I don't know what you can do then. In my situation I was living in North Carolina. I did not have a very serious condition either. I know I mentioned I was on an anti-psychotic but that was due to anxiety/paranoia. I'm not bipolar or schizophrenic. They never mentioned the severity of my mental illness as any sort of criteria.
Mental health thread
- Thread starter Disgustipated
- Start date
Disgustipated
Deity
Maybe you can see a student doctor or something free of charge. I don't know how that works, or if that exists, but might be looking into. I'm sure there are some programs that are offered to the poor from charities or some such. Depending on where you live.
Out of curiosity, is there any advice on how not to be too emotional or sensitive? Something I can just practice at home in the meantime?
Out of curiosity, is there any advice on how not to be too emotional or sensitive? Something I can just practice at home in the meantime?
Without knowing why you're overly emotional or sensitive, not really. But in my limited experience, people who are like that are people who don't deal with their emotions in the first place.
http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/resources/consumers.cfm is a useful site with a lot of resources. Probably more helpful to be doing that sort of stuff with someone trained in delivering it, but it's still stuff that might be informative and that you can practice at home.
Narz
keeping it real
That's not true. People bandy around the phrase "a chemical imbalance" without having much idea what it means. I'd love to see someone define chemical balance.
Neurons not sending / receiving neurotransmitters properly.
Narz
keeping it real
Regarding mental health in general, it's helpful to remember that the brain changes with time. Often problems like "ADD" go away by themselves in late adolescence. Depression rarely just goes away though & you should seek internal & external solutions that work for you.
Contrary to popular belief people tend to become happier & better at regulating their mood as they get older & reach "middle age". Of course this is cold comfort if you're a depressed 15 year old.
One more random tidbit, having kids is not a good idea for people with life-management problems, if you think you're life was hard to manage by yourself or within a opposite-sex relationship it's about ten times harder with a new life to consider (and gives you all sorts of new things to worry about if you're prone to anxiety).
Contrary to popular belief people tend to become happier & better at regulating their mood as they get older & reach "middle age". Of course this is cold comfort if you're a depressed 15 year old.
One more random tidbit, having kids is not a good idea for people with life-management problems, if you think you're life was hard to manage by yourself or within a opposite-sex relationship it's about ten times harder with a new life to consider (and gives you all sorts of new things to worry about if you're prone to anxiety).
GenMarshall
High Elven ISB Capt & Ghost Agent
Gee, thanks for letting me know that is going down hill for me Narz.
Narz
keeping it real
Are there models of a brain showing perfect/normal neurotransmitter activity or any case studies of people with "normal" brains?
Do you think Edgar Allen Poe or Picasso had "normal" nuerotransmitter activity?
Narz
keeping it real
No, it's going mostly uphill (mentally) anyway. I'm learning this from an audio-book I'm listening to now. The Secret Life of the Grown-up BrainGee, thanks for letting me know that is going down hill for me Narz.
A really comprehensive one? I'm not really sure. fMRI and PET scans don't really show what chemicals are doing what and where. To figure that out, you'd need to get into a brain and the tricky thing about brains is they're not very easy to put back together once you've disassembled them.
You seem to be extrapolating "we have limited data" to "we haven't a clue about any of this stuff." That's simply not true. While psychiatry is a very imprecise field when it comes to medical standards, it's getting a lot better and does more good than bad for people. Your bad experience isn't grounds to condemn the whole field. Paxil nearly got me killed but I'd never tell someone they shouldn't take it.
Narz
keeping it real
I'm mostly talking about laypeople using the term, usually parents or other authority figures telling a child "you have a chemical imbalance, therefor you need drugs" (or an adult telling that story to themselves).
The brain of a severely depressed person is going to be significantly different than one of a non-depressed person but to classify depression as a mere-chemical-imbalance is pretty degrading, IMO. Also laypeople tend to talk about a chemical imbalance as if it's some static permanently thing that was only just discovered by their shrink instead of a temporary brainstate resulting from both internal & external life factors that should be examined.
