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DrAwkward wrote:

simmo wrote:

happyandbored wrote:This is irrelevant to the debate, but does anyone else here have problems reading this guy's posts and not being able to avoid imagining them being spoken aloud by Egon Spengler? (because of the avatar)

I have that exact problem. No offence, Dr Awkward - you seem to be a great guy and a cool forum contributor - I just have the voice of Harold Ramis ringin in my ears whenever I read your posts.

I'm trying to figure out how this is a bad thing. Oh, you have accused me of sounding like a man who could have boffed Annie Potts in Ghostbusters! Woe! Carry on, gents.

It's in no way a bad thing. Spores, molds and fungus. Awesome stuff.

I've been on lexapro and wellbutrin for a while, and I'm sorry to say they decrease your sex drive. a LOT.

I mean, the alternative is staying in bed all day without being able to get up, but it's a sacrifice.

Ace wrote:I've been on lexapro and wellbutrin for a while, and I'm sorry to say they decrease your sex drive. a LOT.

I mean, the alternative is staying in bed all day without being able to get up, but it's a sacrifice.

So weird. I wonder how much of that is based on the individual? Or maybe it's just that lexapro does decrease it, but not as much as, say, zoloft.

My wife has been on Lexapro (for anxiety) for three? years now, and it's helped her anxiety tremendously and only cut her libido a little bit - mostly it inhibits, ah, physical ability rather than desire.

I, on other hand, spent a year on the same drug for the same reason and it worked wonders for my anxiety but sent my drive through the floor.

CRAP and NOT CRAP.

Minotaur029 wrote:What works for me? Me. You have to fucking fight, fight, fight your way through it. You have to get up and force yourself to go out, even when your mind and your body tell you NOT to get out of bed.

I did that for a few months and every moment at work, around others, was like sickening terror. I ended up drinking a bottle of brandy one night and on the way home from a visit to a bar, spur of the moment, pointed my truck at a tree and floored it. I was going 70 in a 35. Luckily, I hit a curb and blew the tires out and the truck spun and hit the tree on the passenger side. It flipped a few times and landed in the marsh. At the hospital they asked if I'd done it on purpose. I said, Of course not! I wasn't sure for about a week afterwards, but this terrible feeling kept sneaking up on me that I had done it deliberately.

Nothing or no one forced me to drink so much, but it was how I coped with 12 hrs. a day of "sucking it up" and "dealing."

anti depressants are a crutch
narcotics are a crutch
advil is a crutch
alcohol is a crutch
THC is a crutch

I don't dis crutches. people sometimes need crutches.

crutches get a bad reputation.
i think they are very helpful.
if you need it, use it.
i can't judge someone for using a crutch.
i bet they wouldn't use it if they felt like they could get by without.

antidepressants are NC.

the$inmusicisallmine wrote:anti depressants are a crutch
narcotics are a crutch
advil is a crutch
alcohol is a crutch
THC is a crutch

"ura crutch."

I don't dis crutches. people sometimes need crutches.

Correct! People with broken legs, for instance! This is what people forget when they play the crutch card.

If you've ever lived with someone who has genuine, bonafide, diagnosed Depression you hopefully know that the drugs that treat their condition are not crap. If you are not convinced, hang around someone else who has genuine, bonafide, diagnosed Depression and refuses to TAKE the meds they're prescribed and let me know how fun you think it is.

It is no fun. For either of you.

The drugs are there for a reason. It is a reason many of us may wish didn't exist, but it does. Thank goodness for the drugs.

For people who actually are chemically depressed: Not Crap

Overprescription: Crap

Not really understanding how they work and prescribing them without full understanding of symptoms: Crap.

Your conclusion is aight, but your reasoning is a bit screwy.

I've taken several different types of anti-depressant over the last few years.

Lofepramine was the one that left me as impotent as a Nevada boxing commissioner. Which, funnily enough, doesn't exactly help your self-esteem. Also, another side effect was that it sent me near insane. Crying randomly, attacks of rage, suicidal thoughts. Not a fun time. Tricyclics fucked with my body and head.

Luckily I got the fuck off them in a month and switched to Prozac, which did a lot to help.

I agree with a lot of what's being said here re: over-prescription, and especially Clocker Bob's point about there being a good pain that should not be shirked. However, I don't buy the kind of arguments put forward in The Trap wholesale. Curtis touches on some truths, but ultimately his handling of the issue is heavy handed. He over-simplifies things.

As Minotaur put it, the best thing to do is fight, fight, fight against it. Other people have pointed out that it may well be impossible to find this kind of willpower when crippled by depression, and whilst this is clearly the case, I would say that if you're popping the Prozac but not making any attempt to actively engage with the drug and its effects, you won't get over anything much very quickly. The best the SSRIs can do is level your moods enough for you to find enough inner strength to engage with the problem. They're not a complete cure, they merely offer you a liferaft, but it's up to you what you make of it from there.

I have to vote NOT CRAP because I think I have friends who are only alive because of the availability of SSRIs. And I'm fucked if I know what would have happened to me a couple of years back without them.... I really don't like to even think about it. They really can be a positive force, in the right circumstances. It's very easy to see taking anti-depressants as weak if you've never experienced clinical depression - I'd advise caution when making these bold statements about how you should embrace these feelings, how society causes them, etc - it's not a lot of help to someone in a clinically depressed state.