SSRI's and their reputation

Do SSRI's get a bad reputation because they're overprescribed. Everybody online complains for a number of reasons, but I started taking sertraline not too long ago after realizing I haven't been functioning for a long time and I felt small amounts of relief that weren't placebo relatively quickly. Do people who don't really need the drugs get their hands on them and then bitch and moan and call them soykaf? People are urged to seek help whenever they experience "subjective discomfort" and for some people that's a very low threshold compared to people who aren't functional because of anxiety/depression.

It's not just because they're over prescribed, it's because often the symptoms are awful. A lot of SSRI's basically make you a zombie, sluggish, zoned out, other bizarre symptoms. I remember trying Lexapro as a teenager and I was hallucinating that bugs were crawling all over me and the room was spinning/vibrating. Couldn't walk around much without falling over. There's so many other SSRI's (and other types of medication) I've tried and they more or less give me the same symptoms. And it's not like I didn't need them, I probably do need them even as an adult but the risks taking them aren't worth it. Hallucinating just makes you more anxious so they can give you more medications. It's a scam. There's a reason people don't like SSRIs.

>>3204 That's pretty crazy. Do you ever experience hallucinations when you're not on SSRI's or other drugs?

SSRI's made things worse for me, amplifying my issues.

>>3205 Not at all. Perhaps it was due to my history with taking other medication in the past, growing up taking that stuff fuarrrks with your body chemistry pretty bad. If your body gets along fine with SSRI's more power to you, probably shouldn't take them long term because they won't even work after several months.

>>3207 Thanks for sharing and the advice lain, before you go I wanted to ask if those symptoms went away for you after you stopped taking it?

Psychoactive drugs tend to have very different effects on different people. They don't always work so great. Sometimes the side effects are much worse than the symptoms the medication is trying to treat.

There's not a lot of knowledge surrounding them if I remember right. The actual process of how they make you feel better is unknown. Doctors just tell you it "evens out" or "increases" your serotonin levels because that's their best guess. In reality the biology behind mood disorders is a complete mystery. I think there's also evidence arising that they have negative long term effects. Honestly they should only be prescribed when a person is at rock bottom. Various other things like meditation and exercise are just as effective, but when you're too depressed to do those things, SSRIs can help you get to that point. Once you start taking active measures to make yourself feel better is when you actually get back to normal. The only reason I still take mine is that I'm scared I'll relapse if I stop. I don't experience any side effects so I don't mind too much. I've tried a couple of others. Olanzapine made me sleepy 24/7 and pretty much ruined my last year of high school because of that. Also fluoxetine made me a complete zombie. I'm on citalopram 10mg now (down from 20mg at first) which has been fairly smooth sailing.

Why do you regard yourself as a functional subject rather than a self-serving individual? Why do you let psychiatry maintain capital's grip over you, by making you more "functional" in its domains?

>>3203 I don't really understand why no one is giving stim prescriptions for depression, anxiety etc. Nothing makes me happier than seeing me being productive all day.

>>3208 Side effects like the hallucinations went away since I only took those meds short term, but growing up and taking meds like Depakote (not an SSRI but was prescribed for depression and general mood disorder) left me with permanent side effects since I took those for about 4 years or so. Hand tremors, muscle rigidity, unstable weight etc etc Probably just me rambling about medication in general now but point is medication for depression, anxiety and other mood disorders tend to do more harm than good. Like another lainon said, it should only be taken when a patient is at rock bottom (catatonic depression and therapy isnt working) thanks for coming to my tedtalk

>>3211 if it makes you feel any better I couldn't sleep at all and decided fuarrrk it that I'd stop taking it; only made it five days. i'd rather feel like my tired, cynical self than have insomnia to the point where I can't sleep after 24 hours.

>>3212 i want stims because i have adhd but i did they refuse to give them to me fuarrrking assholes I hate doctors so much

I think you might have just gotten lucky that they work for you. I took sertraline for a bit, and while it did clear up any depressive thoughts and make it easier to talk to people, it also got rid of all of my other emotions. On top of that it gave me a panic attack (i don't have a history of them) and pretty bad diarrhea. I think most drugs have pretty different effects for different people, especially weird drugs like ssri's.

>>3204 in my experience with being prescribed various ssri's they all lead to me becoming a shaking, stuttering mess. i dont even know why they do that to me but they do, and my dad denies it doing that to me because "hes a nurse and he knows better than me, im just exaggerating" fuarrrking christ

>>3203 OP here, I decided to stop taking it. It was making me feel pretty normal for once, but I also wasn't sleeping and began to get muscle spasms and soykaf. I feel kind of stupid for stopping because I did feel better, but the side effects scared me and I started reading people's experiences quitting and stuff online so I decided to quit before I was in too deep. I'm not sure if it was the right decision, but whatever. I need to find an alternative and start experimenting with drugs even though I don't react well to them. Exercise and soykaf doesn't really fix my problems, and I'm kind of upset that ssri's help me so much but give me a couple weird side effects.

