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I don't understand why people don't get that feeling down is normal. Use other methods to pick yourself up... why is that so hard?
I also understand that chemical imbalance and diagnosed mental illness is a different ballgame but there are far too many 'normal' people that use antidepressants as a crutch because they're too "sad" to take action and do something that will improve their mental state, spirituality, and general feeling of well being.
big difference between feeling down and depression
for people with depression , feeling low is their default position , I speak from experience , I was once a supremely confident ( although fragile due to my upbringing ) young man and now I need pills to cure anxiety
needing anti depressants is never a good thing , nobody strives for such a position
One concern I would have is that SSRIs decrease the person's ability to feel all emotions, not just depression. I like people who can feel intense happiness, closeness, etc.
Another is that 'talk' therapy makes permanent positive changes in the brains of people with depression, and pills only make temporary and unstable changes. So, if a person chooses the pills, that may mean that they don't do a good job of informing themselves and making smart choices. Not always, obviously.
and there is the issue with online dating. it becomes a check-box type thing rather than one based on true compatibility. most people don't even know exactly what type of person or personality they are most compatible with- instead they look for someone exactly like themself or someone with traits they would like in themself. realistically something like anti-depressant use won't matter to you when you find someone you're really into. will you find someone you're really into when you do online dating and use a "filter" based on random "qualifications"? maybe but less likely.
Have you ever seen someone withdraw from anti-depressants? Not a pretty sight. Big pharma convinces people that there is a happy pill...there is no such thing. It takes about 2 weeks for these medications to have an effect- Brian chemistry is totally altered- as is the personality as is the ability to feel remorse or guilt. It is a very dramatic and extreme thing to change the way the brain works - Doctors will prescribe this crap after a 2 minute interview...as if it were candy. I don't approve or believe in this stuff.
Depression when it occurs is normal in life...all will suffer from it- It has been in existence as long as people have been around. They say there is a difference between being "clinically" depressed and "down" _ I don't think so. Also - the majority of people are prescribed this stuff with no professional mental evaluation other than some MD that hears "I am so depressed"
Have you ever seen someone withdraw from anti-depressants? Not a pretty sight. Big pharma convinces people that there is a happy pill...there is no such thing. It takes about 2 weeks for these medications to have an effect- Brian chemistry is totally altered- as is the personality as is the ability to feel remorse or guilt. It is a very dramatic and extreme thing to change the way the brain works - Doctors will prescribe this crap after a 2 minute interview...as if it were candy. I don't approve or believe in this stuff.
Depression when it occurs is normal in life...all will suffer from it- It has been in existence as long as people have been around. They say there is a difference between being "clinically" depressed and "down" _ I don't think so. Also - the majority of people are prescribed this stuff with no professional mental evaluation other than some MD that hears "I am so depressed"
I think that you really can't understand unless you have suffered from depression. My father had a great life and should have been happy - but he found himself contemplating suicide. He knew that, rationally, he should be happy but he wasn't. He woke up every morning with dread - and for no reason. He sought help and starting taking an anti-depressent. It made all the difference in the world. I'm so glad that he had the courage to recognize that he needed help - and that he got help. Everyone is different. I don't suffer from depression - I'm normally a pretty happy person. But I understand that we aren't all the same.
Anti depressants are kind of like a bad back. You ask just about anybody of they have a bad back and they'll say yes. What's more rare is someone who doesn't have a bad back.
And, antidepressants are prescribed for a lot more than depression. For example, Lexapro is prescribed for simple anxiety - talking in front of people for your job, dealing with traffic, dealing with screaming kids in your home.
And that's a good thing? Many people deal daily with talking in public, traffic and screaming kids and they don't need anti depressants. I have had a bad back for most my life, I've never taken narcotics for it. There are other ways to deal with life's curve balls and I think people have forgotten that or are just too lazy.
To answer the OP, yes for me anti-depressant use is a turn off because of all the people I know and have known that rely on these pills that IMO don't need them and for the few that I felt actually did have mental issues. Im not dealing with a person who can not function without emotion altering drugs.
I would think the use of anti-depressants would be a red flag as it indicates that a person has or is suffering from a long term or chronic depression as opposed to a person who has a "bad day" every now and then.
Now, thats not to say the person is a bad person to date either. I have had close family who have gone from happy people, to chronically badly depressed, been on meds, eventually gotten out of the depression, then suffered through getting off the anti-depresents and returned to a normal and content life and lifestyle.
If I was already with someone who began suffering depression and went on them, I would not dump them because of it. I would want to work on trying to stick with them, and be helpful and/or supportive. Particularly since this would indicate they recognize the problem and have a desire to beat it.
However, I do not think I would seek out a new relationship with someone actively on them either.
I was put on SSRIs and other anxiety medications during treatment for cancer. After treatment was over, I found that survivorship was actually much more difficult emotionally and I would find myself fixating on every itch, bump, and bruise, so I went back on them. I can actually sit through an episode of House again without being a ball of nerves.
If someone won't date me because of anti-depressants, then that's the same as someone saying they won't date me because I had cancer. Not people I want to have anything to do with anyway!
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