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It makes me sad when i read stories like that. I feel depressed. Doctor - Take these pills. I still feel sad. Doctor - Take more pills. Medication cures symp

It makes me sad when i read stories like that. I feel depressed. Doctor - Take these pills. I still feel sad. Doctor - Take more pills. Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it. Taking pill to feel happy again is a patchwork that will eventually burst catastrophically.

bserge 6y ago
Nah, it's more of a cast or crutch or a wheelchair, gives you some space to start recovering. Or you might find that you need to rely on them for the rest of your life. Either way, it's better than nothing.
- me_me_me 6y ago
  I am not saying that pills are bad. Rather then, pill are not going to solve the root cause. If your apendix is infected taking painkillers will mask the fact its going to bust and probably kill you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take painkillers while waiting for a surgeon to operate on you. Maybe I should have been more precise in my original post.
mikaelsouza 6y ago
Agreed. I've suffered from depression for so long and most psychiatrists I visited just told me to take some pills that made me feel numb and didn't fix the underlying issue. Now I've been working with a therapist since January alongside with some pills and I feel so much better. Not only the depression symptoms are mostly gone, but I feel I know so much more about myself and now I can understand what made me feel like I did before. Anyway, if you, dear reader, are suffering from depression, I recommend you to visit a therapist with an open mind.
- me_me_me 6y ago
  > Anyway, if you, dear reader, are suffering from depression, I recommend you to visit a therapist with an open mind. I would add on top of this, try out different therapists if current one is not working for you, rather than saying 'this is not working, i am done with therapy'.
larrywright 6y ago
Jordan Peterson (yes, I know he’s got his problems) had a line in one of his recorded class sessions that has always stuck with me. I don’t have time to find the video on YouTube, but it was something along the lines of: If you’re dealing with someone who’s depressed and they’re really depressed, you should try giving them antidepressants because if they die you can’t help them. The point being, it isn’t a cure, but it keeps you going until you can get therapy sessions or whatever else you need.
jedimastert 6y ago
> Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it This implies that there always is a root cause, which I don't think is the case. Very often there is, but sometimes there's just an imbalance.
- chillwaves 6y ago
  > sometimes there's just an imbalance. What does that mean? As far as I know, there has never been medical science to support this statement. I understand drugs 'work' in the sense people's experience and emotions are altered -- that's beyond debate. But we don't know what it means in terms of "depression" or "happiness" or other promises they make. I'll feel great if I spend my day high on cocaine but I am not going to claim I cured my depression while under the influence.
johnward 6y ago
> Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it. Sometimes those underlying conditions are brain chemistry though. The pills work for a lot of people. My Bi Polar depression doesn't seem to stem from any trauma or anything. I've done therapy and it did nothing. I've tried exercise, it helps for a short period. I tried diet, seems to help a little. If also tried about 15 different medications before a found a combination that keeps my mood fairly stable. I almost killed myself before I found the right combination of meds. Meds work for some people we shouldn't be so quick to discourage it.
- zoozla 6y ago
  There's a lot we don't undestand about mental illness, but I think the brain chemistry theory doesn't hold water anymore. Otherwise we would have been able to take a blood test and say - oh, your serotonin levels are out of wack. I'm really happy you found a combination of meds that work for you, sounds like it was a long and rough road to get there. There's still things you can do to improve your condition beyond what the meds can do. I have some anecdotal evidence that the app helps people taking meds, but nothing conclusive yet.
  - jonex 6y ago
    Well, we don't know that we couldn't if we were able to easily take a blood test of the brain. I think there's two parts to the theory, the stricter interpretation that goes something like "depression is just the symptom of too little serotonin - which can be fixed by SSRIs" is quite weak. But the fact that brain chemistry affects mood, and in particular that increasing some chemicals can induce pleasant feelings is pretty robust - we have drugs like cocaine and heroin to thank for that insight. However translating that knowledge into meaningful treatments of depression is not straightforward as the body has a lot automatic control systems trying to keep things in balance. So at one level we could claim that indeed depression is caused by "too low" serotonin/dopamine levels, as temporarily increasing them will take away the depression, but on the other hand this insight in itself doesn't provide us with a clear path for diagnosis and treatment, and it doesn't preclude that there's other things that's a root cause, such as thought patterns, neurological setup, etc.
zoozla 6y ago
So much this! That's why I decided I needed to get off that train and start looking for other ways. It took a ffing decade to find something that finally worked, but I'm glad I started the journey.

