On the Royal College of Psychiatrists website re. anti-depressants

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they admit they "don't know for certain" how anti-depressants work. This scares me, and imo puts paid to the idea that they are just like replacing, for eg., missing insulin for a diabetic person.

I think they have so many scary side effects, I have googled one or two (bad move), but its really put me off going near them. Does it worry anyone else?

I am sorry if this link upsets you. I think people with clinical depression often have this problem. A barrage of events that have beyond someone's control can throw confidence.

youarenotsosmart.com/2009/11/11/learned-helplessness/

I believe that learned helpless is SOMETIMES a component in long term depression.

Antidepressants are not just prescribed for depression, I take mine for generalised anxiety disorder and OCD as well as depression, and the higher dose is recommended over a lower dose for those issues according to my doctor.

There was some research recently (reported by Ben Goldacre) showing that in most cases SSRIs are no more effective than placebos. This is because most people with mild-to-moderate depression get better on their own.

How long would you say is a fair length of time to get better on your own?

I can guarantee that my pills work for me and it's not just a coincidence that my life got suddenly better when I started using them. For a start, my life didn't get better, it stayed the same. I was just able to cope with it.

Reallytired - People in a depressed state can't use those other measures you are talking about, .they need the ADs to get them to a position where they can do.

Oh and I do think 'happy' is the default setting of the mind.How would the human race have the fight to carry on through tough conditions without a positive upbeat mindset?

There are lots of theories on feelings which hard to prove scientifically.

Emotions like anger, fear or sadness as unpleasent as they are do have an evolutionary purpose. Anger makes us fight, fear keeps us safe and sadness makes us aware of a loss or impedeng lost. There are times when slowing down and making careful decisions is not an evolutionary disadvantage.

Joy and love do make us more pro active, but if we had too many positive emotions then we would become manic and make daft decisions.

It is having a healthy balance of emotions that makes us healthy rather than necessarily happy. In a healthy individual unhappiness spurs us on to improve life. Prehaps being unhappy is similar to experiencing physical pain. Physical pain does serve a purpose of keeping us safe or forcing us to rest when injured.

This gentleman has written several interesting books on the matter.

www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/default.aspx

I would like all gps to run the blood work first rather than jump at the meds
I have hypothyroidism, one in fifty women have it, it's very common after pregnancy as well, but as one of the symptoms is depression/anxiety + tiredness it is imo too easy to rush to the meds without looking for a physical cause
My sister has been on ads for years - finally, now I am diagnosed, they are running blood tests - never did them before!

reallytired

What is a 'mild antipsychotic'?

Stealth your post was beautifully written and I know anyone who has suffered with the horrid reality that is depression will agree with every word. To be honest I don't think many of us who are on AD's really care how they work its the fact that they DO work that matters.
You could only begin to imagine the horrors of depression if you had been there - all this nonsense about happy default settings and learned helplessness merely undermine the immense struggle that many of us have been through and thankfully survived.

Who cares how AD's work - do we really know how most medications work? Can you honestly say you know exactly how paracetamol works and I can bet we have all given it to our hot and fractious LOs time and time again. Conversations like this based on weak assumptions are demeaning and belittling to any who have had the misfortune to have experienced the HELL on earth that is depression. Rant Over!!!.

stealthpenguin - me too!

I'd go further. I'd say that in fact it is counselling that is not the miracle cure-all that it seems to be trumpeted as on here and elsewhere.

I was desperately ill with PND, I had a total breakdown and had to move in with my parents while my MIL moved into my home helped DP with DS. I truly wanted to die (and it wasn't much fun for those going through it with me either).

I am pretty much totally recovered now, and put my recovery down to:

65% the meds
30% going back to work
5% CBT counselling and friends/ family 'counselling'.

I am glad I attended CBT, my counsellor was lovely and it was a great 'breathing space' for me, but it didn't 'make me better'. The drugs did that.

I very strongly believe that depression is an illness and that medicine can give the cure. I don't care how. I just know that my meds have given me back my life, and given my son a loving mother. Here in Scotland we don't even pay prescription charges, and my GPs were all fantastic. I was sorted out in no time, despite being unable to function myself. Looking back, I feel utterly privileged and lucky to live in a country with free healthcare and accessible drugs. I cannot bear to imagine how women cope in places where those things are an impossible luxury.

Dd has been prescribed Prozac this morning after 8 years of struggling with anxiety, depression and pain. During these 8 years, she has had countless counselling sessions, any number of CBT sessions, been taught endless breathing exercises, relaxing your mind exercises etc etc. The problem is that when the anxiety sets in she can't concentrate on her relaxation, anxiety triggers pain, pain leads to sleeplessness, sleeplessness makes her more anxious and less able to concentrate.

Would you say 8 years is too short a time to decide that cultivating an upbeat mindset isn't enough? At 15, that's half her life.

Oh your poor DD, cory (and poor you). Hope the prozac gives her the help she needs.

I'm pretty cynical myself about breathing and thinking positively. In my world, you take the meds first then enjoy the breathing.

Well, noone can say we haven't tried. But dd has an incurable pain disorder, is allergic to the only pain relief that might help, our last hope is that the Prozac will help her not care so much about being in pain.

I have suffered from depression and low self esteem since I was about 13. I never believed in taking ADs.
Three years ago, when my Raynaud's syndrome got much much worse, I was advised by my consultant to try fluoxetine. Not only did it improve my Raynaud's ( and they don't know how ADs work on that either) but for the first time in my life I understood what it was like to have 'normal' moods- instead of hating myself, wishing I was dead, thinking I was a failure etc etc.
Since I started taking them, I have got promoted at work and I am convinced that is almost entirely due to a healthier mind set.
I have a long term health condition as well, so no longer worry about being on tablets for life. The number of times I previously contemplated suicide- my life would ahve been shorter without them anyway.