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Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

economist.com

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Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#31

Post by chrisseaton »

lbriner wrote: post #9

I'm a bit nervous about these articles clearly centred on the USA which seems to have an epidemic of private drug companies pushing all kinds of stuff via doctors who may or may not be getting backhanders to push certian drugs. I'm not saying this isn't partially true in Europe but the USA definitely comes across as choosing drugs as the first resort for many things that you wouldn't in Europe. Also, as many have fou…

> pushing all kinds of stuff via doctors

And also pushing directly to the consumer via commercial advertising, which is very unusual.

Not sure which way is right though. Maybe people have a right to know about which drugs are available, unscreened by a doctor who may not have your best interests in mind (for example they have to meet a budget, or they have religious opinions.)

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#32

Post by aa-jv »

cameronh90 wrote: post #21

Statements like this need to be worded very carefully. In many people's minds, saying something like "most people don't need antidepressants" quickly becomes "antidepressants are useless". Many people who may benefit from them get scared away. Speaking as someone who has been on/off antidepressants for GAD+OCD for the better part of a decade, I've had countless people tell me that antidepressants are useless and just…

No post body was provided.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#33

Post by tecleandor »

cameronh90 wrote: post #21

Statements like this need to be worded very carefully. In many people's minds, saying something like "most people don't need antidepressants" quickly becomes "antidepressants are useless". Many people who may benefit from them get scared away. Speaking as someone who has been on/off antidepressants for GAD+OCD for the better part of a decade, I've had countless people tell me that antidepressants are useless and just…

For what we've been reading this last years, it's not like antidepressants are worthless, it's like antidepressants aren't doing what we think are doing.

The "depression is lack of serotonin" theories seem to have less and less base every day, but SSRIs don't only act on serotonin (just review their side effects).

I've done, mostly, vortioxetine and sertraline. For some of us, some SSRIs or SNRIs work. Some don't. Probably it's not because of the serotonin. They have weirdly different effects depending on the person. But there's something going on that we still don't understand. Both because we don't understand the whole mechanism of depression, nor WTF the SSRIs and SNRIs are doing in our mind and body.

At least in my humble opinion.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#34

Post by xwdv »

I’ve never been on antidepressants but I had a period in my life where I went through a long depression. Inevitably I came to accept I was depressed because my body was telling me something in my life just wasn’t right, and I suspected what it was but didn’t really make an effort to do something about it. Once I made necessary changes things started getting better with time and eventually I got back to normal. However, if I had been on meds I doubt I would have had this sort of introspection and probably would not have bothered changing anything as long as I felt good. I think a lot of people are resistant to real change and antidepressants just help them cope indefinitely.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#35

Post by JoeBtfsplk »

cameronh90 wrote: post #21

Statements like this need to be worded very carefully. In many people's minds, saying something like "most people don't need antidepressants" quickly becomes "antidepressants are useless". Many people who may benefit from them get scared away. Speaking as someone who has been on/off antidepressants for GAD+OCD for the better part of a decade, I've had countless people tell me that antidepressants are useless and just…

+1 for sertraline.

One caveat is that you should ideally use them to get out of a funk and then discontinue if possible.

At all times get a psych you who trust.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#36

Post by [deleted] »

aa-jv wrote: post #32
cameronh90 wrote: post #21

Statements like this need to be worded very carefully. In many people's minds, saying something like "most people don't need antidepressants" quickly becomes "antidepressants are useless". Many people who may benefit from them get scared away. Speaking as someone who has been on/off antidepressants for GAD+OCD for the better part of a decade, I've had countless people tell me that antidepressants are useless and just…

Quoted post unavailable.

[deleted]

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#37

Post by sirsinsalot »

aa-jv wrote: post #32
cameronh90 wrote: post #21

Statements like this need to be worded very carefully. In many people's minds, saying something like "most people don't need antidepressants" quickly becomes "antidepressants are useless". Many people who may benefit from them get scared away. Speaking as someone who has been on/off antidepressants for GAD+OCD for the better part of a decade, I've had countless people tell me that antidepressants are useless and just…

Quoted post unavailable.

> Be careful what you pimp

These aren't drugs you can just ask for (in the UK) at least and the parent wasn't "pimping". Undermining someone's account of their positive experience using therapeutic drugs because of your own bias shows an astounding lack of compassion..

Getting help, help that often involves therapeutic drugs to bootstrap other life changes _is_ taking responsibility.

Your comment neatly sums up the toxic attitude of "I don't understand it so it must be bad".

Put your ego aside and listen to people living with seriously debilitating neurological issues that you fortunately do not.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#38

Post by viiralvx »

0_____0 wrote: post #24
viiralvx wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Me too! I used to be anxious about everything going on in my life. When I started Lexapro and it finally started working, I realized, "Wow, is that what normalcy feels like?" It's been a lifesaver.

I also used to have general, ever present anxiety, but never was medicated for it. It seems to have abated by around age 29 to a large extent. One thing that helped was finding a group of friends who loved and accepted me as I was. Really a key moment in dealing with the social component of anxiety. I think pharmaceutical intervention and my path are both valid, but it's way harder to prescribe "friends who love you…

Oh trust, my friends are amazing and great. But doesn't stop the always present anxiety of everything collapsing and going wrong. Worked on some CBT to also help me manage it, but medicine has been a really great solution for me, in my opinion. And honestly, I feel like my anxiety has gotten worse as I've aged, I wasn't anxious at all like this in college and I'm now 30.

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#39

Post by petesergeant »

spookyuser wrote: post #7

I can tell this thread is going to be a nightmare but whatever I really want to share my experience in case there are people similar to me that need to hear this: I cannot emphasise enough how much Escitalopram (lexapro) has helped me with issues I didn't even know I had until I started taking it. At which point I realised I was living in a constant state of anxiety up to that point, and I probably should have been o…

Just another +1. Also for me the "activation dose" was 15mg, and I spent almost a year taking 10mg a day thinking it didn't work, before moving to 15mg and my life changed.

For anyone else with anxiety issues, silexan[0] and l-theanine[1] are cheap and worth a look-in

0: https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/lavenders-game-silexan... 1: https://examine.com/supplements/theanine/

Re: Most people on antidepressants don’t need them

#40

Post by petesergeant »

bezier-curve wrote: post #19

What these articles seem to ignore is that depression is only one disorder they're approved to treat. They're approved for GAD, OCD, and a host of other anxiety related disorders.

I do note that everyone (including myself) who's promoting Lexapro on this thread is talking about the positive effects it had on their anxiety
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