bserge 6y ago

Nah, it's more of a cast or crutch or a wheelchair, gives you some space to start recovering. Or you might find that you need to rely on them for the rest of your life. Either way, it's better than nothing.

me_me_me 6y ago
I am not saying that pills are bad. Rather then, pill are not going to solve the root cause. If your apendix is infected taking painkillers will mask the fact its going to bust and probably kill you. That doesn't mean you shouldn't take painkillers while waiting for a surgeon to operate on you. Maybe I should have been more precise in my original post.

mikaelsouza 6y ago

Agreed. I've suffered from depression for so long and most psychiatrists I visited just told me to take some pills that made me feel numb and didn't fix the underlying issue. Now I've been working with a therapist since January alongside with some pills and I feel so much better. Not only the depression symptoms are mostly gone, but I feel I know so much more about myself and now I can understand what made me feel like I did before. Anyway, if you, dear reader, are suffering from depression, I recommend you to visit a therapist with an open mind.

me_me_me 6y ago
> Anyway, if you, dear reader, are suffering from depression, I recommend you to visit a therapist with an open mind. I would add on top of this, try out different therapists if current one is not working for you, rather than saying 'this is not working, i am done with therapy'.

larrywright 6y ago

Jordan Peterson (yes, I know he’s got his problems) had a line in one of his recorded class sessions that has always stuck with me. I don’t have time to find the video on YouTube, but it was something along the lines of: If you’re dealing with someone who’s depressed and they’re really depressed, you should try giving them antidepressants because if they die you can’t help them. The point being, it isn’t a cure, but it keeps you going until you can get therapy sessions or whatever else you need.

jedimastert 6y ago

> Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it This implies that there always is a root cause, which I don't think is the case. Very often there is, but sometimes there's just an imbalance.

chillwaves 6y ago
> sometimes there's just an imbalance. What does that mean? As far as I know, there has never been medical science to support this statement. I understand drugs 'work' in the sense people's experience and emotions are altered -- that's beyond debate. But we don't know what it means in terms of "depression" or "happiness" or other promises they make. I'll feel great if I spend my day high on cocaine but I am not going to claim I cured my depression while under the influence.

johnward 6y ago

> Medication cures symptoms of depression but cannot fix the underlying problems causing it. Sometimes those underlying conditions are brain chemistry though. The pills work for a lot of people. My Bi Polar depression doesn't seem to stem from any trauma or anything. I've done therapy and it did nothing. I've tried exercise, it helps for a short period. I tried diet, seems to help a little. If also tried about 15 different medications before a found a combination that keeps my mood fairly stable. I almost killed myself before I found the right combination of meds. Meds work for some people we shouldn't be so quick to discourage it.

zoozla 6y ago
There's a lot we don't undestand about mental illness, but I think the brain chemistry theory doesn't hold water anymore. Otherwise we would have been able to take a blood test and say - oh, your serotonin levels are out of wack. I'm really happy you found a combination of meds that work for you, sounds like it was a long and rough road to get there. There's still things you can do to improve your condition beyond what the meds can do. I have some anecdotal evidence that the app helps people taking meds, but nothing conclusive yet.
- jonex 6y ago
  Well, we don't know that we couldn't if we were able to easily take a blood test of the brain. I think there's two parts to the theory, the stricter interpretation that goes something like "depression is just the symptom of too little serotonin - which can be fixed by SSRIs" is quite weak. But the fact that brain chemistry affects mood, and in particular that increasing some chemicals can induce pleasant feelings is pretty robust - we have drugs like cocaine and heroin to thank for that insight. However translating that knowledge into meaningful treatments of depression is not straightforward as the body has a lot automatic control systems trying to keep things in balance. So at one level we could claim that indeed depression is caused by "too low" serotonin/dopamine levels, as temporarily increasing them will take away the depression, but on the other hand this insight in itself doesn't provide us with a clear path for diagnosis and treatment, and it doesn't preclude that there's other things that's a root cause, such as thought patterns, neurological setup, etc.

zoozla 6y ago

So much this! That's why I decided I needed to get off that train and start looking for other ways. It took a ffing decade to find something that finally worked, but I'm glad I started the journey.