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>Please don't recommend Phenibut. It's not an antidepressant. It's highly addictive and has severe rebound and withdrawal symptoms. Drugs that make you temporar

by magduf 7y ago

>Please don't recommend Phenibut. It's not an antidepressant. It's highly addictive and has severe rebound and withdrawal symptoms. Drugs that make you temporarily feel good should not be confused with antidepressant drugs. This kinda sounds like drugs like clonazepam or lorazepam. They're also very addictive, and are not antidepressants at all, however they are anti-anxiety drugs and they work very quickly. And anxiety and depression seem to go hand-in-hand for many sufferers, so they do seem to really help some people, at least initially. I think a big problem is the medical establishment really doesn't have a good handle on what depression really is (biologically) or how to treat it.

PragmaticPulp 7y ago
> This kinda sounds like drugs like clonazepam or lorazepam. They're also very addictive, and are not antidepressants at all, however they are anti-anxiety drugs and they work very quickly. And anxiety and depression seem to go hand-in-hand for many sufferers, so they do seem to really help some people, at least initially. Phenibut works through similar pathways as those drugs. A lot of people overestimate their understanding of Phenibut by reducing it to a simple GABA-B agonist, but at the high doses that people take for euphoric effects it's actually doing a lot more. > I think a big problem is the medical establishment really doesn't have a good handle on what depression really is (biologically) or how to treat it. We can always improve, yes, but the standard treatment protocols (therapy, lifestyle changes, therapy + medication) are actually quite decent if you find a provider who cares enough to work with you. Many people find a lot of relief through standard practices. Unfortunately, many people don't have the resources or patience for therapy, and they won't tolerate any side effects from medication (which tend to diminish over time). A lot of those cases are the most vocally negative about depression treatment and "big pharma", skewing the overall perception. Many of the SSRI and therapy success stories don't go broadcasting their depression stories to the world. They just quietly go back to their lives.

by magduf 7y ago

PragmaticPulp 7y ago

> This kinda sounds like drugs like clonazepam or lorazepam. They're also very addictive, and are not antidepressants at all, however they are anti-anxiety drugs and they work very quickly. And anxiety and depression seem to go hand-in-hand for many sufferers, so they do seem to really help some people, at least initially. Phenibut works through similar pathways as those drugs. A lot of people overestimate their understanding of Phenibut by reducing it to a simple GABA-B agonist, but at the high doses that people take for euphoric effects it's actually doing a lot more. > I think a big problem is the medical establishment really doesn't have a good handle on what depression really is (biologically) or how to treat it. We can always improve, yes, but the standard treatment protocols (therapy, lifestyle changes, therapy + medication) are actually quite decent if you find a provider who cares enough to work with you. Many people find a lot of relief through standard practices. Unfortunately, many people don't have the resources or patience for therapy, and they won't tolerate any side effects from medication (which tend to diminish over time). A lot of those cases are the most vocally negative about depression treatment and "big pharma", skewing the overall perception. Many of the SSRI and therapy success stories don't go broadcasting their depression stories to the world. They just quietly go back to their lives.