Why are people normalising antidepressants?!

[mumyes]

Just watched yet another reel on Instagram about "the thugs that make me happy"...coffees with friends, downtime, fresh air...and my antidepressants.

It feels like the entire world thinks it's normal to take them.

I am in no way judging those who do, it just feels bloody tragic that life is so shit for so many people that this is now becoming what seems like the norm.

Lessen stress on people, pay them more, treat workers better.

Oh no, let's treat people like shit & shovel pills into them so they don't care.

Surely this is not a good thing.

For me depression is like a wavy line. Peaks and troughs, sometimes I'm O.K, and sometimes I'm not.
My AD just straightens out the line so I feel fine all of the time.
I mostly take just one pill every other day to keep me on the straight, but sometimes I have to up my dose to a tablet a day. I can feel when I need it, and both my doctor and I are happy for me to manage it that way. My AD'S are only prescribed in 2 month doses, so my doctor knows how often I take them when repeat prescriptions are requested and it's monitored on review.
In the end, after many years of stopping and starting medication this is the thing that works for me. I'm not ashamed, what works for some is not right for others.

I really am shocked at the ignorance on this thread around antidepressants (which are not solely used for depression but for anxiety, OCD, PMS/PMDD, PTSD, PND and numerous other conditions).

This is why there is such stigma to people using medications. Medication saved my life - if you're reading this and struggling, don't be scared away from trying medication.

Lifeturnsonadime
that is interesting what you say about your son needing ad s to boost chemicals he does not make. I have adhd.. am
not depressed , yet they help
me very
much ( more energy, concentration )

The normalisation of it had allowed me to feel comfortable to seek treatment for something I've been struggling with for about 15 years alone. So nah, normalise depression, let us talk about it and get treatment when needed.

Because I've done years of CBT, and DBT, and PCT with very little impact. I have a nice, successful personal and professional life, a happy childhood - there is nothing that needs fixing, or anything that triggered unhelpful patterns of thinking or a reason for why I feel the way I do that I have been able to unpick with a therapist. I have done so much fucking work, and I know the only thing that helps me not stand on the platform every morning thinking about falling under the train is taking anti-depressants.

Sometimes people are just depressed, and there is no answer that will fix it. Just let them find whatever methods help them to cope and keep your ill informed opinions to yourself.

Nice. I have been under CMHT for years and also did DBT and various therapy for years. Lots of sections too and also been under the controversial SIM scheme because my life was that chaotic.

I was not on about people like you and me.

I have met countless people who moan and complain that the MH system wont help them.. when they don't' have MH issues to help with.. it is social, financial, physical etc. That is what I am on about.

Mental illnesses are far more complicated than just ‘make more money be more happy’. Chemical imbalances and other very real physical causes need to be treated and you are being judgmental and unreasonable. There’s a reason medicine works.

Lessen stress on people, pay them more, treat workers better.

Yes. Is that ever going to happen? When?

Sometimes it may be down to circumstances. Not everyone is able to change their circumstances. Doctors don’t have magic wands.

I take antidepressants and probably always will, I have chronic pain it’s 2am and I can’t sleep I’m tossing and turning can’t get comfy, too much of my body hurts (and yes I’ve had painkillers). The pain causes depression, stress and anxiety. I know I’m going to be shattered and grumpy tomorrow now.

Shocking how many people think all mental illnesses are situational. I get that most people are not doctors or therapists or psychologists, nor do most people have experience of mental illness themselves, but I thought most people nowadays knew about chemical imbalances? It’s like saying how can you have asthma if you don’t smoke? How can you be diabetic if you’re not fat? Are people really this simple?

Interesting that you are both a medical professional and clearly have access to research that shows ADs may be over prescribed, is it freely available, or behind a pay wall. Are you able to share it at all?

I remember being in the doctor for something and he couldn’t help and said he could offer me x but it would be a placebo and so he wouldn’t and I made a joke saying I’d take it because you never know and he didn’t know what to say (I didn’t take it btw;)) but the following day I was talking to my friend and found out she was taking antidepressants, but had been for a while and said tbh she wasn’t sure they weren’t a placebo but they had changed her life. This was as someone who had gone to counselling, tried everything out there and she said they were only a gentle one but that maybe it was the validation aspect and tbh we had all noticed the change in her. Who really knows if it’s a good thing, as with everything in 20 years they might say x was bad for you, but I don’t think those of us who don’t need/use/feel we need them, can say anything

I function better on my meds and they made me able to cope better

The poor doctors probably need ADs themselves!

I have taken antidepressants since the age of 12. I need them or my mental health severely declines. I'm more Biologically disposed to depression. I've tried coming off them and I become a stressed mess. It helps me.

We were not supposed to live this way. We are so far removed from what we are.
The only solution to keep us being fed to the people machine is antidepressants and enforced stupidity tv etc). It's shit.

Do you want to see people suffer? ADs are here for a reason ffs. What an ignorant and utterly stupid POV. Ad's are there to help people get through, simple as. Nothing to do with you, no affect on you. Don't like them, don't take them. Easy!

Anti-anxiety drugs made it possible for me to engage with other ways to deal with crushing panic attacks. Once the meds kicked in, I could get myself to therapy, I could go for a walk, or talk to friends, or put the wheels in motion to get out of the job that was breaking me.

Please be aware that the "chemical imbalance" theory has been debunked. It's not real.

The chemical imbalance theory was debunked years ago.

Read this excellent article on the website Mad in the UK that discusses the many issues surrounding the chemical imbalance myth.

The image I attached also shows a key point from the article linked below

Psychiatry, Fraud, and the Case for a Class-Actiom Lawsuit

Chemical imbalance hasn't been simply debunked, it is far more nuanced than that. It is still not known how antidepressants work other than raising serotonin levels, which were theories that were mostly developed after SSRI antidepressants were created once it became clear that they really helped depression. It would be silly to tell people to stop or not to start antidepressants when they do work - not for everyone but that has always been the case - and they can be genuinely life changing when they do.

There are different types of depression. Endogenous depression (I believe it is known now as Clinical depression) doesn't have a particular known cause - unlike Reactive depression (caused by bereavement, stress at work, divorce, etc., the everyday stresses everyone has at some time).

I've had Endogenous depression for the best part of 30 years now, and I'd rather take tablets every day for the rest of my life (I'm 63) than ever feel as terrible as I used to.

Have you ever read Brave New World? Anti depressants are nothing more than Soma. Where there is a fundamental image issue with chemical imbalance fine.

what they are doing is providing a sticking plaster that stopping people finding out and addressing the underlying problem, this, of course, is hard work, often leading the person to realise that they aren’t the little worker, who’s existence is tied to their place in a capitalist patriarchy and it’s actually perfectly within their reach to move out of this.

Ditch the antidepressants and find out and solve what’s making you depressed in the first place. Change that where possible or change your mind set round that (obviously in the minority of cases that might not be achievable in the short term). Be prepared for that to be difficult.

Clinical not image!!!

Lol wrong.