Currently i'm on zoloft (50mg/day), but i've been considering changing b/c i think things could be going a lot better than they are. I know drugs have to be combined w/ therapy ... I'm doing that too.

For a long time intercourse hurt (lots) and it was hard for me to get in 'the mood', so i just automatically linked it to the anti depressants. Is it worth the risk of changing pills after being on the same ones for almost 9 months? I don't have a family doctor here yet, so the only way i can get any sort of meds is to go talk to someone who doesn't know any of my family medical history ... a walk-in clinic. I don't mind doing it once in a while, but i think psychiatry shouldn't be dealt w/ in a walk-in clinic ... It just seems like he's a pill dispenser rather than a doctor. Just the feeling i get tho ...

Oh yeah ... the name of this new drug is wellbutrin-sr. Their main selling point was that it lowers the chance of people having bad sexual side effects. Which was really what caught my attention. Has anyone of heard of it? I'm guessing it's relatively new ...

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fairykoger@hotmail.com

We could certainly go into the whys of that if you like, and it is a heavy issue in which some medical people would agree, and others would disagree, but the be-all end-all is that I just want to be sure that Scarleteen is clear that as a company, we really DON'T endorse this, and really feel that it's not as casual as our culture treats it right now.

That said, you're welcome to discuss personal experiences with it or other drugs like it, but I just want to be clear that it isn't something we generally endorse or support.

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Heather Corinna
Editor and Founder, Scarleteen

Everyone's body chemistry is different. Work with your doctor to find a medication that will give you the results you desire.

Okay, here's the disclaimer: This represents the opinions of Heather and in no way is intended to replace or refute the advice of a medical professional. With ANY medication, always defer to the advice of your doctor or doctors, and if you have questions like these about medication, or are considering going off medication, speak to your docotor about it FIRST. Always.

That said, in general, pink, there is an ethical standard that existed for a REALLY long time with psychiatrists (and for many, still does) that medication is a LAST step, especially with adolescents. In general, counseling and other therapies are usually attempted first. Someone, especially recently, a LOT of doctors have just tossed that aside, and medicate very quickly or even on a first visit, and often without any additional supporting therapy. In some cases, GPs -- not psychiatrists -- are prescribing psychotropic medications without any background whatsoever in psychiatry. That'd be a little like a podiatrist deciding to start doing pre-natal medicine out of the blue.

Frankly, I think that's utterly irresponsible, and most people in the field I know would agree.

A pill doesn't give anyone the tools they need to learn how to cope with stress. It just doesn't. You stop taking the pills, it all comes flying right back at you, and then you also have a chemical dependency to deal with to boot. And adolescence is really the time to learn how to cope -- the longer anyone waits to learn, the harder it gets, and someone dealing with long-term depression doesn't really need any more burdens on them.

Plus, we really don't have ANY long-term studies on how ANY of these new medications effect health in the long term, especially for young people whose bodies and body chemistries aren't finished developing. Really, that's scary. But for the most part, a lot of drugs get past the FDA far too quickly anymore.

And there's more: first of all, mood swings and depression are NORMAL parts of adolesnce that occur becuse of both hormonal changes and because of growing into yourself. Honestly, the truth of the matter is that there are other cultures where they don't medicate, and where you don't have scads of suicidal and depressed teens -- it isn't all about your body, it's more about the stresses and whatnot placed upon you.

A pill doesn't fix what is wrong with our culture, but if everyone is medicated like zombies, who's going to notice? And let me tell you, anyone who doesn't think that people haven't thought about that is delusional.

Many new "syndromes" have really come out of the woodwork very, very quickly and it's become vogue to have them. Even as shortly as ten to twenty years ago, people were reluctant to diagnose young adults with mental conditions BECAUSE their bodies are still changing and because they are still going through so much development.

But wait, there's more: I hate to bring this up, but you know, I've heard parents talk about their kids and medication, and I have heard some parents say "She's just too hard to manage when she isn't on XYZ," more times than I care to count. And that is a very sad thing. 16-year-olds (expecially in a culture which doesn't give them much responsibility or autonomy) are generally "difficult." It's pretty normal fare, and I'd worry a bit about the adolescent who wasn't. Parents have gotten through it for centuries. Putting someone on medication or keeping them on it to make someone else's life easier is questionable, at best. Sadly, the few parents who do think that way are often not refuted by doctors who know better. Thankfully, few do think that way.

Lastly, there are so many factors to consider: the emotional, the nutritional, the environment someone is in, the entire family, and so forth. Quick medication doesn't treat a person -- it only treats a symptom. And medicine is really supposed to be about treating PEOPLE.

