To be concerned people get labelled as depressed the minutr they express negative emotions

[middleclassdystopia]

I just think sometimes people are sad because they are having a shitty patch in their lives.

Or actually our society gets people down.

The minute people express negative emotions it is labelled as depression and presumed that the best solution is anti depressants.


Typical threads go 'I have low self esteem, can't stop crying etc' then it only takes a few posters before someone states the op should go to GP and get medicated.

I worry that pharma companies make a lot of money from medicating people. Finding the root causes won't will it?

[cory]

Some people are too ill to be able to access talking therapies without medication. Dd spent two years having CBT therapy but it was only after the AD's that she was able to take it in; before it just washed over her.

[Sidge]

I think many GPs hand out prescriptions because they are inexperienced in dealing with mental health issues and because they know that locally there isn't much in the way of counselling services.

There is also a culture of expectation in which many people see their GP specifically to ask for medication. They know so many people on ADs that they have become normalised - many people can't face working their way through normal, stressful, difficult life events without medication.

[LEMisdisappointed]

I am on ADs, i am not sure if i have a "mental disorder" in terms of anxiety - I think i may have, but i had a breakdown not long after the birth of my DD. In a short space of time i Had a baby, lost my father after a horrible time with alzheimers and lung cancer, had to deal with my mother becoming increasingly difficult, wrote up a PhD, become really ill with gallstones and was in and out of hospital, had a nightmare with debts that nearly caused the breakdown of my relationship - So a shit phase in my life. I was absolutely helped but anti-depressants. I got better, came off them but didn't really take into account my general anxiety - this has recently cost me a job and I am now on ADs again.

Most medical professionals will suggest talking therapies but sometimes people need the meds to take the edge off of feelings and then there is the ever growing problem of funding and ridiculous waiting lists - its not easy when you just want to throw yourself under a train to hear that you are "on the waiting list" for counselling and this will be at least three months.

Having babies is hard, its relentless and of course people struggle, not everyone who struggles has PND or would benefit from ADs but if i read about a mother who is struggling i would absolutely recommend that she talks to her GP/HV in order to get some support - even if that support is the number of the local NCT group to get some peer support. I wouldn't DREAM of diagnosing someone - its hard enough for health professionals, but my experience does help me to recognise when someone is floundering.

[poorbuthappy]

Problem is whilst CBT etc will get to the root of the problem and hopefully start to address it, funding cuts means there is no one there for people to talk to anymore.
Unfortunately it is a far quicker fix for GPs to medicate rather than address issues.

I needed help, that wasn't pills (personal decision, very addictive personality) The waiting list from our GP was apparently 6 weeks. 12 weeks on I am still waiting.
My DN needed help, needed to address issues and talk. She was given pills immediately without any probing, talking etc. She was just given them.

Its wrong and completely indicitive of our whole society.
Quick fix.

[pregnantpause]

IMO yanbu. When my son was born stillborn, I had no mat leave from work, only 5 days bereavement. I went to the doctors, specifically for a note, as, had I gone to work I would have ended up clinically depressed and suicidal, I needed time, to recover and fix myself. He refused to sign me off if I didn't take a prescription of citalopram (sp). If he'd offered me counselling, given me details of the various charities who offer support in these circumstances, directed me to a local bereavement group held in a church (all of which I sorted myself) I would have respected his diagnosis and taken the ads. He didn't. He just wanted me to take the pills.
However I can see that this is anecdotal, and may not reflect the majority, and I certainly don't know if ads are given to increase profits for pharma, or because GPS are lazy/time constrained/don't have other sevices to offer.

[AnyoneforTurps]

The speciality seems to be personality disorders.

...especially narcissistic ones.

[WhoNickedMyName]

YANBU in that many MNers love to diagnose and label everyone.

This.^ The speciality seems to be personality disorders.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

YANBU in that many MNers love to diagnose and label everyone. I don't think most people are good at spotting correct diagnoses at all, they just make semi-educated guesses.

[AnyoneforTurps]

People who may be depressed should visit their GP, though not necessarily take anti-depressants.

However I think the OP is NBU that a lot of MNetters are quick to label any negative thought as possible depression - especially anyone who is negative about motherhood. Not everyone who is struggling with motherhood is depressed and I agree that rushing to medicalise negative comments is unhelpful - parents need to be able to express the bad, as well as the good, without being told that they are ill.

[Caster8]

op. I am not exactly sure which aspect you are concerned about?
That people get told to go see the GP? - in which case are you saying that the GP doesnt do his job properly and prescibes pills instead of something else?

[filee777]

I think there is a difference between feeling a bit sad and slowly realising that the heavy sadness in your chest that underlines everything you do is not normal, not a necessary part of life like you always thought

That not everyone experiences this bubbling scary feeling whenever anything changes... That its called anxiety and that's not a part of normal life either.

I went to the doctors for some anti depressants because I am sick of holding it all together alone, because I was screwing up at work and not being the person I wanted to be, because I looked round one day and my house was a shit hole, my children needed support and my work was suffering.

I only hope to god they work because I am at the end of my tether and I need a break from it.

[Callaird]

I was offered anti-depressants when my boyfriend died suddenly.

