Are anti depressents making a difference?

[kevin_ak]

Hi
I’m curious for comments on how effective anti-depressants are for different people.
In 2006 I discovered the mood swings I’d had my whole life weren’t “normal” and I was diagnosed with depression. Being medicated for the last 13 years has made a difference. I no longer experience periods of unjustified rage like I use. (A good thing) but the medications I’ve tried over the years have never actually made me happy.
I’m like everyone else on the planet and want the magic pill that will fix my woes but the medications I take just seem to take the edge off which is better than nothing but not enough.
So basically I’m curious about how medications are working for people. If your mood is a 1 does your medication take you to 5 or just 2?
I’m not after medication types or doses, I’m just disillusioned with anti-depressants and want a gauge of weather I’m expecting too much
Thanks
Kevin

[geoff]

Hi Kevin, thanks for posting your comment.

A good question and can I just say that I'm not qualified to say this, only know from my experience and what I've been told by my doctor that antidepressants (AD) are not to make you happy, but stop you from being in the deep dark hole that depression causes.

We take them because we couldn't keep living the way we were feeling, they pull us out of being in the deep hole so you can do things that make you happy, and without taking antidepressant we weren't able to get the motivation to get out of bed, but with me, they have brought me up just enough to function normally and to be able to go for happiness, whereas before it would have been impossible.

If for some reason I miss a day or two, simply because I need a new script, I fall backwards but as soon as I take them I'm back to being able to function.

Best wishes.

Geoff.

[romantic_thi3f]

Hi kevin.ak,

Welcome to the forums and thanks for your post. I think this is a great question even though I'm not sure I'm going to be able to answer it.

From what I know about anti-depressants, they work by altering the chemicals in our brain that make us depressed. I think a lot of it is still not yet understood (even from psychiatrists) about exactly how they work and why they help people. But what we do know is that medications can help, and other things can help too.

If we look at serotonin for instance which is one of our happy chemicals, things that impact it include medications, but also day to day stuff like sleep, what we are eating, our thoughts, moods, if we go outside, if we exercise, if we socialise, etc etc. So if we're only taking medication and not doing anything else, it's going to be so hard to go from a 1 to a 10. But if we were to take medication as well as working on all the other things, then together I would imagine it could go from a 1-10 over time.

I'm not sure if this helps to provide clarity. I think medications alone can help, but to help significantly I think we need to work on other parts of our lives too.

[T_D]

Hi,

I just saw this thread and I recently started taking medication for depression and I thought the explanation I was given might help. Basically, antidepressants alter the production of chemicals in our brain. This means that you might go from a 1 to 2 or 3, which will allow you enough energy, motivation, etc to do enough behavioural and thinking changes to make yourself a 5. I can't speak from experience as mine have not kicked in yet, but I think that with those other changes you should be feeling better.

- T