06-06-2024, 11:24 PM
Discussing this topic may be a bit difficult for me.
You see, this topic has a personal meaning to me. And it doesn't help that my age means that I belong to a generation which always kept to themselves about such things as depression, anxiety, and the effects of PTSD. My generation mostly gets drunk to self-medicate and/or cope with errant mood swings and other such aspects of the human condition.
Certainly not all of my generation does that, and I am happy of that... but those in my general 'cultural' affectation who actually suffer from the condition aren't looking to "talk out their feelings" with strangers, and barely can confront those feelings with their loved ones.
I will tell you from my perspective (which is as apt to be the problem itself as anything else) I remember several overarching sentiments that I face when I am depressed. Most of them are not nice. First of all, loved ones are as likely to misunderstand depression, anxiety and PTSD as any stranger. It is almost a relief to me that such is the case. It means (or meant) that the people I am talking to probably never really have suffered depression, et al. I find that comforting.
But I (again, being old) have had a lot of experience with people not understanding. Depression isn't "feeling sad." But people treat you as if it were sadness that was the problem. Depression isn't "suicidal"... but every professional will immediately revert to the threat of 'suicide' as the prime focus of their encounter. Depression isn't "about" things. It's not "self-image," it isn't "pressure" or "stress," it isn't something external at all. It comes from inside.
I found myself often being barraged with platitudes and parables... all evoking ideas ranging from "snap out of it," to "be a man," to "buck up" to 'God loves you' and 'eat chocolate.'
People rarely embrace the idea that depression isn't really "about" anything... you can win the lotto and be depressed, you can 'get the girl' or 'win the prize' and still be depressed. Frankly, depression is a physical thing that outwardly manifests itself emotionally.
Medical science has finally begun taking the baby-steps necessary to actually treat the condition. Pharmaceuticals seem to hold promise... but it's NOT anti-depressants as a 'silver bullet.'
We are coming out of a time when Physicians - trained by the pharmaceutical industry - had been assigning a chemical solution to a psychological problem as a "go-to" solution.
Depressed? Pill. Done and done.
I can tell you from my own experience that pills aren't the solution. What's worse, the medicines in the field are largely a "let's try this" affair. "Oh, it makes you uncomfortable?, gives you nightmares?, makes you stay awake all night?... Then let's try this..." and so on, and so on. Of course doctors mean well (God, I hope so,) but negotiating such a deeply personal malady and maintaining a physicians' "clinical detachment" hasn't really been a stellar success (at least in my experience.)
When I ran across this topic, it became clear to me that confusion about depression still abounds...
Check out these headlines:
From CNN: Study finds the rate of withdrawal from quitting antidepressants
Wherein the 15% of people suffered 'withdrawal' symptoms, and the editor immediately plastered a "suicide" PSA before the article. Because "depression" has now become the 'poster child' for suicide. (Not every depressed person is)
From New Scientist: Does coming off antidepressants really cause withdrawal symptoms?
The article cites a 1 in 3 rate of withdrawal symptoms (30%?) but goes on to question if they are 'imagined."
From TheTimes: Antidepressant withdrawal less common than thought
They say "only" 15% of people suffer the withdrawals, reiterating "it's safe under the care of a doctor."
From TheGuardian: Antidepressant withdrawal symptoms experienced by 15% of users, study finds
Where "under one in seven" suffer withdrawals...
I noticed that when the media reports on this, the symptoms are all cast as a "minor" thing... headaches, dizziness, nausea... but I can assure you, there are more severe symptoms available to be blessed with. And I'm sure big pharma will declare "Nonsense... it's all manageable. " I risk to differ.
Suffice to say, these are very typically interesting stories, all spawned by meta research... culled data from 79 different studies and "normalized" so they can be aggregated into a single paper... I'm not inspired with confidence here...
Only CNN was kind enough to actually share the research, which had been published in the Lancet: Incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Which stands in contrast to earlier research (2019) which reported over 50% undergo withdrawal symptoms...
From ScienceDirect.com: A systematic review into the incidence, severity and duration of antidepressant withdrawal effects: Are guidelines evidence-based?
I am not going to decry the disparity... there might be emergent commercial reasons for the rash of recent "good news" portraying that not so many people "need to worry about it."
I do. I have family and friends who are tethered to these liver churning, brain-function-shifting, chemical harnesses... and I have a dreadful personal experience related to "stopping the madness" with frequently entrenched pill-pushing technocrats. Very dreadful.
Yes it's chemically related to your brain, yes it could be a chemical signaling error... but that does not represent the "totality" of depression... or anxiety, or many other things which "they have a pill for."
