Who Are We? Coming of Age on Antidepressants

[Rachelina]

I heard that show today and it made me so angry! All of the callers were champions of ADs, one caller making the point that since she stopped her AD cold turkey and then felt bad, she knew that she needed the med for life. I ran to the computer to email a comment but the segment ended just as I sent it.

[INFP]

Originally Posted by altostrata

NPR Talk of the Nation just ran a radio program with Dr. Friedman on this subject. Add your comment at http://www.npr.org/blogs/talk/2008/0...pressants.html

Here's the comment that I sent in:
I feel Cognitive Behavior Therapy needs to be mentioned here. I've been on different SSRI antidepressants for 19 years, since age 22, for mild to moderate depression/anxiety. My doctor assured me the SSRIs are non-addictive and I only need to take them for 6 months before I am cured. I bought into the lie that people need these drugs like a diabetic needs insulin. I have tried getting off them 8 times and always mistook the withdrawal symptoms for a relapse. Prozac let me know what "normal" felt like so that was good. But I refuse to spend my finite amount of time here drugged. I believe this is the only life we get. I tapered off Celexa and have been completely off for over 2 months, and I feel more alive than ever. I still struggle with my moods at times, but I have found that when I practice Cognitive Behavior Therapy, I can dig myself out of it. I find it's getting easier as I train my brain to think rationally, rather than follow the old depressive ways of thinking which my brain found to be the easier path to take. Sometimes just simply writing down what my thoughts are is enough. Doing that along with exercising daily and eating a wide variety of food has helped me a lot. I tried St. John's Wort, but it interfered with my thyroid medication and caused a whole other set of problems. My journey has been a lot of work and I believe it will continue for the rest of my life, but I feel it's worth it, especially since no one knows what the long term effects of these drugs are. I've also found the information and support from www.paxilprogress.org to be invaluable. There are alternatives to taking drugs for depression/anxiety, and it's a lot of work, but for me it's worth it. I believe it's a personal choice. I've chosen to take the path to becoming a full human being. I can't speak for manic depressives or people with schizophrenia, but for mild to moderate depression, I believe it can be overcome without drugs.

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One thing I wish I would have said in my post is that while Prozac helped me to know what normal felt like, it could very well have been the placebo effect.