FUcking anti--depressents=lame.

Don't be a tool man. If you are depressed, find out what in your life is causing it, and change it! That's such a cop-out "ooooh, I'm scaaary without my meds".
Live your own life, follow your own path. You're not a risk, you're a normal human being. Throw those brainwashing pills away and go for a hike, smoke a bowl, and enjoy.

 

Exactly! I completely agree. There's a reason these problems exist. Stop popping brainwashing pills and get to the root of them.

 

They're not brainwashing pills. Umm... Hello? Read some of my other posts on this forum.

There are some things that cannot be treated without medicaiton. My doctor isn't a pusher. My doctor cares about my. For shit's sake, when I had problems with my first meds (the neurologist put me on Zoloft and refused to send me to be tested for bipolar disorder, even though my mother knew he was wrong) the doctor I'm with now pretty much saved my life. He pulled me off the bad ones, put me on new ones. 20 mg, fine, but they don't work at 20 mg. That's a "get your body used to it" dose. At 40 mg, I realized I was allergic to something, be it the meds or the capsule coating that they used on them.

So, he put me on something else, and honestly, I'm perfectly fine. I could call in and leave a message and if I said "I'm having a serious problem" my phone would be ringing as soon as he got into the office. The office is right up the road. My new doctor (the other guy was a fill-in, but he's a genius with meds. He knows what will and won't work together, and can factor it in. He's great) my new doctor is the same way. and they listen.

We all have our opinions, and I have mine. My cousin died due to misdiagnosis. I almost died due to misdiagnosis.

You can't tell me though, that I should drop off my meds and try to fix it.
Can serial killers fix themselves? No. Can pedophiles fix themselves? There's only one known case of true reform that I know of.

When your mind is literally busted, and your brain can't produce things right, you've gotta have something to replace what you don't have.

Seriously... If you're not bipolar, good for you. If you are, good luck not killing somebody, good luck having friends, a family, a productive life...
Drugs almost killed me before when I was unmedicated. Now, I'm in it for fun, not for numbing pain that shouldn't be there. I can be responsible with scheduled substances now.

Imagine this... Bipolar, in my case, if I were unmedicated, means:
Possible homicidal/suicidal behavior, restlessness, sudden sexual or criminal urges (craving sex, or stealing something without even thinking about it, etc.) which could cause serious harm to one's life, reckless behavior, and a dozen other things. Bipolar has three possible stages.

Manic. Here's my experience. 41.5 hours awake before I could even think about sleep, couldn't stop going, ran 20 miles in just over an hour, almost got killed/arrested/busted up about 100 times. Did gas insanely, made it worse. Might eat, might not eat. If I eat, it's almost nothing.

Low. Can't think, always tired, irritable, moody, always hungry. I once cleaned out 12 brownies, three bags of chips (along with the two tubs of sour cream to go with them) six bagels piled with an inch of cream cheese, five PB&Js, three overflowing plates of Mac & Cheese and a plate of potatoes to go with it, four bowls of ice cream, two packs of pudding, a pack of cookies, and a bag of chocolate chips all in one day. That was a bad day. On a good day, I used to eat half of that. I weigh 275 pounds now. I have to lose all of that, most of it gained because of my lows.

Stable:
Rare. I can count with ten fingers the stable days I had before I was medicated. I'm 18 years old. You do the math.

Bipolar disorder is some serious shit, and it's a brain problem. You can't "fix something in your life" if your brain just physically isn't working right.

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People may have had bad experiences, but I trust my doc, she's nice. I trust my parents. I trust my own judgement, and I'm fine the way I am.

 

You guys are being really ignorant by telling people medication is a "cop out".

I dare you to go tell a schizophrenic person, "OH mannn, go smoke a bowl and change your life and shittt". They NEED to be medicated in order to function properly.
YES, with depression and anxiety, you can alter your lifestyle to make things EASIER, but if you are SERIOUSLY depressed, you have a chemical imbalance that no matter what you do or change, you will still feel depressed.
And of course people must analyze their lives and think "what can I change to make things better?" but that is not always going to fix things. The most depressed I've ever been was in an extremely prosperous, healthy part of my life. It wasn't because I was just too lazy to change things. I wanted to kill myself and tried to take my life even though EVERYTHING in my life was what I wanted.

SERIOUS, I repeat, SERIOUS mental disorders, NOT mood swings, not being a little sad, but SERIOUS mental disorders are no different than diabetes. A person with diabetes can do a TON to make things EASIER like exercise and change their lifestyle, but when everything boils down, their bodies arn't functioning properly and they require medication to live. You don't jump down someones throat because they have diabetes, right? It's the same for depression, bi-polar disorders or schizophrenia.

