How do you deal with Depression?

[Emher]

I totally get why you feel suspicious of medication to handle your depression. I really do. I was depressed for a long time. pretty much since the age of 12. Around when I was 25 I was more down then I'd ever been and came to the conclusion that I was going to kill myself. Luckily enough I realized almost immediately what a horrible decision I had made, and how it would just break apart my family if I went trough with it.

I was so ashamed and confused about it all that the only way I could communicate it properly to my parents was to write an e-mail to them and tell them how I felt. And that I wanted help. We decided that maybe it was time for me to see a doctor and get some medication (I'd already been trough therapy earlier in my teens, but we quickly realized that I needed more help than that this time around). So we make an appointment with a doctor to talk about it. My mom came with me since I didn't know how to quite explain it. Luckily we met with a very understanding doctor and she started me on medication.

And let me tell you: it's the best decision I ever made. Only issue I've had with it is I upped the dosage after a few weeks since I didn't feel it was taking. But when it did, oh boy. One of my friends actually called my mom and asked if I was alright, seeing as I was so happy and energetic.

Now, that high didn't last forever. Today I'm at a manageable level, and truth be told the last year has been pretty rough and I wouldn't have minded being on double dosage as I once was (been on one pill a day for the last 1½ years). But I can honestly say it has saved me. I feel like at recently turned 28, my entire life is just getting started. And that's not something I felt a few years ago.



Please, consider it. It's not for everyone. But when it works, it can do wonders.

[Donald Draper]

On the anti seizure meds I am on right now I can not drink at all. but its ok I almost never did before.

For me its more of an issue of socializing. So much of it in our culture is based around. I came from Wisconsin a state known for making beer and moved to Sin City.

OK I can lighten things a bit. My "options" here are much better outside of drinking. (wink, wink)

Thats the real issue. I am lonely. But I am so use to it for so long I am not sure how to be different.

[propita]

Don't write off therapy. Hubby and I saw someone once every two weeks for a couple of years, tackling "our" issues, "his" issues, and "my" issues. We cleared out a lot of things, and used that as the basis for working on other issues. But, naturally, not everything was addressed.

BUT...since we cleared out some current issues, addressed a few old baggage issues, it allowed me, when I saw a shrink by myself years later (when I got diagnosed), to not have to worry about all that. Now, I was tackling the BIG stuff, even though I thought the prior issues were the big stuff. I found out a lot of this was more like side-effects of the big issues, the physiological ones.

I would not have been able to address the physiological ones before, because they were covered by all these others. It takes years(!), it took me 15 years, but keep going.

[Chemahkuu]

I've been socialising a lot more than I used to this year, making more of an effort and it's helped me through a difficult year, moving house, unemployment, so yeah it's been hard on the mental health aspect of things but get out there and get talking, things will improve.

[sonak]

JarodRussell wrote:

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If you break things down, it's always a chemical issue in the brain.

Every human is different. Under the exact same level of stress, one makes it and feels fine, and the other one suffers from a burn out, for example. Of course because the body reacts physically differently to outside influence.

Of course you can go all-in with medication, and thus change your physical properties to solve that issue, but I really believe that it's better in the long run to solve the individual problem. In the case of the example above: reduce stress or find another form of stress that you can handle. It's not solved by "Try harder", mostly it's solved by "Try something different."



Basically, it's the alcohol thing. You have problems in life? No worries, let's have a drink and forget about it.

And it actually works, for some time at least.

But in the long run, it's better not to drink and solve the problems instead.

yes, taking medication to solve an actual problem with brain chemistry is just like drinking alcohol to avoid dealing with your real problems. Thanks for providing the example of what I was describing earlier.

[Venardhi]

Alcohol, comfort food, meaningless sex and excessive sleep.

[bigdaddy]

You sound like me, so do what I did.

Be stupid, have LOADS of sex with different people, sometimes with condoms, sometimes without, think you got HIV, move 200 miles away from everyone you ever knew to a very isolated place, work as much as you can, drink, work, drink some more, and pretend everything is fine as you wake up crying before your morning drink. Because when you are in as isolated place as I was, it's normal to be drunk 24/7.

