With all medication and health studies why can`t there be a cure for depression?

Question

I have been on zoloft .for 6 months now . i have been on other med`s before with no hope .

can you please share with me you`r method of coping with depression?
any tips on treatments?
thanks.

Answer 1

while its not a cure, reading this book will help you to understand where the field of psychiatry has been and how we've gotten to the place we are in... 300 years of history... this book blew me away!... I have shared it with dozens of folks... I know, there are lots of books out there but this book is even sited in studies and research data... Mad in America... bad medicine, bad science and the enduring mistreatment of the mentally ill by Robert Whitaker

for years I battled deep, paralyzing bouts of depression and bounced around on this med for a bit and then that one.. like the flavor of the month... I was after all "mentally ill" and relied on my docs to minister to my needs... I followed their advice... was medication compliant... saw my therapist regularly (at one point, the only shower I took a week was to see my therapist) but I never felt "myself" during all that time... my symptoms abated to a certain degree... I wasn't always weepy or whiny... I had periods of comparative calm but I wasn't "me"... my senses were dulled, absolutely nothing captured my interest, tickled my funny bone or moved me.. I couldn't paint, my music wasn't satisfying me, I couldn't even focus enough to read a book

this is the way I understand meds... same as when you take a Comtrex to relieve the symptoms of a cold so you can function enough to go to work, same with meds.... they mask symptoms... they hide the depressive symptoms so that you no longer give a damn that life sucks.... but! life still sucks... it's just masked now by a pill... and if the symptoms are only masked, then going off of them brings back the symptoms so the drug companies have a lifelong customer in you

working through depression takes patience, perseverance and a belief that tomorrow can be better than today...

I am not saying no meds at all... they have their place but meds alone can't do it... meds can help you stay stable while you work out whatever is depressing you...

life today IS depressing... we are at war, the middle class is a dying breed, today the 300,000,000th American was born, the minimum wage is not a livable one, and the UN general assembly auditorium smells like sulfur... and that is before you count your own personal distresses... its no wonder we are all running a low grade depression

I work in the field of psychiatric rehabilitation which is a strengths based approach... what is right with you instead of the typical docs symptom management approach

for the past 6 years, I have been med free (I do have a bottle of Clonipin around somewhere as a prn but I haven't even popped one of those in over a year); I don't drink; I work harder and with more satisfaction than I ever have in my life and I attribute that to learning how to deal with my self (two words.... I view my self as the depressed part of me and I guide myself through the potholes and s**tcreeks of life... s'not easy but mastering myself has been the most satisfying challenge I've ever undertaken.

I so suggest you read this book... it will give you much food for thought

our present paradigm is drug therapy.... 50 years ago, there was lobotomy, 100 years ago, water therapy.... we believe in drugs because that's what we know but I am living, breathing, healthy proof that we CAN and DO recover... but in direct relation to the effort we put in to mastering ourselves

so, yes to meds as a bridge over troubled waters but once on the other side (and again, your ticket to the other side is developing wellness tools and working with your strengths) the meds should be discontinued so that you can swim without the inner tube... hmmm I rather like that analogy even... just taking meds is like being in the pool in an inner tube but you want to swim! yes, the tube will prevent you from drowning but unless you learn to swim, you will forever be dependent on the tube... and just to continue that thread, when a particular med stops working for you, it's like when the inner tube develops a puncture and deflates...

I hope this makes some sense... long term adherence to med protocols scare the willies outta me... so often... too often... the cure is worse than the disease and you are dependent on meds...

the site I share with you below is one developed by a woman who is a fellow sufferer.... one of the first recovery tools I learned was her Wellness Recovery Action Plan and creating one for myself literally gave me back my life... the first steps were small and there were times it felt futile but I stuck with it... I gave it a chance because the simplicity of the plan spoke to me... I could do this!!! and I did...