I just don't like the term as it leads to misconceptions like useless's that "if there's a chemical imbalance" only drugs can help (which is basically saying that only drugs can help any emotionally/mental problem as all severe emotional/mental problems are going to alter the way the brain works (as will any severe trauma or even an intensely positive experience).
That's subjective really. I do agree that it is getting better. In the late 80's and early 90's when I was in it's clutches I feel was a utter dark age compared to now.
You're confusing me with another poster. I agree that you can't judge a drug's worth or lack of worth based on anecdotes. Someone may commit suicide shortly after starting Prozac (or make their high school into a real life first person shooter game), another may credit it with "fixing" their depression. There's a lot of scientific literature about depression & anxiety & more accruing all the time so looking at that is a better idea.
Ayatollah So
the spoof'll set you free
It may be worse than that. There have been several occasions on which scientists have discovered brain abnormalities of patients with certain kinds of mental illness, and were widely thought to be the cause of the mental illness. Only to discover later that these unusual brain features were adaptations to drug treatments; the brain abnormalities were caused by the treatments. For example, in psychotic patients treated with dopamine antagonists, the number of dopamine receptors in the brain generally increases (see pg 6). This may be at least partly responsible for the boomerang effect patients often experience if they go off their meds (they're "crazier" than normal).
Changing the subject to depression, suppose your serotonin levels are low, and that this is related to gloomy moods. That's consistent with the possibility that your environment or your lifestyle is, well, depressing. The best cure might be to change those. Before killing the (neurochemical) messengers, consider what they may be trying to tell you.
Narz
keeping it real
Yeah, I've read about that effect with cocaine & I imagine other stimulant drugs would have a similar effect. Ritalin for example increases the susceptibility to depression later in life if given to children (thanks Dr. Greenhill!).
Very well put.
While depression is pretty damn awful it's pretty obvious much of it stemmed from an alienated feeling within my family unit & social problems at school. I also learned a lot from my various bouts with it as I was no longer able to blot it out with video games & other distractions. Depression makes the "normal" things that made you happy (sports, movies, games, food, sex) not do it for you anymore. As a youth I used to wonder what on Earth the evolutionary advantage of depression could possibly be, now I understand. If you are able to maintain a baseline repressed level of comfort/adaptation without ever getting too what motivation do you have to grow?
Unfortunately treating symptomology rather than getting to the roots is very common, in the US anyway. Not only in medicine but a whole other range of issues.
aimeeandbeatles
watermelon
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2007
- Messages
- 20,112
I always found it oddly ironic that depression medications "may increase the risk of suicide."
Nobody really knows anything about depression, when it comes down to it. It is known that some patients respond well to antidepressants, some to CBT, some to lifestyle changes, etc. I think, ultimately, you're just going to have to try a variety of things and see what works.
Do you have a family history of depression, and if so, do you know of anything that has helped family members? If you do, you may want to start there; there seems to be a significant genetic component in many cases. In my own case, I can trace depression back to my great-grandmother; it then passed to my grandmother and then my dad and three of his four siblings, then me and around half of my cousins on my paternal side. Every one of them who has tried SSRIs improved dramatically, and someday I'll probably give in and take them too.
Regarding Paxil: it generally has the strongest side effect profile of the SSRIs, including weight gain, serious discontinuation symptoms, and an even stronger negative effect on libido than the others. If you do try antidepressants, it'd likely be best not to start there.
In general, I don't see anything wrong with using antidepressants, but you do need to thoroughly research anything you're thinking of taking so that you can make an informed decision. Psychiatrists in general are drug-pushers, so be sure you know your drugs ahead of time so you know what you are and aren't willing to take.
Do you have a family history of depression, and if so, do you know of anything that has helped family members? If you do, you may want to start there; there seems to be a significant genetic component in many cases. In my own case, I can trace depression back to my great-grandmother; it then passed to my grandmother and then my dad and three of his four siblings, then me and around half of my cousins on my paternal side. Every one of them who has tried SSRIs improved dramatically, and someday I'll probably give in and take them too.
