Do you think that 90% of folks on depression meds just need to fix their lives?

Question

Why treat the symptoms instead of the problem? I know some people do have clinical depression, which required meds to correct, that is understandable. However I think most people on meds are just unhappy with their lives or some part of it and want to take the lazy way out. We ALL have stress. We have all dealt with grief, we are HUMANS!!! There is sort of no difference between people who live on meds and drunks except that booze is cheaper and impairs your motor skills more. Do you agree?

HELLO! I know there are SOME people who truly do have a chemical imbalance, and need meds to stay sane however I think the are the minority of people on meds. I don't disgree with meds... just the abuse of them.

Answer 1

Absolutely not.
When depression medications are prescribed correctly, in conjunction with therapy, they can help people a great deal.

Some people who are depressed for a long time have a chemical imbalance, which the drugs can treat.

Alcohol works much differently than despression drugs, and works on a different part of the brain.

When you generalize ["90%"] you come across as insensitive. Was that your intent?

Answer 2

No, I do not agree. I have known young people that were depressed and they needed meds--but the right meds! I think there is a difference in just giving meds to get a patient out of the office and have them try a med to see if it works for them. You are a strong personality and therefore do not need to subject yourself to medication--however, you are judging everyone else by the way you feel--I hope you never have the feeling of drowning and no rescue is within your grasp. It is all too easy to judge others if you have never been seriously depressed. Most people on meds really need them and I would hate to be the one to say "you're weak." There is a big difference on using "booze" and medication. "Booze" is an escape blocking out all problems--Medication allows the person to look clearly at the problems they have and try to resolve them. There are some people whose brain simply 'misfires' and the medication treats the malfunction. I do not believe that people simply take medication to escape--Medication is not the "easy way out" as you put it. Medication does not keep patients from being unhappy with their lives--that always takes a serious effort on the part of the individual. I do not take medication for depression--but I also realize some people need it just to cope with stress and not just daily living. Don't you think you should give them a break and not judge them?

Answer 3

Well it seems to me that you are speaking from a place where you say such things because you have never personally experienced them and as I would never wish anything like mental illness on anyone, unless you have it happen to someone you love or happen to you, you really shouldn't say such things out loud where intelligent people can hear you. If it were just a matter of people being "lazy" as you said, then there would be lots more personal trainers and a lot less Dr. Phil. Society is geared these days to treat what is not considered perfect and completely functioning at peak level, perfect examples of the 'golden mean' standard of perfection as useless and expendable. Mental illness is not something most people chose and it never should be implied or considered than to be anything other than an illness. Treatable yes, even by using techniques compatible with your previous assumption such as; Motivation, reconditioning and changing the mindset of some minor forms of depression and its symptoms but plain and simple conditions such as schizophrenia should never be taken lightly or ever treated as just a "lazy." person. A little compassion and understanding would be good for you. Why don't you try going to volunteer at a mental health or rehabilitation facility and get to really know some of these people. I think it would help whomever posed this question's opinion, outlook and maybe educate them just a bit better to experience it first hand. If mental illness was treated and acknowledged there would be a lot more tolerance and understanding and a lot less street drugs being abused as a means of self medicating away the stigmas that society places of what is deemed less than "normal." whatever that means?

Answer 4

Wow, it's amazing how much ignorance there is on this subject. And it is way too big a topic to answer without several text books, a degree or two or at the very least a very informative web site. I suppose all one can hope for here is to comment on your misperceptions and assumptions.

Firstly, anyone who thinks a pill will fix their lives is mistaken and yes there are those who take antidepressants who believe this, but unless they are subject to other mental health issues such as psychosis, a good mental health practitioner will disabuse them of this idea very quickly.

The medications, as indicated in one of the above answers, are merely an attempt to bring back into balance the physical chemistry of the depressed person where prolonged emotional stressors has affected the body's chemistry. It's like any chemical imbalance that can be induced by taking a drug, only it is our emotions that produce the chemicals. Once the imbalance is established it is necessary to use chemicals to maintain a corrected balance.

That however, is the short term goal. Anti-depressants allow a person to get their head above the water-line of their emotions so they can think more clearly. It enables them to look more objectively at their problems without being drowned in the chemical soup that their emotions produce in their bodies when they think about their problems. Once the cycle of emotional stressors is broken, many people have been able to live normal lives without antidepressants.

Also, medications are not perfect. It really is a lot of trial and error finding the right one for each individual. People are not all the same and each one may respond differently to a particular medication. The dosage also can be a problem since people have different rate of metabolizing the drugs, differing sensitivity, different body weights... all these things determine effectiveness. Some people also have a tendency to develop a resistance to the drug they are taking so the dosage must be increased or another antidepressant used.

As you can see things are not as simple and straight forward as you seem to believe. And anyone who has lived with a alcoholic will tell you they would rather be living with someone who is taking antidepressants. By the way, alcohol is a depressant - I'll let the AA experts tell you what the real affect of that is and how much damage alcohol abuse can do, both to the persons abusing it and to those close to them.

But you are correct about one thing. The ultimate goal should be to deal with the problems that caused the depression in the first place if at all possible. Even where the cause of the depression is something that cannot be changed (death of a loved one, history sexual abuse/harassment, childhood abandonment, other mental health issues such as psychosis, etc.) The opportunity to talk about their emotions in a healthy supportive environment along with resources and information to help find ways to cope with their current circumstances can go a long way to bringing hope, and for many, eventual healing.

