[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Oct 1999, Rikki McGinty wrote:
>
> > It sounds to me like people tried one kind of antidepressants and then gave
> > up? Just because Prozac doesn't work doesn't mean antidepressants don't work
> > or always have horrid side effects. There are a big variety of anti-Ds and
> > often you have to go through a bunch of them to find one that works.
> >
> > Many people really need that medication to function properly, or even to
> > stay alive.
> >
> > rikki
>
> People want to take a pill and make the problem go away, in general. The
> miracles of modern medicine have spoiled both patients and doctors into
> demanding and proscribing 'instant treatments'. Since everyone's
> biochemistry is different, there isn't one pill for everyone, but Prozac
> received enough advertising and was enough of a quantum leap in
> psychoactive medication for depression that everyone knew about it. It was
> touted as the better drug and to my impression, the 20th century
> snake-oil. Everyone wanted it, and they got it. If they couldn't get it
> from their doctor, they went to another one that would give it. But its
> not entirely patient demand that is responsible for a mismatch of drug to
> patient. Some doctors were as eager to prescribe the drug as patients were
> to get it.
>
> However, if it was not the right drug (or even dosage!) or the side
> effects were not tolerable, I can very well see where a depressed patient
> would think then that -all- drugs would be this way. One of depression's
> key symptions is negative (possibly unrealistic) thinking. Also, most
> anti-depressants that I have taken or heard about require a period of time
> to build up in the system, and patients must adhere to the dosage schedule
> and keep appointments for successful treatment... something else those in
> the grips of depression find difficult to do without auxiliary support.
>
> While many cases of depression can be traced back to physiological
> imbalances, this is only the source... the catalyst. Many cases of
> depression arise without anything being physically wrong with the patient
> at all, and in these cases, drugs really won't help them. However, drugs
> alone are not always the best solution for the patient. Drugs may
> buoy you out from drowning, but if depression has become a 'way of life',
> that pattern of thinking and behavior has to be adjusted as well, or as
> soon as you take off the life jacket (drugs), you'll start to drown again.
> This isn't the case with everyone, of course... I think a lot of it
> depends on how long you've been depressed and how seriously you've been
> depressed along with how predisposed you are to becoming depressed again.
>
> It is generally accepted that women are more predisposed then men towards
> depression, though certainly both may experience this debilitating
> disease. Intelligence and stress also appear to be influencing factors.
> Depression also runs in families. My maternal grandmother, my mother, my
> sister, and myself have all experienced depression. For my grandmother and
> myself, it is a constant state while it is episodic for my mother and
> sister. The difference between my grandmother and myself is that I have
> sought and obtained treatment. I had to go through three different drugs
> and a double-handful of psychiatrists and counselors before I found the
> right fit, and it was incredibly difficult to do that. If I hadn't had the
> support of my family in keeping my dosage schedule and getting to my
> appointments, I probably wouldn't be typing this. Unfortunately, a great
> many victims of this disease do not have the support they need for
> successful treatment.
>
> ************
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
Good point. My panic attaacks are unavoidable. My depressive episodes are
reactive. I bounce into something and it hurts and causes me to get depressed. But
it is like the rock thrown into water. Hiding out for a couple of days to weeks,
and working on something cheery will bring we back up. It is like the waves dying
out.
I don't know what the root causes of these things are. Hard to say. I mean
analysis had many many years, and many many theories have been invented, and
treatement modalities were proposed but chlorpromazine (Thorazine) in the 1950s
that helped a lot, but wasn't a total soulation.
Now I suspect that lots of geek depressions are reactive. Mine certainly are. If
had a very vanilla job where I had to be somewhere every day, day in day out I
might be in trouble. Well in this part of the country, as previously explained.
My problem is I have never seen a non-drug theraphy work for serious things like
schizophrenia, but I have seen some depressions including mine spontaneously
clear. This includes people were heavy alcohol/drug users secondary to their
depression.
So I suspect it is the harsh, mean environments that we voluntarily create that
causes many of the problems or exacerbates them, that cause noxious working
atmospheres were are told just to accept. I think feel and can see that is where
the problem mainly lies.
Have Fun,
Sends Steve
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