I am me again in all my glory... top of my game... sure, things still get to me once and again but I have the tools and support and knowledge and understanding now to deal with them

I wish you relief from your burden... remember, you are the destination of your beautiful road... my prayers are with you

Answer 2

Medications are developed by drug companies. There would be no benefit for them to find a cure. Psychiatrists also have no benefit in finding a cure for depression as it brings in to much money for them.

I have found the best and most effective way of dealing with depression is talking with a therapist who has taught me ways to cope with my problems. This has been a hard task for my therapist as I have not always been open to talking about things.

I have tried Zoloft and every other anti-depressant along with every kind of combination of drugs you can think of. None worked.

The only thing that has helped is a really good therapist who has not given up on me. I know now that to get over depression it has to come from within.

Don't rely on medications. Rely on yourself and you well find a way out of the darkness.

Answer 3

We do not know the cause. We do not know how these drugs work in the brain. Neuropsychiatry is only beginning to develop as an exact science. We hope to find more things with the development of more advanced imaging technologies. Causes of depression are many, from psychological factors to brain tumour. New studies show that antidepressants help neurogenesis and improve neuronal transmission. Our knowledge ends there.

Tianeptine (Stablon®, Coaxil®, Tatinol®) works in the opposite way of Zoloft. They both helps to manage the symptoms of depression !!
See it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianeptine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoloft

You have to try different meds to find the suitable one. You have to stay for 3 months of the maximum recommended dosage of the particular drug to know the result. Try Mirtazapine and Bupropion XL.
Use Omega 3, Zinc, B Complex vitamin supplements.

Answer 4

i never had the happiest of childhoods, and finally went into a state of deep depression at 14, for three and a half years. But my parents refused to accept that i was down, i didn't want to go to doctors, i couldn't meet people, so how could it? - I was still a child, people were still getting used to the idea of childhood depression.
i attempted suicide etc etc.
But i pulled myself out of it with no medication, but with help from God, and just sheer stubbornness, I'm an extremely stubborn person and i do not give up! - i believe that if you really want something, anything i life, if you have a Strong mind and self will you can do it. You just have to accept whatever is depressing you, don't run away, fight it head on.
(i was sexually, physically abused, and i have come to terms with the fact that i will never be the person i could be had none of it happened, but I'm still a good person, I've accepted that, the healing process is underway.
You can get through this, just stick it out, get out and meet people, i found putting myself in situations i thought i would never be in was a great way. e.g. getting a job, dealing with customers, i had to meet and talk to people. Face you're fears.

Answer 5

if stress and depression kill, it makes everyone else, think they are normal,if it happens to someone else, they don't care,but if you take something for it ,you are a drug person, so little room to jamb so many people in, that's why we are here to resolve everything with input and information,on line some where they will get us on line and dispense the whole nine yards right here but that's trust and financing and 300 more years of waiting that is high on the stress list too and facts that can produce positive enlightenment's of the health of all who suffer, i read ten twenty books at a time, i sleep after sixty coffee cups and forget to eat, i do everything wrong trying to either run into my self or avoid my self, very unpleasant relationship to control, but as long as i do control it i know that I'm doing better than some body else and this gives me strength to help others and pushing them up,this is the only nice free thing that is not jambed down your throat and forced to do , when the depression hurt i have to walk or drowned in coffee tell i get strong enough to let my self alone and be nice,we take life way to serious and have unachievable exspectation,of our selves, of our country, of our wants and needs ,your okay i'm okay, i read the book 20 years a go and i was looking for better than that so i guess if lap top publishing is there for me and the millions of people who want cures are here that a business but they already got super money for playing games with us now so, it out of your hands to get help when they need the help(mentally) from denying us help, they been doing this so long that they are trained to be wobble heads for at least two generations

Answer 6

you should exersize every other day. sometimes you have to take more than one medication and sometimes you have to try other meds.

I think I tried 10 different meds finally found a combo of effexor and wellbutrin did the trick. Joined a gym and that works as good as any of the meds will too.

Answer 7

Ive been trying treatment for a long time. Ive lost hope on meds and counseling.