>>326 5 Ask your doctor about bupropion and other atypical antidepressents. I think ssri's should really only be perscribed as a last resort due to the side effects, especially when there are good alternatives.

>>3266 i thought about it, and taking something for dopamine i feel like is way safer, but it affects norepinephrine also and was worried about anxiety if i take an ndri. either way it's worth bringing up.

>>3266 are you serious !?! that is the first med i get prescribed everytime

>>3265 The thing about SSRI's and the like is that if you start taking them for years (as many people do because "why fix what isn't broken") then you will become possibly permanently changed. The fact is we just don't know the long term effects. Thats why I would never take an anti-depressant like that. CBT and walks in the woods should be the first choice of treatment every time.

>>3321 OP again, I tried to not take anything for a long time. I basically can't function like normal people do between extremely high anxiety levels/pretty severe ocd/depression. I've tried all sorts of natural remedies that seem to work for others and the effects for me are marginal. I'll likely have to take something to feel normal. I might try the ssri again to be honest.

>>3210 sometimes anon says the big true true

>>3265 Exercise doesnt fix anyone, it just gives your body a boost in a similar way that self-harm does (because technically exercise is short term self harm) by releasing endorphins. However it has the benefit that it requires you to develop discipline and boosts your phisical appearance, both of which are of much help in the hole.

>>3322 Only you choose what is best for you, but you should definitelty consider the long term effects of ssris. One of the most scary ones is the fact that it interferes with the mechanisms that relate to love. That is some fuarrrked up soykaf m8y. Take care.

Don't fuarrrk with your serotonin system with these long term drugs. You don't know what you'll break. Many neurotransmitters have multiple dependent processes.

Ive found ssris to work great for me. I guess I'm the minority but I found them to be almost as effective as dissociatives, and as an ex disso addict ssris are a godsend. I even enjoy the slightly weaker psy trips they give. I wish people didnt universally condemn ssris on the iternet, because they DO work for some people. I don't even feel like a zombie or whatever people say they make you feel like, or whatever the fuarrrk bs people say about them. If they dont work for you, get off em quick, yeah, but they ARE worth trying and if they do work they're damn near disso level effective. >>3212 Studies show that Stims lower performance in people who do not have adhd. Also see people masturbating on stims for 10 hr straight.

>>3203 I talk soykaf about SSRIs because they seem to be placebo cash grabs. I'd recommend people read the book "The Emperor's New Drugs" by Irving Kirsch. The reason SSRIs perform better than placebos is due to the fact that pharma company trials on SSRIs are tested against inactive placebos (or other SSRIs at doses less than would be comparable), despite the fact that SSRIs have side effects. This means that in a double blind trial, both the doctors and the patients can determine that they've been given the SSRI and not the placebo, based on the side effects or lack thereof. This enhances the placebo effect beyond the typical whatever percent. Remember, the placebo effect is a lot more powerful than people think. The book I recommended has an entire chapter on just how powerful it is. Several studies described in that chapter, for example, have shown that placebos can subdue the effects of ipecac in patients that have previously been shown to be affected by ipecac.

I have had prescribed numerous different antidepressants from a variety of classes, some worked fairly well and a few fuarrrked my soykaf up hard (mirtazapine, venlafaxine). Currently I'm enjoying some good results with clomipramine, an older drug, and for once in a long time I've been able to get back to being a functional member of society. It helped me out of a dark area, and I believe that's the great benefit of antideps. I do think there is a problem with ppl taking them when they don't actually have the disorders they treat, then as you guys say, they bitch about it online. Rather frustrating.

