Perception vs drugs
Here is something I think I can speak knowledgeably about.

I don't think that the Lunatic Artist will be offended by my revealing that she has depression. I have had it as well, during my divorce that I went through while in engineering school, causing me to almost fail out. But there is a major difference here.

See, my depression was mainly situational. While I'm not exactly the happiest man in the world and never have been, I manage to get along pretty well and generally enjoy life. So once things settled down and my situation improved, my depression went away and I no longer needed the Wellbutrin.

She, on the other hand, has a chemical imbalance. It runs in her family- out of five siblings, only one seems to have dodged the depression bullet. Of the four who have it, one drinks 30 cups of coffee a day, one is in denial of any sort of problem, and the other two are on meds for it. She was on Effexor and some other stuff when I first met her, but when she quit her job and no longer had insurance the meds were costing her $700/month. So she made an appointment and got different meds- and that's when she first had a problem.

We got her off of absolutely everything- she got off of her psych meds, she stopped drinking, she stopped smoking weed, and for the first time in 20 years completely detoxed. She went straight for six months- and then it hit her, bigger and badder than ever, and she had to go to the hospital for a while.

It's been two years of all kinds of merry hell trying to find a combination that worked, but she seems to be doing well now with her current meds. But without them? I seriously think she might have followed through on the suicide threat.

For some it may be as easy as deciding to be happy, but for others it's a serious biological issue that cannot be dealt with by merely talking things out. She HAS to have those meds, or she becomes completely irrational and depressed to a very dangerous degree.

Homeopathy will not do it for her. Motivational speakers will not do it for her. Counseling sessions will not do it for her. Having me there beside her is not enough.

For people like her, those meds are saving lives.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Wed 7 May 2008, 19:24, Reply)