However, antidepressants and counselling/psychiatric resources should always go hand in hand. I have not yet met the person who, having already come to the point of clinical depression was able to sort out their issues on their own without some sort of support system/network of both caring professionals as well as understanding families and friends. A pill is not a cure, it is a treatment.

I'm curious, why the question in the first place? Has someone told you that you need help? Are you beginning to suspect it is true but feel uncomfortable with asking for help and so you're trying to "tough it out"? Or perhaps you are dealing with someone close to you who is in need of help. Are you getting sick of their "whining" and can't understand why they don't just "suck it in" and "get over it"?

Believe me, someone who is depressed and in need of clinical intervention has already asked themselves all of those questions. It's not that simple and the answer is as individual as each person who is suffering. If you are dealing with a friend, the best thing you can do for them is admit you are at a loss to know how to help them, but that you'll be there for them while the work it through. Then offer to help them find the help they need.

You sound like a fairly strong individual and I'm sure a friend in need could appreciate that strength in your friendship with them.

I don't know if I have answered your question, but perhaps there are a few others who may now have some more understanding of the illness of depression and how antidepressants, should and should not be used.

Answer 5

I do not blame the people on the meds,I blame the doctors who prescribe the medication. Instead of the proper medical attention the patient needs, because of the beauracracy between Health Insuance and the Government, many patients just get stuck in the prescription wasteland. Many people, myself included, have been prescribed anti-depressants and never diagnosed with depression. People with Arthritis are given anti-depressants because "sometimes" when you have pain you get sad and pain may be related to a low Seratonin level in the brain. That is what they told me, then wrote a presciption. Did they check my Seratonin level? NO! So then why should I take a medication that may or may not help me WITH PAIN! Don't blame the patient, blame the Health Insurance companies for not allowing the Doctors, or other Medical Professionals, from doing what's right for the patient. And balme the Government for not putting a stop to the power of the Insurance Companies. Remember who went to school to treat the patient? The Doctor or the CEO of BlueShield?

Answer 6

i once felt the same way you do. meds were just a way of escaping the crap that a person allowed their life to become.

however recently i have learned that depression isn't always about being unhappy with where your life is at the present but sometimes about where your life was in the past. most people go through traumatic events at some point in their lives and they all have different ways to deal with them. in many cases over time those traumatic events resurface as simple depression. and while the meds don't solve the problem they create the chemicals in the brain that allow the individual to stay in a more positive frame of mind while the base problem can be discovered and treated

Answer 7

After being treated for depression for over 20 years, beginning when I was only a child, I can say from experience that "just fixing their life" is not the answer to curing depression. Depression is a mental disease, just like any other physical disease, and requires treatments by professionals. Sometimes depression cannot be "cured", it can only be maintained through therapy, sometimes anti-depressant medications, behavior modification and so on. Support and love from family and friends makes a huge difference as well. Mind you, there are several different types of depression, and situational depression is one of them..say due to a divorce or job loss..and require less intensive or long term care. Like other diseases, it's very difficult for someone who's never experienced depression to understand the full realm of it's effect on the person suffering from it. I can tell you from my own experiences that depression weighs on your mind, body and soul. You only WISH that "just cheer up" would WORK!! You will try anything and everything to try to feel better...and yes, sometimes that includes drugs or alcohol, which only compounds the problem...however, with the weight of depression looming over you, you don't even see clearly the consequences of your behavior. You only wish to feel better. So, NO, I don't agree with you. It's not just about "fixing your life".

Answer 8

There are some mental illnesses which do not go away because of changing one's life. As drinking alcohol kills brain cells, that is not the way to treat mental illness. We all have stress, we all deal with grief, and we are Humans, however, in mentally ill people, the stress and the grief do not go permanently away. In fact, stress and grief are a permanent part of some of their lives. You can't just smack them in the face and tell them to "snap out of it"! You should not be judging others. There are many people who drink and do drugs who have never been diagnosed as mentally ill. This is called "self-medicating". 90% is an awfully high percentage of people for you to judge!!! I take medication on an as-needed basis only, and I never have more than two drinks and I do not take unprescribed medication. My Mom was a Registered Nurse, and I thank God that she educated me about meds and alcohol.

Answer 9

I disagree. People who are seriously depressed cannot fix the problems in their lives if the depression has them so strongly that they cannot get out of bed, or makes them want to commit suicide. They must deal with this in order to have the stamina most healthy people have in order to fix things, if it is something specific that is making them depressed.

You say everyone has dealt with grief; but eveyone deals differently. And not all grief is the same. What if their child was kidnapped? What if their wife dies a horrible dealth in front of them? What if they suffer from a disability that impeded their quality of life?

Many forms of depression are caused by an actual physical cause: the brain does not produce the proper amount of chemicals that "healthy" peoples brains produce. This makes it somewhat comparable to insulin dependant diabetics: they must take meds to correct their bodies insulin levels; it is similar to depression medications, which regulate the brain chemicals.

Answer 10

I love this question....
I believe about 70%. I think brain scans should be required for all being put on meds. The meds become a vicious cycle and never seems to make thier lives better. I have never been on them so if I am wrong here, pipe in!