Really, you know, those of us from generations where they weren't so quick to dope us up have gotten through some pretty horrendous things in our lives without Prozac, and I'm grateful for that, because it forced us to deal with things, to cope and to become strong people.

Bleh. End rant. I could go on, but I won't. Suffice it to say, I am less than impressed with the state of affairs in terms of medicating people to make them "calm" or "happy" anymore. I would just be very happy to see a little more caution in place with it.

I'm sorry Poetgirl. Actually, tend to mix up you and pink now and then in my head for whatever reason anyway, and last nights insomnia bout obviously took brain cells hostage when it left.

And that's a good point, emsily (I have really enjoyed your recent contributions here, by the way). Though it was a rarity when I was in my teens for friends to have psychotropic meds, those who did had no qualms about either selling them or freely distributing them, and it's something that doesn't get brought up very often.

There are tough aspects to this sometimes, too, though. Right now, for instance, my father has lost his job due to heinous struggles with his manic-depression that he's had all his life, but he can only get disability money if he agrees to go on medication, which he's tried before, and it only makes him feel far worse. Right now, culture supports people being medicated, period.

The problem is that too many antidepressants are prescribed by general practioners who really aren't qualified to do this (I found this out the hard way). This is really the pervue of psychiatry. One of the problems is thet there are too few psychiatrists out there. Even in a major city like Toronto they are spread thinly and overworked.

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All paper clips are born free, but they live in chains

~KittenGoddess

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"You have to walk carefully in the beginning of love; the running across fields into your lover's arms can only come later when you're sure they won't laugh if you trip."
~Jonathan Carroll

I've only recently come off meds for manic depression/PTSD, I decided to deal with my psychiatric issues without the use of drugs, and so far all is well..

But during my therapy and when I was having the most trouble, especially when I had questions about my meds etc, I was using the message boards at braintalk.

They're a bunch of really lovely people over there, who helped to answer many of my questions, and got me through some tough times..

Great resource!

entropie

While I think mental disorders and their treatment need to be de-stigmatised and while I think there is nothing wrong if someone makes an informed decision together with their doctors to get on psychotropic meds, anti-depressants alone clearly weren't the right choice for me.

I got off the drug and my problems came rushing back pronto. Being in therapy and trying to ground myself and re-connect with what I want to do with my life, what and who I love, why things make me insecure or angry and voicing those emotions has done a lot more then the drug ever did, even though I must admit that its probably thanks to those pink and red capsules, that I never decided to put my plan to drive into a wall at 140kmh into action.

I think the general idea that you gotta "pop a pill" if something's wrong is really sick - but let's be honest, it's so much easier on everyone - the doctor doesn't need to listen to his patient's problems, the parents of the teenage patient can handle him or her better (a la "take your pill and shut up") and as a patient, as I have to admit, it's a re-assuring, safe feeling if you pop a pill and someone tells you you'll be better soon and it actually works for a while.

Don't get me wrong, I am not condemning anyone who's taking meds, but think about it carefully. Get a good doc to prescribe those, not your regular GP, if he has no experience with the drugs. Check whether Therapy might be an option for you.

Wishing you all well,
'laska

I was watching yesterday and every Tuesday, i think, they have Dr Phil on the show. He's some sort of psychiatrist or therapist type guy and he said one thing that really made sense ... (it was something along these lines anyway)

"You can't change what you don't acknowledge ..."

And it's so true. By acknowledging you have a problem, you can change it ... if you refuse to see it, there's nothing anyone can do to help you.

I was like Alaska tho ... I think it was the medicine that kept me here. I don't even want to think of what would've happened had i not been on them. Those feelings were just so strong, but i didn't see it as a problem that needed professional help. Being in therapy is only good if you're an "active participant" ... which i wasn't. It took meds for me to be able to see what was wrong and figure out why it was so hard for me to actually get out of bed some mornings.

So i guess there are good sides and bad to anti depressants. I don't think they should be taken alone ... or taken at all if you can help it. But there are some situations where therapy can't do what it needs to as fast as a pill can. While a pill may be the fastest solution for the doctor, it's also one that can also stop so many people like Alaska and I from taking the "easy escape".

There is no way to get real help if you don't think you're sick. You can't change your behaviour if you don't see that you're doing something wrong. You have to realize you can change something before you can actually start changing it.

