Still do.
Still on prozac.
Still wish I was dead.
( baldmonkey a frothy foul-smelling vaginal discharge, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:39, archived)

Gmos 1 - 0 Baldmonkey

( GrandmaOfShoes, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:41, archived)

pills are rubbish, in my experience,
they're just the doctors way of making you go away.
You need to find out what's wrong with your life, and then change it.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:42, archived)

Well, I disagree. But you are right, CBT (or whatever works for that individual) is often necessary as well.
Or just cheering the fuck up.
( baldmonkey a frothy foul-smelling vaginal discharge, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:44, archived)

What if it's caused by chronic pain that can't be fixed?

( Dave Trouser ; the people's choice - 75% agree, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:44, archived)

I meant anti-depressants, silly.

( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:45, archived)

So did I.

( Dave Trouser ; the people's choice - 75% agree, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:49, archived)

Ok well if what's wrong with your life can't be fixed,
then I guess you just have to make the best out of a bad job. Although I found that anti-depressants didn't even cheer me up, they just stopped me caring.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:54, archived)

That's what they do.
They're not "happy pills", as many people assume.
( Dave Trouser ; the people's choice - 75% agree, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:56, archived)

Yeah,
actually I thought that felt worse. I almost completely stopped functioning when I was on them, I'd just sit for hours staring at the wall because I didn't care about anything enough to do anything, and I really couldn't see how my life was ever going to improve like that. If you want to change things, you've got to care about them. When I eventually stopped them, it was like suddenly I could think again!
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:00, archived)

What a fucking stupid thing to say.

(PsychoChomp, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:44, archived)

*NUT KICK OF AGREEMENT*

( baldmonkey a frothy foul-smelling vaginal discharge, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:45, archived)

I studied neurochemistry as part of my degree
I AM RIGHT COZ I WENT TO UNI!
(PsychoChomp, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:46, archived)

yeah, how stupid to suggest that actually improving your life
is a better idea than just numbing the pain.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:46, archived)

How stupid to suggest that depression is purely based on enviromental factors.

(PsychoChomp, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:48, archived)

whats the mix would you say
between environmental factors and genes as causes of depression?
( tickle I was away, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:15, archived)

Yes, depressive people should just buck up their ideas
How simple, I don't know how we've missed this simple step for so long.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:48, archived)

You need to remove the cause of the depression,
otherwise you'll be on pills forever. I don't know why this idea seems bizarre to anyone.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:51, archived)

You're assuming that all depression is caused by external factors

( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:51, archived)

I think most of it is,
and I reckon it probably is in Baldmonkey's case here, too. You should certainly at least try to find out, GPs seem to think that the pills will magically make you better irrespective of the cause of it.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:56, archived)

perhaps sometimes it is?
she was referring to her personal experience after all, let's not try to lump all depressives together as if it was like the common cold
( spacefish bong!, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:58, archived)

60% of the time, it works EVERY time.

( Dave Trouser ; the people's choice - 75% agree, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:59, archived)

All I'm saying is that yes, for some people sorting their lives out fixes the problem. But for others pills may be the only thing that helps
I'm trying not to lump all depressives together by saying that 'bucking up' will fix all their ills.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:00, archived)

Come on, it could be worse!
What's to be depressed about?! :-)

:-D
( Dave Trouser ; the people's choice - 75% agree, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:01, archived)

I would never say to someone "buck up" or "cheer up",
because I know how dismissive and unhelpful that is. I don't want anyone to think I'm suggesting it's easy here, I had a very hard time of it myself.

Probably a lot of depression is caused by something transient, such as a bereavement, and pills just help them through it.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:03, archived)

OK I'm sorry, I've got the wrong end of what you were saying there
I do agree that a lot of the time it's situational, it was for me certainly. But I do think the pills helped me personally. I don't think they're magic cures nor that they work for everyone, all I can say is that they helped me sort something out when I needed it.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:05, archived)

They do say psychotherapy works best with the pills as well,
what credit I can give them is that they did seem to remove a lot of the anxiety, which probably helps, but psychotherapy did nothing for me either, to be honest. Most people have better luck with that, I hope, I'm just one of the awkward cases it doesn't work on! But maybe it did do some good, in a round-about sort of way.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:09, archived)

The psychotherapy they gave to me ended up with me in hospital for an overdose
So I'll chalk that one up as a 'failure'. But I got better after that.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:12, archived)

One can only presume it works for some people,
otherwise they wouldn't do it. Mine did say it was "a long, slow process," but the way she was going on, it would have taken forever, and I didn't really have forever. Ultimately I came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to be able to fix me and that I'd have to go and do it myself.

It was weird, though. She wouldn't say anything. I'd go in there every week, and she'd just sit there looking at me, and I kept asking her "what do you expect me to say?" and "what am I supposed to say?" and she'd just come back with things like "are you expected to say something?" and "are you supposed to say something?" She was worse than that bloody Eliza program. I tried to start normal conversations, and she'd just go "this is not a normal social interaction." So I was completely at a loss, week after week of half-hour sessions of near silence. It occurs to me perhaps that most people, once the meds have taken away the anxiety, naturally tend to talk about themselves. I don't know, but I know I don't. Some people accuse me of "bottling up", but it's not that, it just rarely occurs to me to say anything.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:20, archived)

I just used to lie to them, saying what I thought they'd want to hear
I know that entirely defeats the purpose but I don't like 'opening up'. I'd rather keep it inside where it can't bother anyone.

The woman had me handling stones going 'which one do you most identify with?' Utter nonsense it was.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:25, archived)

haha
that's like some kind of crazy new-age weirdness. My dad does this thing called the Luscher Colour Test, that's quite fun.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:27, archived)

I'm sorry if I'm coming across the wrong way
I don't mean to upset anyone.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:01, archived)

sorry, i shouldn't have directed all that solely at you
the whole discussion was getting needlessly two-sided and i just blurted out
( spacefish bong!, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:14, archived)

No problem, I just don't like the thought of upsetting anyone
I worry about overstepping the mark on here
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:16, archived)

forum banter,
great times.
( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:21, archived)

I don't know. Pills don't fix depression do they, I think that's what she means. They just make you numb so you don't feel anything.
But in my experience it's just something you've got to live with and I don't think anything can ever really fix it. (been with some proper mentals)
( Donkey Gums @mattcomedy, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:48, archived)

Speaking personally, the pills helped as a stabilising influence on me to give me the time and the ability to sort myself out
So yes she's partially right, at least in my case, that doing something about my life helped, I can't say I would've got there had I not had the pills to help calm things down in the noggin and give me a bit of space and time to work on what was making me miserable.
( Theoban What of it, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:51, archived)

pills are a bandaid,,, the wound still bleeds
I am on meds, but I know they merely hide the problem not solve it. CBT or other Counselling is the better course of action in the long term, but when depression becomes destructive as it did in my case, pills are a good way of helping to keep you alive long enough to work around the root causes.
( DavyBoyInGravyJoy Grey Goose Vodka on Ice, nothing finer, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 14:50, archived)

Man up, you fucking gayers.
I've suffered from depression for years. sometimes really crushing bouts that last for months. Its been worse when there were no particlular outside influences (Great relationship, good job, pretty fucking stress-free life in general). Turns out I have some kind of bad brain chemistry, so no amount of changing things in my life is going to help.
(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:38, archived)

You've got to be careful with bran.

( Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Mon 15 Jun 2009, 15:44, archived)

I know.
Bad bran has been the absolute PLAGUE of my life.

Shut up, alright. I can spell perfectly.
(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Mon 15 Jun 2009, 16:08, archived)