America is over medicated and yes a lot of things can be prevented from lifestyle changes but by blanketing mental disorders and saying "STOP BEING SO LAZY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!" you are being really ignorant and creating even more stigma and shame for those who must take medication in order to lead a normal life.

 

I agree with this post. I saw a video once of a woman who was psychotically depressed and thought she was the devil and that she had to kill herself to protect her children from her. That's the kind of imbalance you can't just snap out of. That's not laziness. THAT is the kind of person who needs meds.

 

i dont doubt your sincerity or the severity of your symptoms. i have a friend that has bipolar disorder. he wasnt diagnosed until he had a complete psychotic episode and was talking out of his head. now he takes all kinds of pills, which help the mania and psychosis to some degree but cause him to stumble in his speech, forget things, and he has tremors like someone with parkinsons and is still depressed. i dont think people should just go off their meds without a doctors advice and guidance, i just think less people should be on these type of drugs that cause as many imbalances as they treat in the first place. they are dangerous and not well tested, we dont even know how some of them work. they only treat the symptoms while making the cause worse so that if you quit taking them youd be worse off than in the first place. chemicals in your body regulate themselves through complex feedback loops. when you screw with these you cause all kinds of other imbalances and serious problems. pharmaceutical companies dont want to cure you, they want to treat your symptoms and keep you buying their medications for as long as possible. otherwise they would work on treating the root causes of these problems instead of just recklessly pumping out new chemicals to be consumed by an unsuspecting public. have you ever thought that these internal problems may have external causes such as deficiencies in diet, pollution, or radiation. why have the incidences of these terrible diseases exponentially risen over the past century?

 

you're doctor cares about you, hmmm? You trust her? I'm sure she does care about you, everytime she gets a paycheck.
If you're having a serious problem, call a friend; not someone who is paid to "fix" them with pills. the thing that'll kill you is those pills.
Can murderers or pedophiles "fix" themselves? that has nothing to do with these. Murderers and pedophiles are evil sickos. You're just misinformed.
Your brain isn't "busted", silly. Its fine. You're fine. Everyone has a different chemical balance, no one is the same.
I was diagnosed with plenty of things, yet I lead a productive happy life... all of which i was told impossible by psychiatrists.
"scheduled Substances"? Wtf? The only scheduled substance I take is what i take at 4:20.
Stealing something without thinking about it? Right. Perhaps you typed this without realizing it? Take responsibility. If you steal my shit you can bet I'll kick your medicated ass. That outta remind you of what your doing
there is nothing wrong with being hyper and energetic. I'm a very energetic, hyper, talkative person (typical gemini, Sag rising), and i was told I was either manic or ADHD... because I was happy and cheerful and had energy.
if you want to lose the weight, if you want to stop pigging out, GROW UP, GET SOME SELF CONTROL, AND STOP EATING!

I'll say it once, i'll say it again. Take responsibility. Judging by what you've said and your age, you're hormonal and confused because you're being manipulated by your doctors and perhaps your parents. Get off the meds, and listen to yourself. if you don't like what you're doing, stop it. if you don't like the way you feel, find something that'll make you feel better, besides those nasty chemicals.

 

yep, sounds like the meds worked great... perfect example. He fills his body with a bunch of pills and bad chemicals, and now he's a miserable vegetable. NO THANK YOU!

 

everything in your life was going good and you were still depressed? Sounds more like someone being spoiled and ungreatful.
Diabetes is a medical problem. Depression is an emotional problem. Not everything boils down to chemicals.
As for causing stigma, the only stigma i'm causing is that i won't feel sorry for people who cry "Oh my life is so terrible, I have to pay my cell phone bill and my dad won't let me get a tattoo! I shall cut myself!!!"

 

Boy, you sure do know a lot about psychology and brain chemistry with all of your 19 years... I'm not that much older, but at least I don't go around telling people there's no such thing as a chemical imbalance, so their problem is all a matter of self-discipline. Are you there? Have you ever thought you were the devil? Have you ever heard voices telling you if you don't obey them, they'll kill your family? Have you ever felt so detached and sad that it hurts to smile and you have no idea why? Do you really think these people want to be this way?

Good for you. You're so happy, they wanted to medicate you. That's wonderful... for you. Just because you've been lucky doesn't mean everyone else is ungrateful. Sure, there's some whiny little bitches out there that have no business cutting and taking pills, but it's not up to you to make a judgement call about who those people are. Not unless you can magically transport your consciousness into theirs and live their life for a few days.

 

Um, how do I know? Well letsee here... I was in the foster system, where basically your life is RULED by psychiatrists. And yes I know what it feels like to be depressed. I just do something about it.