Let me give you a little example about the wonders of acknowledging your feelings: For a long time, I completely disregarded my feelings. I mean, people would hurt me and I'd feel anger or worry or hurt, and I would "excuse away" whatever they did and thus tell myself that my feelings weren't really there and weren't valid in the first place.
After acknowledging that I was doing this and letting myself actually "feel" all those hidden emotions (almost bit into this soft rubber wrist support thing in front of my keyboard one day and kicked my way through countless Tae-Bo classes), I have finally found a way to deal with being hurt. I simply acknowledge to myself that I am hurt (or whatever), think the whole situation through for a minute (a la "is it so bad that I have to confront that person?"), decide to either talk about it or actually excuse it and voila, it's all good afterwards. A basic coping mechanism, but it took me a while to re-learn it. Pretty sad. But good that I know how to use it now.
Only if you see that you got a prob you can start finding a solution. Whatever the prob is.

Anyway. Don't want to bore you.

If anyone is looking for more info on depression and treatment, have a look at http://www.wingofmadness.com - lots of info on the boards re:meds and lots of good info around for relatives or friends of depressed people on what depression actually feels like. Great site.

Anyway. Am sending lots of energy your way.

Alles Liebe
'Laska

I truly, truly wish that at times when all you hear in the media is how apathetic and self-centered your generation is that some of those folks out there saying that could see some of you.

So far my only way of "dealing" is to keep myself busy (such as overpacking my semesters ... gr 12 eng, bio, math, and sociology ... too much) or just having a good cry and taking a nap.

When you were talking about the rubber wrist thing, i instantly thought of the rubber band thing. Where they tell you to put a rubber band on your wrist and snap it if you feel the urge to harm yourself ... and yadda yadda yadda. It was weird, but it didn't seem to help anymore. I didn't want to feel pain, i wanted to see marks and elastic bands weren't giving me the marks that other things were ...

I think this is has somehow drifted off topic ... My coping mechanisms could be a h*ll of a lot better than they are. Maybe donig something physical, rather than just sitting on my butt and doing h/w all the time ... Homework is great and all, i really want a career, but moving always makes me feel better. And yet i can't find the motivation to move, knowing i'll feel better once i do it.

Actually ... It's kind of weird, but my mom asked me once if i was scared to get better. Since depression is an illness and something one must "get better" from, then ... it can be something some people might fear. After spending 10 days in the hospital i was terrified to leave. I spent the first 3 days crying my eyes out b/c i didn't want to be there, but i didn't want it to change. I had become comfortable in my surroundings, which hadn't happened in a very long time, and they were gonna pull me out again. I fell apart.

I can't handle change!!

Which is really my biggest problem. Admitting that just to people here makes me feel better. People who know me really well know that i have a problem w/ it. I was happy being depressed b/c i knew what was happening and I didn't want to change it b/c everything would become all new to me again, and that was the last thing i wanted. If i knew what was going to happen, 100% of the time, I thought i had everything under control.

Yes ... And I have OCD too, could ya tell

(Thx so much for the site Alaska, i'm looking through it right now!)

Smurfy dear, yes, accepting change....I know what you mean. Things is, one can never completely control Life™. I mean, it's Life™ and by default full of surprises and change and not completely controllable. And isn't it good that way?

I am a complete control person - I want to control it all. I want plans. I want to decide how things happen. And if they happen in any other way, I almost couldn't handle that. My therapist asked me to tell him why everything needed to be perfect in my life, why I couldn't make mistakes and why wanted to control it all (and why I put really high standards up for myself while others got away with everything).
And I didn't know an answer. After a while, I told him it was all because it was easier to love me if I was perfect.
But was it? Nope. No way.
It's not easy to let go of the urge to control everything. But you know what? it feels great to have a little bit of a "no worries" attitude.

You're right with feeling "safe" or whatever in depression. Sounds weird, but it was something to hold on to. The diagnosis was. The treatment was. There was suddenly stability of some kind. And that was what I was craving (control, right?).

Regarding coping - I think your idea of doing something physical sounds great. Something to get your mind and bod together again - I reckon anything between Tae-Bo and Yoga can only be good! Get out there, Smurf, you'll love the feeling afterwards. And do you write in a diary? It sure help me to get my thoughts organised. Or do you enjoy being creative? Maybe painting 2 * 3 m oil paintings will do the trick for you? I too used to study too much and never get myself time off, but breaks are just as importnat as studying. So go and relax.
Glad you like wingofmadness. Pretty good stuff, I think.

*huggles* to you.

'Laska

footnote:
"In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me lay an invincible summer."

Albert Camus

We all come stronger out of the stuff we go through.