Remember that actions speak louder than words sometimes. For someone to decide they need anti depressants usually already signals something is wrong, thats not something a "normal" person would feel a need to do. I think its rare for someone with minor anxiety or depression to seek such a thing out. I understand the doubt but remember expression is different. its kind of like how some who have actually attempted suicide think just thinking about killing yourself isnt true suicidal ideation. Thats just not really true as your average person would only think of something like that in dire dire circumstances. Its just that when you are on such an extreme its easy to assume that something a little less less is normal when in fact its a lot less. that aside i have a kind of crapshoot armchair theory that there is two major types of depression; one being serotonin related and one being dopamine related. The former creating anxiety, sense of impending doom, lack or negative emotionality, etc. The latter relating to seeing everything as pointless, lack of desire to live, oversleeping. I think often times there is a crossover or one contributing to another. But I think its a major reason perhaps why some try ssri's and say it makes them feel like a robot, or it doesnt help. It stabilizes their mood but now they are just stable with no drive while before they might have occasionally been motivated (unfortunately) by a lot of that negative emotionality and fear. One thing I think is interesting is SSRI's reduce sex drive. I often wonder if they might also reduce addictive behaviour as while having a sex drive isnt an addiction to sex, in my personal life and mind there is correlation. When I get in a mindset where im craving drugs i also crave sex as my brain just wants all forms of pleasure. I wonder if for someone like me SSRI's would be very beneficial. Il be entering an intensive therapy soon, id like to try SSRI'S first and then if they fail welbutrin. I can report back then on whats different between treatment of major depressive disorder using drugs related to both serotonin and dopamine transmitters. Welbutrin frightens me a bit as my addiction is strongest with amphetamines and so I worry the effect might be similar or can be similarly achieved if i take a lot of them. Either way it will be interesting to see firsthand instead of spouting off my bullsoykaf dopamine serotonin idea. In general its best not to assume people are lying or unaware though with things like this. It worked for you which is great, its a perfect match. But surely the people reporting bad things arent making it up we can definitely assume that. We can also probably assume they do really have depression. This is because its a fairly broad term if im correct, theres no singular depression gene just many factors that can make you at risk. So if someone constantly feels soykafty a majority of the time there is in fact someone wrong. Theres also often talk about doing it for attention, in my mind thats irrelevant because 1. idealizing a negative attitude and 2. willing to go to extremes for attention are also very big problems in their own right. In addition, romanticizing and seeking out soykafty experiences and being needy and clingy are pretty depressive traits. Saying otherwise in my opinion is like telling them its all in their head, it certainly is. Im not trying to say here that all negative traits equate to depression, just that I dont see a point in considering possibilities like their subjective threshold being lower because thats their threshold. Its also pointless because if someone says "i feel as soykafty as you" and you say "no you dont" theres absolutely no evidence for that. They could just as easily say you feel less soykafty than them. For example someone could say SSRI's work for you BECAUSE you actually have it mild and they have it so bad a simple pill cant fix it. I think the real truth behind your subjective threshold question is that it is in fact subjective, no ones experience of suffering is greater than anyone elses internally. Even a depressed person vs a non depressed person. However how often they suffer can be different, and thats what makes depression. Not an ability to feel a greater suffering.

>>3397 Amen to that, and its so fuarrrking variable that I'm on both mirtazapine and venlafaxine and venlafaxine is the first one that's ever done soykaf for me.

>>3333 I've been on SSRI's on and off since about 13 and pretty much completely lost the ability to love around 23. Feels batman, I'm not the most empathetic person but I'm by no means a psychopath. I do feel like I've lost a weakness in that I no longer get chemically dependent on people, but it would be nice to one day have the fairy tale relationship that a lot of naive people want. I don't know if this is being jaded, being a naturally more psychopathic person, or the results of SSRIs though.

>>3416 If it makes you feel any better, I haven't lost the ability to love (I think?) but I stopped being infatuated with them and I haven't felt good about any in a very long time, and that all started up before SSRI's. Depression and anxiety can affect you in so many ways.

>>3417 I'm not depressed or anxious anymore and haven't been on SSRIs in over a year. The most I'll ever have is a little social anxiety or sometimes I just really hate life in general, but it's never a prolonged depressed mood. Therapy is a scam and confidentiality doesn't exist anymore so fuarrrk that soykaf too. I don't really have anything to do with psychology or psychiatry anymore.

