterly impossible to want to do, diet, a good daily routine of reasonably gentle stress (so not running multi nationals), meditation, councelling and cbt all have far better success rates at helping people with depression then time off. If your job is shit then you need to look at your life and a week off can help with that but take it as holiday.

That said if you have true depression of the nervous breakdown proportions some on here have experienced work is nigh on impossible. However it does tend to take a long time to get there and intervention mentioned above may (but not definitely) help people avoid ever getting to that stage. Lying about all day however is in my experience a sure fire way to speeding the process up. This is purely my opinion though and I am by no means an expert so dont wish to make anyone feel bad about their choices!!

I think from the OP's description, it's the responsibility of the 'boss' to assess the workplace environment and work out why so many people need to take time off/go on meds just to be able to cope with the 'high pressure' environment described. If I worked in a dept where so many people were dropping like flies due to stress/depression/anxiety, you can guarantee the bigwigs would be having a close look at how the dept was being run by said boss.

On the issue of meds/time off -v- counselling/self help books, it's impossible to say which is more appropriate without having intimate knowledge of a person mental health issues, and also being aware of the resources that are available. Counselling waiting lists are incredibly long, and the lack of reasonable access to the kind of counselling that would help, compounds people who are struggling with whatever issues that may arise. I often have to arrange provide treatment for people in need because the waiting lists are up to 2 years in some areas.

It's impossible to diagnose someone just from the time you spend at work with them/being aware they are off sick for x-reason, particularly if you aren't medically qualified! So for that reason OP YABU.

so when my ds was 5 months old and one night it all came to head and i wanted to shake him senseless ... instead of taking myself into the doc the next day and breaking down i should have read a self help book??

FUCK OFF!

i am only weaning off ani depressants now and they def saved me. i have been to counselling and everything.

and time off work really helped with chronic tiredness linked to depression.

be thankful you have never suffered depression.

Scuzy have you read the thread. Or even the OP?

yes i did. and ok i apologise for swearing at the OP but some people's problems are beyond self help books. medication does help people and time off work for me was a god send.

leaving my job was not an option like it was for the OP so i'm ever so thankful to my gp for giving me time off.

and how does the OP know what is moderate depression? what one person can take in their stride can bring another person's world crashing down.

FROM THE OP

Depression and anxiety are real illnesses and when there is medical depression or anxiety then medication can save lives. I feel medication should be reserved for those with moderate or servere depression.

then she refers to working environment being so stressful people chose to take leave or medicate. She took her self out of the situation. I really don't think anyone was saying that shaking a 5 month old because you have PND (a medical illness) rather than medicating is a good idea. NO, no one disagree with you.

Fucksake re the 'workshy' comment.

Workplace psychology is a relatively new area of study but parallels to medical depression are not particularly relevant as the influencing factors are totally different. Dr John Clarke has done some extremely interesting work in this area if you're interested.

If it was as easy as buying a self help book, talking to someone and toddling off to get a new job then you would have a point but it isn't for a whole load of reasons including the fact that people who are experiencing stress in the workplace can often be so 'crushed' by it that they cannot see the way out. Their confidence is shattered, if they're working in a 'profession' (eg accountancy, law, finance) then they imagine that it will be the same wherever they go so 'better the devil you know'. The culture of where they work can make it impossible to ask for help/try to change things and so they keep suffering and struggling on and on and on.

People in that situation can be sleeping barely 3 or 4 hours a night, working 13 or 14 hour days and weekends too - they don't have the energy or resiliance to realise the situation they're in half the time. Medication so they start sleeping, eating etc and a few weeks off so they can begin to uncoil and realise their situation and start taking the steps to address it is often just what they need...