Regarding Paxil: it generally has the strongest side effect profile of the SSRIs, including weight gain, serious discontinuation symptoms, and an even stronger negative effect on libido than the others. If you do try antidepressants, it'd likely be best not to start there.
In general, I don't see anything wrong with using antidepressants, but you do need to thoroughly research anything you're thinking of taking so that you can make an informed decision. Psychiatrists in general are drug-pushers, so be sure you know your drugs ahead of time so you know what you are and aren't willing to take.
It's a short term risk when you're first starting the medication. You are still depressed, but all the sudden you've gotten energy back. Combine that with the poor impulse control of a teen and it's a bad situation.
If that's the the actual reason, I'm unsure. That's how it felt to me though. Though I must also concede that my recollections could be heavily tainted by reading similar stories from others.
Going off Paxil cold turkey was a horrible experience. My parents couldn't afford it due to a huge issue with child support (my parents had gotten back together and the state was still taking money from my dad, but since I'd turned 18, was not paying it to my mom). I would have killed someone to be able to afford the next month's prescription -- well killed someone if I'd been able to leave the house.
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
There are chemical balances separate from the ones affected by psychiatric drugs. These chemical states can have completely and wholesale psychiatric manifestations from depression to ADD to Bipolar etc. In some cases, the drugs used to treat them are easier on the body but have a greater impact. Double win?
One very important one is being subclinically hypothyroid. This can manifest in a few ways, sometimes that you have a completely healthy TSH and T4 level but your body isn't converting that juice into active T3 hormone.
This can leave a person largely functional... except that they might be very easily agitated, frequently (sometimes even suicidally) depressed, etc.
"Chemical imbalances" can also occur because of other problems like allergies or infections. Serious wheat allergies might not always leave a rash, but you can end up nearly schizophrenic and anxious. Hang out in the woods or even a park bench, get bit by a tick, and you get a spirochete infection like borrelia or bartonella that goes undetected for years while you suffer concentration problems, mood swings, and general low energy.
So yes, chemical imbalances are very very important for our mental health, but they go much much further than "take zoloft because you're down"
One very important one is being subclinically hypothyroid. This can manifest in a few ways, sometimes that you have a completely healthy TSH and T4 level but your body isn't converting that juice into active T3 hormone.
This can leave a person largely functional... except that they might be very easily agitated, frequently (sometimes even suicidally) depressed, etc.
"Chemical imbalances" can also occur because of other problems like allergies or infections. Serious wheat allergies might not always leave a rash, but you can end up nearly schizophrenic and anxious. Hang out in the woods or even a park bench, get bit by a tick, and you get a spirochete infection like borrelia or bartonella that goes undetected for years while you suffer concentration problems, mood swings, and general low energy.
So yes, chemical imbalances are very very important for our mental health, but they go much much further than "take zoloft because you're down"
Hygro
soundcloud.com/hygro/
That's a pretty good explanation, actually. For a lot of cases of classic unipolar depression, neither drugs nor therapy are effective... alone. But with both can come massive recovery. Getting your energy and motivation back while still having all your recent memories for "life sucks, there's no hope" can cause a window of danger.
It's kind of like how most bipolar people commit suicide during their (hypo) mania phase, when they are more likely to feel good, rather than their depressed phase.
That makes sense to me. As I understand it, suicidal thoughts tend to last for a while after other symptoms like lack of energy recede, which is a far more dangerous situation than feeling suicidal without enough energy to do anything about it. I remember seeing a graph of suicide rates by month - there was a sharp peak in the spring, which makes a lot of sense if suicidal thoughts are some of the last symptoms to disappear.
That's terrible! My dad was on Paxil for about two years following a bout of near-suicidal depression a few years ago. It worked very well (despite all the side effects), but he experienced brain zaps and a number of other symptoms even with a slow tapering off the drug. How long did it take for the withdrawal to go away?
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