Do anti depressants stunt spiritual growth?

Question

Whenever someone mentions they are depressed nowadays people automatically tell him to go see a dr and they put them on paxil etc - it seems very common now.

Do you think this will stunt spiritual/emotional growth?

itseems like it takes the pain away - but the injury is still there?

None of the "chemical imbalance" theories of depression have been ever been verified

Smiling can cause an increase in serotonin,multiple things affect serotonin levels.They cannot verify that serotonin deficiency is the cause of depression.

Or determine if it's related to life experience or biological malfunction.

There is still no valid biological test for depression.

prarie have had depression all my life and even in the darkest days am grateful for the 'spritual strength' and insight it leads too.

Answer 1

Absolutely!

SSRI anti-depressants are not a cure, or even a particularly effective treatment for depression. Serotonin is only one of several neurotransmitters that affect mood, and if a person has a serotonin deficiency, forcing what little they have to not be re-uptaken into the synapses does not fix the problem. The fact that all SSRIs cause adverse side-effects proves that this artificial chemical balancing act is not what the body wants.

The medical community has become enamored with maintenance drugs, which simply allow people to maintain unhealthy, illness inducing lifestyles. We need to research why some people have chemical imbalances in their brains, and figure out what the body requires in order to restore balance.

Depression is almost certainly tied into our sedentary, increasingly solitary lifestyles. People don't have to MOVE anymore, and physical activity produces all sorts of mood enhancing chemicals in the brain. We evolved on the plains of Africa, running, hunting, gathering, MOVING. Now we sit behind desks all day long and stare at computer screens. We go home and stare at television screens. We entertain ourselves by staring at pocket sized video screens. We don't have to DO anything to acquire food other than pick up the phone and dial take-out.

I suspect that 200 years ago, there was a lot less depression in this country.

Answer 2

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RE:
Do anti depressants stunt spiritual growth?
Whenever someone mentions they are depressed nowadays people automatically tell him to go see a dr and they put them on paxil etc - it seems very common now.

Do you think this will stunt spiritual/emotional growth?

itseems like it takes the pain away - but the injury is still there?

Answer 3

If someone is suffering from clinical depression, then the antidepressants (properly administered) will set right the chemical imbalance that causes the depression in the first place. The "injury" is healed.

As for stunting spiritual and emotional growth... try engaging in either when you're curled up in bed 24 hours a day, drowning in despair so deep that all you want to do is die.

I'll take the medication, thank you.

EDITED TO ADD: noyesno... you too, eh? I've had treatment-resistant depression since my mid-teens, and sad to say there are days when I'm in so deep that I feel like I have no spiritual capacity whatsoever. I'm glad to hear that yours seems less severe, and wish you the best of luck.

Answer 4

Depression can be caused by physical exhaustion, repressed anger, trying to cope with abuse, loss of a loved one, or loss of a job, hormonal imbalance, poor diet,loneliness, long-term illness, even lack of sunshine.
Any situation that discourages you can cause a season of depression. So can the let-down after having succeeded in a major activity or project.

One good thing I found to help me is regular exercise. My doctor wanted to put me on Prozac when I had a season of depression. As I read the booklet that accompanied Prozac, I saw that Prozac contains the same ingredient that regular exercise produces in the brain. So, I started a program of daily half-hour walks and never took the Prozac and started to feel better.

I believe the pharmaceutical industry is creating illnesses for us, so that they can sell us their medicine. Nowadays almost every energetic kid who gets on his teacher's nerves is put on Ritalin. We are becoming a "doped" society.

Just tell a lie long enough and it becomes the truth. Now we believe that all sadness is some sickness of the brain and don't search any farther. We want INSTANT everything and don't really take the time to listen and care for one another.

I know this doesn't really answer your question, but may give you some food for thought.

Answer 5

Not, really. Most people don't get them till they're adults, anyway. I think that was one of the issues a year or two back was that so little research had been done on antidepressants in children that they were loath to even allow it (but they did).

I don't think the issue is pain. It's moderating psychoactive chemicals. Also, depressives DO seem to have this thought habit of viewing things as all or nothing - very much in the mold of fundamentalists of almost any religion. I can see where a congregation finding that their pastor's fire and brimstone speeches were caused more by chemical imbalances than actual divine inspiration would be disappointed to lose him/her.

Answer 6

Paxil suspends your emotional judgement. That's how it works. All of a sudden everything is easier to cope with because you're focused on how a situation looks from a rational point of view. There seems to be only a problem to be solved instead of an emotional context that also must be dealt with. It's objectivity vs subjectivity. Most problems are simplified if you look at them objectively. However, most social situations require the element of subjectivity in order to be appreciated for the subtelties inherent in them.
Spirutuality is grounded in subjective decisions, mainly. When you take paxil for a while it seems irrelevant to think spiritually since you don't see any problem with caring or not caring.

Answer 7

When used correctly, in conjunction with therapy, anti-depressants can be very helpful for SOME people in the SHORT term. They're not a cure for depression--they only treat the symptoms of it. I think that too many GPs prescribe these medicines and then pawn their patients off to under qualified therapists. I think someone needing help with depression who wants to take the medicine route should see a psychiatrist.

That's my unmedical, unscientific, totally anecdotal and experiential opinion.

Answer 8

In my experience I found being on anti-depressants limits or stunts spiritual growth. If one can, presumably with help if necessary, work their way out of depression without drugs, it can be an exceptional opportunty for spiritual growth. However depression can have grave consequences if not dealt with properly so caution is advised.
The real cure for depression is acquiring the ability to control ones mind.

Answer 9

Actually, for most people, it doesn't take the pain away. It simply makes it easier to cope.

And the injury is serotonin deficiency. Rarely is the injury a psychological trauma.

Answer 10

I am sure it some cases anti depressants may not be necessary.

However, antidepressants are to treat a disease. And I, a Christian who has been on antidepressants, and probably should see about getting back on them, can easily say that they can promote spiritual/emotional growth. One can not grow emotionally if their brain is diseased emotionally.