[madisgram]

Newsweek: Do Antidepressants Work? For Many People, YES!

By Therese J. Borchard
Associate Editor

I admire Newsweek writer Sharon Begley’s work … especially when she explains ways we can try to rewire our brain. But I found last week’s cover story irresponsible. If, for no other reason, than its title and subtitle: “The Depressing News About Antidepressants: Studies Suggest That the Popular Drugs Are No More Effective Than a Placebo. In Fact, They May Be Worse.”
Then I may as well kill myself.
That’s how I would have read the article four years ago, before I started questioning all the information available today on mood disorders and drug treatment, before I started working with a physician from Johns Hopkins who could help me tease out the hope from articles like this, so I wasn’t tempted to take my life upon reading there was no way out of the darkness.
http://psychcentral.com/blog/archive...ny-people-yes/

********
because i suffered from severe depression all my life antidepressants gave me an opportunity to regain my life. the only thing this article doesn't state regrettably, imo, is that therapy combined with meds can assure more long lasting positive results for those suffering from depression.

i did a "test" this past year and stopped taking my antidepressant w/out discussing this with my pdoc. not recommended BTW. it was amazing that after about 30 days after i stopped i lost all ability to deal with my depression. clearly i am a candidate for taking an antidepressant. some are not as fortunate as me but i'm grateful that this solution is part of my life today.

[Knitnut]

Never go cold turkey with any med, ever...any kind of med!!!

I know that some of my Parkinson's disease peers have done this and a few have ended up in the hospital.

If I miss/skip a day...usually because I am in a hurry...I am in tears most of the day...am I dependent or what!! Right now I am that way with meds, so tomorrow I will be calling my psychiatrist to up my meds or make a change.

I do find it sad that anyone has to take a pill to feel even remotely normal...well, like the general population that is.

[pgrundy]

Thanks for this. Just got into a very frustrating discussion with someone who believes antidepressants are useless and even dangerous, and that it's normal to be depressed and depression is NOT an illness.

The only think that has made a dramatic difference for me is medication. Therapy helps. Supportive family and friends help too. But the difference between meds and no meds is like the difference between light and dark. When I first went on Effexor after about 10 days it literally felt like someone flipped a switch in my head and suddenly I was normal. I thought, oh, THIS is how it feels to feel normal! Seriously!

The meds don't make me feel drugged. They make me feel like me. I feel drugged off the meds.

I don't think people understand what depression is. You wouldn't say "I don't believe in Chicken Pox" but people say all the time "I don't believe in depression or antidepressants." It's aggravating.

[pgrundy]

BTW my shrink says I'll be on meds the rest of my life. The first time he told me this I thought, oh he's just trying to make money off me, so after a couple of very good years I went off the meds. I ended up in a psych hospital for eight days. It took months to get back up to normal.

I'll never take that risk again. He was right. People are stupid. They should shut up unless they have advanced medical degrees.

[placebogirl]

Antidepressants didn't work for me--not SSRIs, at least. They made me feel emotionless, which still made me feel depressed. However, I am currently on lithium 300 mg, 3x a day, and I have never felt better. But I don't know if that's just because I actually have more of a soft bipolarity rather than unipolar depression (even though I'm technically diagnosed with major depression).

It just depends on your brain and body chemistry, really.

[justfloating]

Thanks for this. I think it's important for people to understand that antidepressants ARE helpful. In my case, finding the right antidepressant meant the difference between life and death for me. It's dangerous and irresponsible to suggest that they plain don't work (not to mention untrue -- I'm living proof!). The problem is that there is no fast and true rule for meds. They work differently for different people, and it can take a really long time to find the medication and/or dosage that works for you. It was while we were experimenting with my dosages that I felt the most hopeless, like nothing was ever going to work, but when the meds finally did kick in, boy did I notice a difference! I wish there were more articles explaining how antidepressants are tricky but ultimately worth it, because THAT is what depressed people need to hear, not that they have no hope of getting on a good medication.

[online user]

I have been on meds for 20 years. Yeah, genetics--illness runs in my family. Have a sister and two nieces (sister's kids) who are bipolar and I'm diagnosed MDD, but wondering if I might be bipolar too. Brother and the other sister have chronic depression. Am not aware that I've ever had mania but I have been having a lot of trouble sleeping. And my depression is much, much better right now. My pdoc put me on Abilify, as well as my Cymbalta and Remeron and that has made a big difference I think and hubby thinks so too. I don't think I could ever be off meds and be normal--I was really ok, just tired when my GP figured out I had low brain chemicals (knowing my family history--great family doc!). He's the one who put me on the Prozac which served me well for about 20 years, till I had this latest bout of depression after some significant stressful episodes in my life.