 

I was extremely grateful for everything I had in life, I was NOT spoiled. You really have no idea about anything in my life, so you have no right to judge me, but that's irrelevant. I know your perspective is biased by having bad experiences with psychologists but that is not EVERYONE. I am a social work/ psychology double major and I am planning on doing clinical work, and I've been to numerous psychologists, LICSW's, psychiatrists, what have you so I DO know what I'm talking about.

You cannot generalize. Depression IS REAL. It is NOT "Boohoo, poor me, my mommy hates me, blah blah" THAT is every teen in America at some point, NOT, NOT, NOT major depression. You are confusing teenage angst with an actually, MEDICAL problem. Two seperate things.

Here is the DSM IV criteria for major depression. It is not "OMG, SUSIES WEARING THE SAME OUTFIT AS ME!!! I WANT TO DIEEE!"
Really, please do more research and know what your talking about before critisizing others, please.

A. Five (or more) of the following symptoms have been present during the same 2-week period and represent a change from previous functioning; at least one of the symptoms is either (1) depressed mood or (2) loss of interest or pleasure.


(1) depressed mood most of the day, nearly every day, as indicated by either subjective report (e.g., feels sad or empty) or observation made by others (e.g., appears tearful). Note: In children and adolescents, can be irritable mood.

(2) markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities most of the day, nearly every day (as indicated by either subjective account or observation made by others)

(3) significant weight loss when not dieting or weight gain (e.g., a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month), or decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day. Note: In children, consider failure to make expected weight gains.

(4) insomnia or hypersomnia nearly every day

(5) psychomotor agitation or retardation nearly every day (observable by others, not merely subjective feelings of restlessness or being slowed down)

(6) fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day

(7) feelings of worthlessness or excessive or inappropriate guilt (which may be delusional) nearly every day (not merely self-reproach or guilt about being sick)

(8) diminished ability to think or concentrate, or indecisiveness, nearly every day (either by subjective account or as observed by others)

(9) recurrent thoughts of death (not just fear of dying), recurrent suicidal ideation without a specific plan, or a suicide attempt or a specific plan for committing suicide

B. The symptoms do not meet criteria for a Mixed Episode.

C. The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

D. The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication) or a general medical condition (e.g., hypothyroidism).

E. The symptoms are not better accounted for by Bereavement, i.e., after the loss of a loved one, the symptoms persist for longer than 2 months or are characterized by marked functional impairment, morbid preoccupation with worthlessness, suicidal ideation, psychotic symptoms, or psychomotor retardation.

 

stell_drives, there are a fair amount of people that have genetically caused brain chemical imbalance issues which need pharmaceutical drugs to cure i agree.

But you cannot deny a large amount of the usa thinks they are depressed because commercials fill there head with this nonsense everyday, coupled with stressful times in life leads them to believing they have a serious medical condition. Of course they are going to get prescribed the antidepressant, they have been having there head filled slowly with the symptoms through advertising. Whether they really have chemical imbalances or not the doctor will prescribe it because they know the symptoms and buy into the doctors selling.

 

I am not denying that at all. I've actually agreed with that in previous posts in this thread.We are an over-diagnosed, over-prescribed nation. I totally agree with that but people are generalizing and saying that angst and sadness are ACTUALLY depressive episodes and that is not true.

 

That's all I was trying to say as well... My first post in this thread was about the dangers of the drugs, but that doesn't necessarily mean I believe there is NEVER a time when they should be used. Some people have genuine problems that you can't talk them out of. If you've ever seen a person with psychotic depression or paranoid schizophrenia, you'll know that.
Docs overprescribe because they get better benefits when they do. As a result, many people are on drugs that they have no business being on because the drug companies latch onto anything that can pay for their jets and yachts. That does not mean the drugs themselves were not derived with good intent.
Now, whether or not they are tested thoroughly is another story...

 

I was on anti--depressents and it made me chop off all my hair.

 

well isn't that pretty? Who wrote it?? oh yeah, a bunch of government funded psychiatrists.

 

another happy customer!

 

I went into a panic attack and next thing I knew all my hair was gone. I was on an antipsychotic . And I was flipping out, I though I was falling off this cliff. I was so depressed I could not even get out of bed, I was crying all the time, getting more and more upset. I wanted to die; I was digging my nails into my arm that was the worst, that’s why I will never to any other drugs.

 

It's the DSM IV. Not a government definition of depression, I believe it's written by a collection of psychiatrists.
You really don't know what you're saying though. There is a huge difference between major depression and angst or being dealt a bad hand. Please think before you speak. That's all I ask.
And putting any drug into your system is dangerous and has risks but sometimes those drugs are the difference between life and death. Sometimes they make things worse, not denying any of that.
I'm simply saying people who truely suffer from depression benefit greatly by a combination of medication and therapy.