To be shocked the amount of people on antidepressants?

[Hotfuninthesummertime]

I know I'm unreasonable as I've been on them for years. However i work in a very close team and am aware of 10 out of 15 of us being on anti depressants for various reasons or life stressor. I was shocked so many people are being treated but it's so common! Is it more recognised now ? Or overtreated ?

@Zebedee55

There are many who would disagree with you and say they’re not masking anything in their lives, it’s just their “brain doesn’t work”.

For what it’s worth I agree with you. When I was younger the medical model of mental illness was hugely prevalent and for me as an individual it was quite terrifying.

I have first degree relatives with psychotic illnesses (along with hospital inpatient stays whereby they would be drugged up to their eyeballs into a vegetative state). I presumed it was just bad luck on the genetic wheel of life.

Like any other disease. The statistics were terrifying, and I truly thought any day my brain would break and I would wake up totally insane being carted off to my local psychiatric unit, much like my family members often were.

Thankfully I started to learn about mental
illness and it’s true origins (and I mean truly learn). I’m still learning now as a clin psych, the only difference now is I get paid to provide therapy, despite first delivering it when I was around 7. Do I think therapy is the be all and end all? Anyway going off on a tangent now.

The answer to that should have said no, no I do not think therapy is the be all and end all either.

It's not always technically depression though is it. It's often just "shit life syndrome" where people lead shitty horrid lives and there's no chance of any change. At the very least - the anti-depressants will numb that feeling.

Being a minimum wage carer isn't exactly glamorous is it? I know, I did it long enough - if it was all I could see in my future ahead of me I'd be necking anti-depressants too.

The trouble is most people can't afford 'proper' therapy. When I was seriously depressed all I got offered was a number to ring. I spoke to an assessor who told me he could offer me 6 sessions of an online cbt course, then I would be assessed again, then put on a 2 year waiting list for counselling. Private counselling in my area is about £75 a session. I can't afford that. So I take antidepressants instead. They have enabled me to go back to work, be more sociable than I ever was before, and most importantly to stop shouting at my loved ones and wanting to kill myself. Probably therapy would be better for me, but I can't afford the amount of sessions it would probably take to work through all the awful things I have been through.

@MrsMcisaCt

And not only that, you would then have the minefield that is “private therapy”. Counselling is an unprotected title and I have a woman on my Facebook who has trained as a hypnotherapist with some dodgy online Clifton practice shite and now her Facebook page states she can help people with their trauma using “psychotherapy techniques”.

Also a LOT of counsellors have never had therapy themselves. This is NOT good practice. You’re in a position of power on that side of the chair and I believe every therapist needs hours upon hours of their own introspection before they can even begin to try and help others. The whole industry is pretty murky to be honest and there’s a LOT of capitalising on MH these days.

It is absurd. a lot of them do SO much harm.

What people need is time and space for reflection but that’s a luxury most people haven’t got.

Shocking and not necessary in my eyes.

Completely agree. I think sometimes people need short term support not a long term ongoing stabiliser that is often hard to get off of. Life coaching should also be used for people with long term depression, as quite often changing your life style and making decisions and choices are the way forward if pills are not helping.

People don’t follow the lifestyle changes they should. Diet, exercise, sunlight, socialising. A pill is easier.

@Callipsi I do all of those things.
They don't prevent or cure the severe anxiety / depression I get hit by at different times. (Without a trigger other than once with pnd - just comes out of the blue.)

I know at least one mother whose GP prescribed antidepressants rather than investigate why her baby was waking every 60-90 mins through the night, massively disrupting her sleep for months on end.

Sorry, does it follow from that that people on mental health medication must be fat, lazy and stupid?

My diet, social life and sunlight exposure are fine, thank you. But of the blue I developed a health issue that made any exercise other than the ocassional very light yoga session impossible. This health problem caused me a lot of anxiety that I had no way of burning off. Add to that a stressful public sector job and you have a toxic mixture. Meditation and yoga are great and have enriched my life immensely but they are no match for full-blown anxiety. Therapy was no use to me as I was in a genuinely, objectively stressful, anxiety-inducing situation.

I am making a similar point to the "shit life syndrome" posters upthread. Sometimes depression and anxiety are the natural reaction to certain circumstances - it doesn't mean there's something wrong with your brain. Some circumstances can be changed and some cannot. Let's not judge or patronise people by assuming they haven't tried obvious things to help themselves.