You see, this topic has a personal meaning to me. And it doesn't help that my age means that I belong to a generation which always kept to themselves about such things as depression, anxiety, and the effects of PTSD. My generation mostly gets drunk to self-medicate and/or cope with errant mood swings and other such aspects of the human condition.
Certainly not all of my generation does that, and I am happy of that... but those in my general 'cultural' affectation who actually suffer from the condition aren't looking to "talk out their feelings" with strangers, and barely can confront those feelings with their loved ones.
I will tell you from my perspective (which is as apt to be the problem itself as anything else) I remember several overarching sentiments that I face when I am depressed. Most of them are not nice. First of all, loved ones are as likely to misunderstand depression, anxiety and PTSD as any stranger. It is almost a relief to me that such is the case. It means (or meant) that the people I am talking to probably never really have suffered depression, et al. I find that comforting.
But I (again, being old) have had a lot of experience with people not understanding. Depression isn't "feeling sad." But people treat you as if it were sadness that was the problem. Depression isn't "suicidal"... but every professional will immediately revert to the threat of 'suicide' as the prime focus of their encounter. Depression isn't "about" things. It's not "self-image," it isn't "pressure" or "stress," it isn't something external at all. It comes from inside.
I found myself often being barraged with platitudes and parables... all evoking ideas ranging from "snap out of it," to "be a man," to "buck up" to 'God loves you' and 'eat chocolate.'
People rarely embrace the idea that depression isn't really "about" anything... you can win the lotto and be depressed, you can 'get the girl' or 'win the prize' and still be depressed. Frankly, depression is a physical thing that outwardly manifests itself emotionally.
Medical science has finally begun taking the baby-steps necessary to actually treat the condition. Pharmaceuticals seem to hold promise... but it's NOT anti-depressants as a 'silver bullet.'
We are coming out of a time when Physicians - trained by the pharmaceutical industry - had been assigning a chemical solution to a psychological problem as a "go-to" solution.
Depressed? Pill. Done and done.
I can tell you from my own experience that pills aren't the solution. What's worse, the medicines in the field are largely a "let's try this" affair. "Oh, it makes you uncomfortable?, gives you nightmares?, makes you stay awake all night?... Then let's try this..." and so on, and so on. Of course doctors mean well (God, I hope so,) but negotiating such a deeply personal malady and maintaining a physicians' "clinical detachment" hasn't really been a stellar success (at least in my experience.)
When I ran across this topic, it became clear to me that confusion about depression still abounds...
Check out these headlines:
From CNN: Study finds the rate of withdrawal from quitting antidepressants
Wherein the 15% of people suffered 'withdrawal' symptoms, and the editor immediately plastered a "suicide" PSA before the article. Because "depression" has now become the 'poster child' for suicide. (Not every depressed person is)
From New Scientist: Does coming off antidepressants really cause withdrawal symptoms?
The article cites a 1 in 3 rate of withdrawal symptoms (30%?) but goes on to question if they are 'imagined."
From TheTimes: Antidepressant withdrawal less common than thought
They say "only" 15% of people suffer the withdrawals, reiterating "it's safe under the care of a doctor."
From TheGuardian: Antidepressant withdrawal symptoms experienced by 15% of users, study finds
Where "under one in seven" suffer withdrawals...
I noticed that when the media reports on this, the symptoms are all cast as a "minor" thing... headaches, dizziness, nausea... but I can assure you, there are more severe symptoms available to be blessed with. And I'm sure big pharma will declare "Nonsense... it's all manageable. " I risk to differ.
Suffice to say, these are very typically interesting stories, all spawned by meta research... culled data from 79 different studies and "normalized" so they can be aggregated into a single paper... I'm not inspired with confidence here...
Only CNN was kind enough to actually share the research, which had been published in the Lancet: Incidence of antidepressant discontinuation symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Which stands in contrast to earlier research (2019) which reported over 50% undergo withdrawal symptoms...
From ScienceDirect.com: A systematic review into the incidence, severity and duration of antidepressant withdrawal effects: Are guidelines evidence-based?
I am not going to decry the disparity... there might be emergent commercial reasons for the rash of recent "good news" portraying that not so many people "need to worry about it."
I do. I have family and friends who are tethered to these liver churning, brain-function-shifting, chemical harnesses... and I have a dreadful personal experience related to "stopping the madness" with frequently entrenched pill-pushing technocrats. Very dreadful.
Yes it's chemically related to your brain, yes it could be a chemical signaling error... but that does not represent the "totality" of depression... or anxiety, or many other things which "they have a pill for."
