4 ms·

Dangerous advice. Anti-depressants are band-aid solutions. Depression isn't an imbalance of "chemicals", it has been marketed that way for decades to sell pills

Dangerous advice. Anti-depressants are band-aid solutions. Depression isn't an imbalance of "chemicals", it has been marketed that way for decades to sell pills. As soon as you are off them, you will likely relapse back into depression. While it can help someone that is in immediate risk, it does not solve the core issue of what depression is which requires a holistic, non-conventional view that Western medicine shuns, and is doomed to never address. Stop treating it like a medical issue and it will open doors. There's a reason Western society is riddled with drug abuses, addiction, mental health issues while other societies is riddled with war, poverty, and diseases.

robertakarobin 5y ago
Everyone experiences depression differently. SSRIs made a tremendous difference to me and my mom where therapy and various other treatments did not. Please be careful; this attitude places the blame on the person experiencing depression, and feeling guilty about being depressed is a vicious cycle that can have catastrophic effects. There are some for whom depression is a product of their environment. For some of those, a "tough love" approach may work. But there are also those for whom depression is a physical condition that requires medical treatment
- tomatowurst 5y ago
  I'm glad it is working for you but my point is that because SSRI and Western medicine largely addresses the observed biomechanical process, it is never going to be a complete solution, and hence I use the term band-aid. Addressing why through therapy can work but obviously if that was true we wouldn't need SSRIs in the first place. My point was that the Western approach to mental health has largely been the opposite of holistic and trauma-phobic. How do we know the wounds heal with SSRI and whatever popular politically correct therapy methodology is approved by academics at the time? I did not put blame the person experiencing depression, like OP described, he finds SSRI questionable and is open to be without it and he is justified in doing so. He is completely in his right to question and trust his intuition by seeking second advice on here, most of which I'm appalled to say reads more like logical, academic explanations. I simply described an alternative that has been increasingly viewed positively by the scientific community lately and there is nothing in that suggests I am guilt tripping them for being depressed. Coming from SSRIs, I can tell you that the alternative I suggested that has already been downvoted into oblivion created a lasting change and it is consistent with other people who have previously been exposed to SSRI. If depression was the product of their environment then there really is no need for any SSRI, the external situation can be changed. Doctors would be prescribing plane tickets to Bangkok but instead they hand you out pills. It does not appear to be what OP is describing and your argument is shaky at best. Finally I will add, go ahead and try SSRI but it is not something you go on and off on without paying penalties for it. You don't know what you will be like weeks, months, years after it. You don't know what habits, lasting side effects you might develop during and after. It's not the job of the drug to know or care, it does what it is described as. Just remember at the end of the day, your doctor is more than happy to prescribe you whatever anti-depressants sales rep incentivize them to. It's not his job to care nor is he is trained to by profession.
  - ciphol 5y ago
    Usually when you change your environment ("tickets to Bangkok" as you say) the depression comes along with you. If you have a specific stressor like a horrible job or abusive family member, leaving that situation can vastly improve your mental health. But otherwise, just flying somewhere else won't do much.
nonce-3460712 5y ago
selfmodruntime 5y ago
> Depression isn't an imbalance of "chemicals", it has been marketed that way for decades to sell pills Medical professionals have been finding that in cases of clinic chronic depression, the patients brain doesn't produce nearly enough endorphins compared to others. Also, antidepressants are from a time where we didn't yet produce problems to sell the solution and they have helped millions of patients. But I guess you know something we don't?
- tomatowurst 5y ago
  They are describing a symptom not addressing the root causes and it doesn't require a medical degree to see this.

robertakarobin 5y ago

Everyone experiences depression differently. SSRIs made a tremendous difference to me and my mom where therapy and various other treatments did not. Please be careful; this attitude places the blame on the person experiencing depression, and feeling guilty about being depressed is a vicious cycle that can have catastrophic effects. There are some for whom depression is a product of their environment. For some of those, a "tough love" approach may work. But there are also those for whom depression is a physical condition that requires medical treatment

tomatowurst 5y ago
I'm glad it is working for you but my point is that because SSRI and Western medicine largely addresses the observed biomechanical process, it is never going to be a complete solution, and hence I use the term band-aid. Addressing why through therapy can work but obviously if that was true we wouldn't need SSRIs in the first place. My point was that the Western approach to mental health has largely been the opposite of holistic and trauma-phobic. How do we know the wounds heal with SSRI and whatever popular politically correct therapy methodology is approved by academics at the time? I did not put blame the person experiencing depression, like OP described, he finds SSRI questionable and is open to be without it and he is justified in doing so. He is completely in his right to question and trust his intuition by seeking second advice on here, most of which I'm appalled to say reads more like logical, academic explanations. I simply described an alternative that has been increasingly viewed positively by the scientific community lately and there is nothing in that suggests I am guilt tripping them for being depressed. Coming from SSRIs, I can tell you that the alternative I suggested that has already been downvoted into oblivion created a lasting change and it is consistent with other people who have previously been exposed to SSRI. If depression was the product of their environment then there really is no need for any SSRI, the external situation can be changed. Doctors would be prescribing plane tickets to Bangkok but instead they hand you out pills. It does not appear to be what OP is describing and your argument is shaky at best. Finally I will add, go ahead and try SSRI but it is not something you go on and off on without paying penalties for it. You don't know what you will be like weeks, months, years after it. You don't know what habits, lasting side effects you might develop during and after. It's not the job of the drug to know or care, it does what it is described as. Just remember at the end of the day, your doctor is more than happy to prescribe you whatever anti-depressants sales rep incentivize them to. It's not his job to care nor is he is trained to by profession.
- ciphol 5y ago
  Usually when you change your environment ("tickets to Bangkok" as you say) the depression comes along with you. If you have a specific stressor like a horrible job or abusive family member, leaving that situation can vastly improve your mental health. But otherwise, just flying somewhere else won't do much.

nonce-3460712 5y ago

selfmodruntime 5y ago

> Depression isn't an imbalance of "chemicals", it has been marketed that way for decades to sell pills Medical professionals have been finding that in cases of clinic chronic depression, the patients brain doesn't produce nearly enough endorphins compared to others. Also, antidepressants are from a time where we didn't yet produce problems to sell the solution and they have helped millions of patients. But I guess you know something we don't?

tomatowurst 5y ago
They are describing a symptom not addressing the root causes and it doesn't require a medical degree to see this.