More seriously (but I was serious above) at my two most "professional" jobs I have been tipsy. One of them I got the permanent job from an interview in which I was tipsy before hand and told my big boss that my direct boss was a lazy, incompetent, arrogant, asshole who makes the job a living hell. The other job was stressing me out and I got wasted on Mother's Day, made me MUCH more friendly. Honestly just have a few drinks to level you out a little bit. Makes life a lot more fun.

[Rhubarbodendron]

JarodRussell wrote:

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I strongly think that for every depression there is a reason. Or multiple. Doesn't matter really. If you find it and deal with it, it's over. Medication is only treating the symptoms, but not the cause.

I agree about medicationonly treating the symptoms and about having to find teh reason.
Unfortunately, even if you find the root of the problem, you'll still always be prone to relapses. Depression is like lip herpes in this respect. You can treat it and propably be without symptoms for years but you can't heal it forever.

[Trekker4747]

JarodRussell wrote:

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I strongly think that for every depression there is a reason. Or multiple. Doesn't matter really. If you find it and deal with it, it's over. Medication is only treating the symptoms, but not the cause.

You could not be more wrong. Depression isn't "man, I'm just really sad!" it's an actual chemical imbalance in the brain. Medications correct that chemical imbalance and starting on an anti-depressant takes WEEKS to start working and many times many trials and errors before finding the right medication and dose that will work.

Anti-depressants DO treat the cause! Because the cause is a chemical malfunction in your brain.

[Misfit Toy]

JarodRussell wrote:

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I strongly think that for every depression there is a reason. Or multiple. Doesn't matter really. If you find it and deal with it, it's over. Medication is only treating the symptoms, but not the cause.

Those epileptics ought to just get over it too, right?

[thestrangequark]

Misfit Toy wrote:

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Those epileptics ought to just get over it too, right?

They're nothing compared to those cancer patients. If they'd just buck up...


Actually, JarodRussell, mental illness has a strong biological/physiological foundation. The brain is a part of the body, after all. There are now genetic tests that accurately detect schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia can also be seen in brain structure. Even mental illnesses we traditionally think of as having a stronger psychological base, like eating disorders, have mounting evidence to show that there may be a much stronger physiological component than once thought.

Medication certainly isn't the answer for everyone, but the idea that it treats only the symptoms and not the cause of depression displays a very simplistic understanding of mental illness. You are right that depression always has a cause, and like many illnesses, the cause is usually a combination of both environment and physioligy. Sometimes that cause is more situational, and in that case medication could be used to treat the symptoms in the hope that it could function as a crutch while the patient works on resolving whatever issues are contributing to the depression. However, sometimes the cause is more physiological, and while non-pharmacological treatments can be successful in treating individuals suffering this kind of depression, medication is often the best choice.

[Chaos Descending]

Lexapro, Church, Therapy.

[doubleohfive]

JarodRussell wrote:

---

If you break things down, it's always a chemical issue in the brain.

Every human is different. Under the exact same level of stress, one makes it and feels fine, and the other one suffers from a burn out, for example. Of course because the body reacts physically differently to outside influence.

Of course you can go all-in with medication, and thus change your physical properties to solve that issue, but I really believe that it's better in the long run to solve the individual problem. In the case of the example above: reduce stress or find another form of stress that you can handle. It's not solved by "Try harder", mostly it's solved by "Try something different."



Basically, it's the alcohol thing. You have problems in life? No worries, let's have a drink and forget about it.

And it actually works, for some time at least.

But in the long run, it's better not to drink and solve the problems instead.

I was not aware you had added "M.D." to the end of your name.

[Lindley]

Donald Draper wrote:

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Plus I always figure I have a hard enough time controlling how I feel and concentrating having outside substances would make it harder.

Most medication does not control how you feel. It can, however, make it easier to ignore or reduce unhelpful emotions so you can focus on important things without that distraction. It's pretty much the opposite of what you're saying here: what's making it harder is an imbalance in your brain. Fixing that imbalance makes it easier.

The first medication you try might not be the one you need, of course. You'll have to work with a psychiatrist to figure it out. But it can help.

The one I linked to earlier, EMPower, is not really an anti-depressant. It's almost just a multi-vitamin, in fact, pretty lightweight as far as meds go.....but it has proven very effective for a lot of people with mood problems.

[thestrangequark]

^I'm sorry Lindley but that EMPower looks pretty shady.