I was am really down and sad and low but I said that I didn't want to start taking them. The doctor insisted on giving me a prescription and he took it took the in-surgery pharmacy to get it filled because he didn't think I would fill it myself.

He didn't suggest counselling or anything else apart from signing me off work for 4 weeks.

Counselling is great, I still feel very sad and low and lonely but I can see light at the end of the tunnel most of the time

And I have 3 boxes of anti-depressants sitting in my bathroom cupboard that entice me when I am having a bad time. Usually around 2am when I feel at my loneliest.

I do think that AD are pressed on people when there are alternatives but I know that they help a lot of people.

[PenelopePipPop]

middleclassdystopia if you want an informed discussion about the factors which contribute to both normal sadness and acute mental distress/illness you might want to try posting again on the mental health boards. There are loads of very knowledgeable posters on there with interesting perspectives on how/when/why sadness should properly be identified as a medical issue and what interventions help most. Definitely not people who would advocate taking ADs as a first response, although many have taken medication and found it helpful at times.

[DrDance]

I'm generalising here but it often seems like the people who 'self-label' themselves as depressed are often actually not. Or they are depressed/down/going through a hard time but not clinically depressed

And subsequently the people who do not see it within themselves are often the ones who would benefit from medication/therapies

When I was first diagnosied with depression, I wouldn't listen to my doctor, didn't believe him at all. Yes I wanted to hide in my bed all day, lock myself and not see anyone and thought everyone would be better off if I wasn't there (alive) but I didn't think I was depressed, just useless

I think it's ok if posters suggest someone's see's a GP. No harm can come of it and some good might if the poster is in denial.

What I am more concerned with in real life is the amount of people who are being diagnosed with BPD. I vounteer in with a company who run free courses on confidence and self esteem and over the last 3 years there are lots of women joining who have been told by there doctor they have BPD but no-one seems to really know what it is?

[Tee2072]

Someone who can't stop crying etc should see their GP. That doesn't automatically mean meds. It can mean CBT, talk therapy, just a quick ear.

In my case it means life long medication. But I am not everyone.

And there is no harm in going to your GP, so what's the harm in suggesting it?

[HollyBerryBush]

On this forum its usually preceded with I have really bad undiagnosed depression/anxiety/BPD/PND" (choose which one takes your fancy). No, you've read about it, some of the symptoms may be similar but everyone has bad days and down periods in their life, unless they are a charmed being of course.

Don't get on with our entire family - they all must be narcs/toxic and so forth - never mind its YOU that doesnt get on with THEM.

[middleclassdystopia]

I have taken ads myself and suffered childhood abuse so musing with personal experience.

I am certainly not a hypocrite.

[middleclassdystopia]

Quietlysuggests - where have I suggested people should just get on with it?

I think societal change, talk therapy, more support and more understanding about the impact of childhood abuse would help.

[EatingAllTheCrumpets]

Agree with Penelope here on the cost aspect. A decade ago talk therapy was for Americans and slebs, us ordinary folk were given scripts for ADs like they were smarties, same with sleeping pills. Reps would constantly ring up surgeries pushing merch and freebies in return for attendance at sales events informative lectures. Now you hardly hear from them with regards to ADs and Sleepers.
Now it's just not viable cost wise and more people are switched in about their options with regards to their medical care.

[frogspoon]

People are correct to suggest that someone who is feeling low should go to the GP, because the GP is an experienced professional who should be able to make a medical judgement on whether the person does have depression, and what might be the most suitable treatment. It is far more sensible to suggest visiting a GP, than giving unhelpful suggestions such as homeopathic remedies.

GPs are sometimes too quick to give out antidepressants, however this is mainly because the waiting list for other therapies is often several months, and the patient could get much worse in this time. Also the cheaper generic antidepressants e.g. fluoxetine are probably cheaper to prescribe than therapy.

I've been on antidepressants. They were definitely not a quick fix for me! It took 3 months and increasing the dose to the maximum level before I felt any effect. Also they tended to "poop out" after a year, and were no longer effective. They helped me to function, at a time when I was unable to do almost anything. But they were not quick, nor did they "fix" me!

[PenelopePipPop]

YABU if you think pharmaceutical companies want people to be labelled as depressed in order to profit from them. How do you think that works? The last SSRIs came off their licence periods years ago and now cost buttons to make - there is no mileage to be had from getting people on to these drugs or maintaining them on them.

Obviously if a pharmaceutical company finds a novel new application for an existing drug and funds the RCTs to demonstrate its effectiveness that is a different situation. But anti-depressants to treat depression really don't make much money for anyone.

It might be the case that when access to talking therapies is limited and a GP is stumped as to how to help they offer medication too readily when other things could be tried. But this probably doesn't happen because they have shares in Pfizer.

[middleclassdystopia]

I am in no way suggesting depression isn't real or debilitating but it is also true that pharma companies make a lot of money from medicating mental illness.

Yes I believe talk therapy is much more likely to help root causes such as childhood abuse but drug companies wouldn't want that would they?

[Ifcatshadthumbs]

I disagree I think posters here are very good at spotting what is "situational" and what is potential depression. Posts I see people give lots of practical advice about improving a bad situation.
I've had depression my biggest regret is waiting over a year before seeing my GP. I could have started feeling better so much sooner.