This. Western lifestyle is hugely stressful and there is very little support. People choose to keep ploughing onward in situations that cause anxiety, and they medicate in order to do so.

it depends if you see them how my friend described them to me- you take a paracetamol for a headache, you take an antidepressant as relief for chemicals causing symptoms that are affecting you. I was shocked myself- I know a lot more people than I ever thought and all said they changed their lives

Hear hear both.

When I felt unwell I phoned my GP (who presrcribed antidepressants) and in terms of counselling what was available through the NHS had a long waiting list, or was group therapy (that not everyone feels comfortable with), online interactive stuff etc. So I paid for private therapy which was OK-ish, but it really wasn't all that helpful, and looking back I think I felt a bit pressured to 'get better'. I remember the therapist asking what I wanted out of it. Like it was some sort of lifestyle choice. And it cost a lot.

I've also in the past tried several hypnotherapists, counselling signposted by another GP where you pay what you can afford, EMDR etc, all pretty much with no lasting benefit. The antidepressants were the first thing that really worked.

No doubt there is some great talking therapy somewhere that can help, but how do you find it/afford it? It's exhausting to put yourself out there, open up and put your trust in someone (and pay a lot for the privilege) only to end up rather short changed...

On Amitriptyline - no one has asked over last 6 months how I have felt at all.

Because we aren't designed for life as we know it now. Higher stress, poorer diets, less support all means everyone is bloody depressed. Doctors prescribe them instead of looking for the root cause of the depression and getting you to actually change your life habits.

Absolutely. When I first left my abusive husband in 2015, was struggling to hold down a full time job (with an unsympathetic boss) and adjust to my new life with my 4 year old, it got so bad I went to my GP for something, any kind of help and all they could offer me was antidepressants. I refused, the issue wasn't me it was the life I had at the time. I'm glad I didn't take them. Pills don't make a shit situation better.

Antidepressants always make me numb. Can't orgasm on them either

I think GPs are very quick to offer antidepressants, but I can see why. The wait for NHS counselling services is at least 6 months where I live, and people who are feeling desperate enough to ask for help need that help sooner rather than later.

I took sertraline for a couple of years, as I was going through a really difficult time. Looking back, i was at rock bottom, and those tablets really did save me.

However, I came off them recently as I couldn't stand the side effects any more - weight gain, sweating, nausea to name but a few. Even though I was only on 50mg, and I tapered down slowly before stopping, the withdrawals were awful.

This!! Please please investigate before going on anti-depressants! The way back is so long and hard, particularly if you've been misdiagnosed!

I think therapy is needed in many cases. Dr Jessica Taylor writes a lot about how many mental health issues are actually trauma related rather than chemically caused.

though there are people who are struggling because they do have a chemical issue like PCOS, vitamin D or B deficiency , thyroid issues, sleep apnea etc. So for those people proper testing is needed before just dishing out psych meds. Sometimes it's both, like PMDD, which often needs psych meds and also hormone treatment . Actually PCOS probably belongs in that category too as so many women with it actual fit DSM/ICD10 criteria for a psych illness like bipolar . And so many people I know with PCOS have a trauma history too, I don't know if there could be a link?

I agree with this. I look back on when my parents were my age. Technically they had it harder, they didn't have much money ....work stopped at 5, and every weekend was spent with friends and family. Life for me is so different, feels like everyone is on a hamster wheel and just trying to spend time with friends or family is a mission. Loads more money, fancy house etc but not necessarily happier or fulfilled.

I think a lot of the time GP's just feel like they should be writing a prescription out for everyone they see. If the problem isn't obvious they give you some happy pills and send you on your way. I've been through some shit times, but there's no way I'll ever take anti depressants.

This book is worth a read: https://thelostconnections.com/

Because we aren't designed for life as we know it now. Higher stress, poorer diets, less support all means everyone is bloody depressed.
Agree with this all except the ‘less support’ thing- I think people, in particular women, were left totally high and dry in terms of support in previous generations, now there’s actually focus on talking (before you kept it behind closed doors) and if you don’t have people to talk to there’s helplines or online. Add in social media and online forums and it’s hugely different. Yes there was more community before but less ability to travel or meet up with other people. (Although as I said better community so maybe overall everyone was Close to where we are now, I don’t know)

I'm on them...saved me. Life is tough and why walk around feeling like shit when modern medicine helps?
Back in cavemantimes, fight or flight was there so we could run from predators...now the predator is stress and no wonder so many need help.