21–30 of 46 posts
After being on just about everything that can be prescribed, I can safely say that they all make you into somebody you're not. Yes, it might make some people happier. But, you know what? So does heroin. In the end, the only thing that can fix you is you.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's exciting to hear that your personal subjective experience with "everything that can be prescribed" generalizes perfectly to the other 7 billion humans on the planet. This should save a ton of time and money on medical research.
Not to mention the highly disputable value judgement that someone crippled by depression is somehow more authentic.
After being on just about everything that can be prescribed, I can safely say that they all make you into somebody you're not. Yes, it might make some people happier. But, you know what? So does heroin. In the end, the only thing that can fix you is you.
So you look to antidepressants. That's still you trying to fix you. And perhaps the changes it induces to the psyche don't outweigh the benefits of depression, even in the face of its monumental drawbacks that urged you into trying the pills in the first place. Now, I can hardly say I've been on everything that can be prescribed. It's exaggerating to say that I even dabbled in SSRIs. But for the few months I spent on them, I wouldn't say they made me into somebody I wasn't. I'd say that I made me into something different. Of course, I might not have liked that different somebody. I might have pondered whether this was all still in my head and I was swallowing sugar pills and what would that say about me if the mere suggestion that I was taking magic pills made me better but wouldn't that put me back at square one... And so on.
But I can't in good conscience begrudge anyone trying to muddle their way through life. If pills work for them then by all means take them. If they're happier with that different someone then I'd say they've embraced their new identity, not morphed into something they aren't.
I don't really know why I typed all this up. I'm tempted to Ctrl-A/Backspace it. But hey, when's the next time the ramblings of the inner conscience will be topical in HN?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's absolutely nothing inherently wrong with heroin if it's used in a reasonable manner for something it can actually help with. It is, in fact, quite useful to deal with some kinds of physical pain. It's been eclipsed in recent decades by other kinds of opioids, but that's a difference of degree, not kind. Heroin isn't magically evil just because it's become a bogeyman 'substance of abuse' over the past few deca…
I agree and have no qualms with people's use of heroin, and have dabbled, myself. It was only presented as an example. To amplify, there is nothing morally wrong with anti-depressants either. However morality is not the issue of my concern, the deadening of true self is.
Everyone is entitle to their own opinions and has their own experiences, and that's mine. So to me, the quacks are many of the ones prescribing the meds.
That said, I have seen people put on meds that were pretty clearly not needed (both anti-depressant and ADHD/ADD meds). These meds were added as either a form of insurance policy against some form of academic failure, or generally in high school, a way to dampen off-median behavior.
The big issue I have is the scale at which these medicines are distributed, as well as the early age of the target audience. It does seem odd that there are more than 1/10 over the age of 12 in the US (2011 numbers, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/19/us-usa-antidepress...) taking antidepressants.
I have no religious or economic reasons to discourage adoption of any medication (if it works it works).
My primary objection to any given medication is based on my consideration of how I might have turned out differently had I been put on every med suggested.
People are strange screwy creatures. I know some people really need help, and to them: get it, it really does help. My fear is that an 8 year old version of me (or you) somewhere is being told that something is wrong with them because they're a bit spazzy in class and that they need to be medicated because of it.
If you are not a medical professional, please stop spreading unscientific memes and try to keep your opinion on mental diseases to yourself. The question of whether the drugs work is better left to the actual scientists and not be allowed to cloud the basic fact that one should always seek medical attention if they feel they have a problem. Unlike most physical diseases, the mental ones often impair your judgement and all this tinfoil hat bullshit really isn't helping. So please, just don't.
Thanks.
Victorian Britain?
The psychologist didn't want to even start treatment til the meds kicked in so I, being naive and trusting, said OK, went to the croaker he recommended I go to and started taking them.
The anxiety went away as did the depression. So did any semblance of self-control I had. I can definitely see how someone could fly off the handle on these things kill a bunch of people if s/he had even the remotest inclination to do so beforehand. I started dressing crazy. I started basically talking at people, trying to blow their minds and confuse them and play with them. I lost any desire to really connect with anybody, any empathy or sympathy. My ability to introspect totally disappeared so I was unable to see what was happening to me. Maybe the idea was that depression or anxiety is related to overthinking/over-introspection or something like. Maybe I had an anomalous experience but I'm pretty sure if I continued with them I'd be in prison or suffering in some other way for the unanalyzed extremes I let myself get to.
I have other friends who have taken them or are still on them and I see/saw the same thing with them, a complete inability to self-judge causing them to make the same mistakes over and over and over and a tendency towards unfulfilling behavior. The pill they take to be happy hijacks the ability to ever create the circumstances to be happy without it.
I was unable to see what had happened to me when I was on them. I had to be told by someone who I hadn't seen in a long time how much I'd changed. It was a person I deeply respected. She told me in no uncertain terms that I wasn't the same person I had been and that I had changed for the worse. I finally tried looking inward and I realized she was right. Then I had to deal with the hallucinations and electric shock sensations of withdrawal but I'm glad I did
I may not be happy all the time, or even most of the time. I may be full of irrational fears but I believe I am becoming less so.
Meditation and Qigong help me.