# Why are anti-depressants always seen as the bad guys?



## Guest (Dec 21, 2008)

Still, still, still, folk on anti-depressant medication are seen as weak, flawed, unwilling to try anything else, lacking in imagination - WHY - for my money, anti-depressants address a chemical imbalance - without them I'd be dead I know that - I think I was a terminal suicide - in other words - without them, I would have found a way, sooner or later to kill myself. I see my medication in just the same way as a cancer sufferer receives vital chemotherapy or a diabetic insulin. It really hacks me off that we are seen as weak and reliant on medication - well, yes, we are reliant but because there is something fundamentally flawed with the brain's chemistry.Anyone with MY sort of depression is in just the same boat - so please - all of you who are lucky enough NOT to have to need chemicals to address a chronic condition - climb down off the moral highground and BE educated.Sue


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## overitnow (Nov 25, 2001)

I have been anxious and depressed in my life. There have been times I could have ended it all, had circumstances been just the slightest bit different. I don't talk about it much because, while I think these are normal variants, I usually don't discuss them with others because I fear I will be judged. (Maybe most people don't feel this way. Maybe I am crazy.) Or treated. Still, I think there is a major difference between the ups and downs of these more normal mood swings and what you went through, Sue. Further, your body's difficulties with serotonin are precisely what they were devised for. I think the majority of the negativity comes from the belief, rightly or wrongly held, that GPs will give these out for a range of difficulties that don't require medication so much as council and human support. (Then, there is always that class of person who simply snorts about "growing up.") Given the side effects that this range of meds is known for along with the addictive qualities, these are presumably further red flags to their use. Back in the bad old days of Valium and diet pills, there were just numerous cases of people for whom they were like heroin. I am sure a considerable stigma from those days still is attached to people who use the modern versions. Mark


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

I think there is a lot of mis-perception about mental illness in general. Because of that the drugs that are used to treat them often get a bad rap as well.I wouldn't let yourself get too upset by anyone that doesn't understand and probably doesn't want to even try to understand. For what it is worth I know a lot of people who think no one should ever seek any treatment of any kind for a mental illness because they don't see it as an illness.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

I know Kath - but I DO get upset in the same way as I DO get upset about racism and other kinds of prejudice - OK - so I happen to be in this particularly minority of the mentally ill and I'm white and vaguely C of E and straight so the other kinds of prejudices don't directly affect me - but I know you know what I feel about bigotry in general too.Sue


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

Sorry Marko - didn't see your post - well it was after midnight!!! Yeah, I'm sure you are right - trouble is, as with everything; Muslims, Gay Folk and us, the mentally ill - we're all just bundled together into one stigmatised bundle!!!Sue


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Well I think it is a balance.When there is an opportunity to open someone's eyes and reduce bigotry I take it, but I've found that banging my head against a brick wall trying to change those that will not change their opinion no matter what only makes my forehead bruised.


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2008)

Well thats why I walk about wi a huge great Munsters bulge on my forehead Kath - I'm always talking about my time in the loony bin infront of my very "correct" mum and she hates it - but until we approach mental illness with some humour and openness nowt is going to change is it?Sue


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## evulienka (Jan 12, 2007)

I agree with you, Sue - I guess it´s the problem of us Europeans - depression and other mental illnesses are still the things that noone talks about, it´s something that everyone pretends does not exist. Reading this board where most people come from the US, I´ve realised that it seems to be quite a usual thing to take antidepressants or be in a therapy.But people around me -my friends, classmates, people I live with - none of them has ever mentioned anything like that. It´s just the way we are raised up and the way our society perceives those things, we are supposed to put a smile on our face and pretend that we are doing fine, no matter how we feel... One of my roommates who I´ve lived with for almost three months seemed to me one of the most level - headed people I´ve met, she seemed to be managing all the uni stress very well - until one day when she broke down in tears and admitted that she had hated the school since the beginning ( which means almost 1,5 years) - but never found the courage to tell her parents because she didn´t want to dissapoint them. I would never have guessed she felt that way - and why? Because that´s the way everyone expects us to be, smile through the tears and not to ever show any sing of weakness. It´s an unspoken rule that these things are kept quiet - it definitely works that way in my country, while in reality the statistics show that about 20-25% of people here suffer from some kind of a mental disorder. It basically means that if I´m sitting in a class with 20 other college students, maybe 4 of us will have some kind of depression or anxiety or whatever it is, but you can be 100% sure that everyone of us will pretend to be just fine... you know, WHAT IF people found out.. I totally agree with you, these things need to get more publicity, and I think you are very brave to be so open about your illness. evu xxx


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2008)

Oh Evu - god bless.I look at it - you can either go one of 2 ways - be open and upfront and that way most folk "get" comfortable with it - or bury it away. I've talked abit about this mammy at Soph's school - I obviously don't want to go into details but she's battling eye cancer - she's been completely upfront - joking about losing an eye whilst on the phone to her mum - and that way folk in the playground are totally used to her in her dark glasses and its all out in the open.Its like anything - if you are open and have nothing to hide - then it becomes no big deal - well, thats my philosophy anyway.All the best to you and your family Evu for a happy and peaceful Christmas.Sue xxxx


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## baz22p (Dec 1, 2008)

Having read this thread I agree whole-heartedly with everything that has been said. I too have had my share of depression and I think the person who has helped me the most has been my wife. However, there is one thing that I can't quite understand about depression (or unreasonable/unsafe addiction for that matter), and it goes to show that there is a stigma attached to this, and that is: 'Why do celebrities think it is alright, and make a point of publicising the fact, if they admit themselves into a clinic? I appreciate this may occur mostly for drugs, alcohol, (or sex for David Duckovney), but it also applies to depression. It's almost saying: 'I've seen it in myself, and I am booking myself into rehab., therefore I'm still _NORMAL_'. Why does that not apply to us?Baz


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## Guest (Dec 25, 2008)

Yeah good point our kid - mind, the place I was in was about as far away from these celebrity mad houses as was possible - very belt and braces - cardboard coathangers, folk shining torches in your face every 15 minutes, no razors in the bathroom - and at the outset - I wasn't even allowed to lock the bathroom door to have a shower - these sad saps who book into these clinics have NO idea what mental illness is all about have they?Sue


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