Alright so I said somewhere in here when I am prescribed SSRI's I will talk about how I feel about them and I have been. It's been 2 weeks only but I for some reason, maybe i'm sensitive, felt the effects within a few days. I understand why people say it makes them feel flat, however I think it's false, or its not but its "normal" you could say. In the same way how bipolar people will stop taking medicine because they want to feel the mania again, I noticed something similar. In fact I noticed something I think is really amazing, it might be common sense but I never had anything to compare it to and I think if you don't have some medication like this you won't ever. Basically there seems to be like a intensity boundary or filter on our lives. A healthy person having a bad day wouldn't make them want to kill themselves. However a depressed person it might. Likewise a healthy person won't spiral into anxiety because they have to say no to someone, but a depressed person might. The thing is the intensity is somewhat matched on the other side, not in the same way bipolar disorder is, but in a kind of different way. If previously I had a fuarrrk ton of anxiety about people putting me in uncomfortable decisions, I would be much more caring to not put others in those situations. If before I would only ask someone to hang out if I really really liked them, i'l feel someone else doing that to me must really really care about me. The SSRI's i've noticed numb this quite a bit. I might be more inclined to ask someone im not super close with to hang out when i'm bored. I can say no easier, even in situations i previously thought it would have been disrespectful or uncaring even. The intensity with which I saw the world before has been dulled quite a bit, but this is all things considered very good for me. There was a point in time I would have hated this, my depression spirals would motivate me to do drastic things that were sometimes very creative, or that built connections. However now, and the whole reason I even tried it, it's become a safety issue for me and others, and my relationships. The creativity and relationships it might have brought, being so intensely depressed that is, never lasted or were of much substance even though I thought they were. In addition, when I stopped romanticizing suicide, the suicidal thoughts were horrible, that whole spiral was horrible. SSRI's have effectively put a stop to that. In the moments where a bad feelings logical next step would be to think about killing myself, now it sort of stops, im lingering just in "bad mood". Also like I said, depression and SSRI's aren't BPD and lithium. The bad moods don't have a direct correlation to an up mood, so overall I am happier. SSRI's have not reduced my ability to be happy, and I think the intensity thing is why some people think it does both. I can see how someone might get confused and think their range of emotion has been limited, when rather it's just been made appropriate. I would be fully capable of contemplating suicide seriously and going into the deepest depths of sorrow if something awful happened to me. I'd be fully capable of feeling like I can take on the world and excited if I accomplished something good. I just am not feeling those things by just being inside my head. I never felt the latter just being in my head except briefly, and the former many times. With that said i'l go over the ups and downs of the SSRI's, they aren't without problem. And who knows whats to come from long term use? Positives >Normal mood range, extreme moods only come if there is fitting extreme external stimuli >Suicidal thoughts and anxiety are blocked from spiraling. I might have the thought "what if I killed myself" but it isnt this obsessive spiral. >Because of the mood thing the relationships and conversations im having are better. Situations I thought were worthy of my complete attention and intense responses now seem less intense, which puts me on the same wavelength as other people. Nobody is going "woah where did that come from". >Lowered inhibitions in a healthy way. In what seems like a contrast to the above I can respond more intensely if needed. Before I tried my best to stay out of the way, not be a problem for others, now I can say no very easily if I don't want to hang out with someone and not feel like they are going to resent me for it. >Clearer pictures forming of what i want out of life, how i'l do it. More confidence Negatives >It doesn't help with motivation at all. I still have trouble getting out of bed, cleaning room, etc. It's just that I don't beat myself up endlessly for it while accomplishing nothing. >Some memory issues. Hard to tell if it's the SSRI's at the moment as I have these anyways sometimes. >Disrupts my sleep schedule. I think this might be fixed as I figure out when exactly I should be taking it/have been on it for longer >Loss of depressive episode as a motivator. This is probably a good thing but short term it kind of changes things obviously. Before I might feel obligated to go to class because otherwise il spiral down, now I need to find other reasons. now OBVIOUSLY this is my brain, my brain chemistry, etc. Maybe someone really does genuinely feel flat and isnt just confusing it like I think. Also all this said, the best way to solve these things in my opinion would be working as a society towards a more healthy upbringing of our children. Many physical and mental illnesses are being found to have direct correlation to certain generational trauma and responses to it. I don't think SSRI's are a bandaid for depression with regards to individuals, they definitely are a bit more then that, but they are a bandaid on a societal level. I would like to eventually try wellbutrin and see how that compares, I don't know if i'l be able to work that out though.

>>3416 I'm asexual. Just wanted to let you know

SSRIs ruined my first partner's ability to emote and slowly ground our relationship to a halt from it being so one-sided.

>>3387 >>3203 Ssris do stimulate good chemicals on a physical level--however about half of the mood increase is due to the placebo effect.

>>3605 thats kind of a weird subject anyways and hard to quantify. If you looked at a graph the placebo effect would probably be half or more than half as effective as SSRI's but that doesnt necessarily mean that amount of increase is due to placebo effect. Over extended periods of time the graphs start to behave differently if I remember right. In fact I think placebo stays fairly consistent while SSRI'S actually level down, but still above baseline. >>3601 Mind going into more detail? Sorry to doubt but ive heard similar stories and it was always either the partner not communicating how their brain was changing, or the other person not adapting. Of course it could also just be the fault of SSRI's, but I cant say for sure until I hear more because for all I know (not saying this is the case), the SSRI's are just an easy answer.

>>3606 also some studies indicate those susceptible to placebo effect are also less susceptible to depression in general.