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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t believe we’ve normalized anti depressants as a society. I’m about to get downvoted into oblivion for this take though. I’m not trying to discount mental health, I just think there are better solutions than drugs to fix your state of mind. Also think that some people are dealt a tougher hand than most, and that for a small subset of humans, anti depressants are the most fitting cure.
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Public responses have probably not finished overcorrecting.
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I got some other news for you, buddy. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49444514
To provide one additional anecdote: I came off escitalopram with no taper after taking it for about five years (10mg). I got brain zaps for a while, got very irritated at times, but largely was fine after a few weeks. Not downplaying the withdrawal effects for some people, but they’re not as catastrophic as this article suggests for many (perhaps most). And overall I’m very glad I took it! It got me through a rough p…
I am glad your experience was tolerable but it’s a whole arc and everyone’s tolerance + circumstances are unique which makes it all the more challenging (even for doctors).
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Not sure what you're basing this on -- hopefully not just your impression after reading things online.
Best way to manage the withdrawal would be to dramatically reduce them being prescribed in the first place. The linked article says they have "small to moderate effectiveness", but this is being far too generous. The correct way to measure drug effectiveness is if the treatment meets the standard of a minimal important difference. I.e. you measure depression on various rating scales, like the 17-point HAM-D, and rese…
So did you take them and have a bad time? Because they definitely work for me and I doubt a placebo could have such a large effect on the 48 hour stomach pains I used to get alongside my frequent panic attacks. I find it funny that people complain about emotional blunting when that is the entire purpose of the drug. I would prefer not to live on the razors edge ever again. I’ve had chronic anxiety and depression ever…
Coming off of them wasn't too bad though. I got the brain zaps, but those were easy to cope with.
More than anything the whole experience was a waste of money, and what finally fixed my problems was retirement and a greater attention to my health.
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Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t believe we’ve normalized anti depressants as a society. I’m about to get downvoted into oblivion for this take though. I’m not trying to discount mental health, I just think there are better solutions than drugs to fix your state of mind. Also think that some people are dealt a tougher hand than most, and that for a small subset of humans, anti depressants are the most fitting cure.
I don’t get why people are so negative about drugs. They’re just a medical treatment, with pluses and minuses. If they help and they’re not too costly then what’s the big deal? Half the population is addicted to caffeine and nobody cares. A huge number of people need medical intervention for other things and we don’t get this quasi moralistic opposition to them.
We don't want to get rid of them, we just need to recalibrate prescribing, and also to properly assess cessation at intervals more frequently than we have been.
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On an academic level, we have reined in much of the excess enthusiasm in antidepressants that was courtesy of 90s-era pharmaceutical reps and ad men, but I don't think this revision ever occurred in the cultural consciousness at large.
See also: The Serotonin Theory of Depression: a Systematic Umbrella Review of the Evidence (2022). It's worth reading the introduction and results in full, but here are two important quotes (footnote markers removed): > Our comprehensive review of the major strands of research on serotonin shows there is no convincing evidence that depression is associated with, or caused by, lower serotonin concentrations or activit…