Looks like meds don't help as much unless your really messed up....

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23348068/wid/11915773?GT1=10914

I used Prozac for about 6 months on the advice of my doctor when I was having a tough time and was suffering from panic attacks as a result of my stress and depression. The doctor told me that the point of the treatment was to get yourself out of the hole, and once out, I could quit. I followed the doc's advice and he was right. Of course, everyone's situations differ, but I know many people close to me, including myself, that have benefited from anti-depressants.

Antidepressents help A LOT of people. Take this article with a grain of salt because every person is different. I also have to laugh when some people say, try feeling better the natural way with diet and excercise. Talk about a load of Bullshit. If you are severly depressed sometimes drugs are the only option. If you have a chemical imbalance in your brain, diet and excercise won't usually help.
My girlfriends mother is taking Efexor for hot flashes, she gets them really badley. Her hot flashes are all but gone, not to mention she doesn't fight as often with her husband, things just don't seem to bother her as much. Hey, I say even if the drugs help a little bit, why not?

HEY!
I'm just posting something I read on the Internet that's all. My wife took them back in 97' and they worked wonderful for her.
I'm NOT knocking Antidepressants I'm just post information.

Trixters new name is Tom Cruise.

First of all, they are taking specifically in this study about SSRIs - the most common type of anti-depressants (Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, etc.). Some others work differently. I have a friend who has been taking Wellubutrin - which is an odd one, not a member of any of the families, sort of a form of amphetamine - and it has been doing wonders for my friend.

But, I'm a believer (having had some experience myself) that anti-depressants rely heavily on the power of suggestion to work. First of all, look at any double-blind study ever done of anti-depressants. The control group gets sugar pills and a certain, significant percentage, always improves, without medication! In fact, the key way efficacy of anti-depressants is measured is by comparing the results of the medication vs. placebo. The percent that improves vs. placebo must be significant enough or the medication isn't considered effective.

I have a personal theory about anti-depressants that I call "enhanced suggestion." If you've ever been on any of these medications, whether they have helped you or not, you can usually tell you are taking something, not just a sugar pill. You feel buzzed or sleepy or jittery - something. Definitely not just a sugar pill! The fact that you are on something that you can feel in your body physically plus the power of suggestion I believe combine to produce relief - in some people.

Andrew

Hey Trixter, you don't practice scientology by any chance, do ya?

Trixters new name is Tom Cruise.

And your????

Hey Trixter, you don't practice scientology by any chance, do ya?

Nope. That's worse than Herb's EXTREME RIGHT views.

A friend of mine who teaches A&D counseling courses frequently says "Pills are not skills," meaning that medications are often needed to stabilize a person, but for many, learning coping skills via counseling can offer a longer term solution.

My personal experience is similar to Vitalogy's where taking Paxil for a period of time seemed to help me re-learn how to handle certain emotions.

While diet and exercise alone are not enough in many cases, they aren't "bullshit" either. They are usually just pieces to a larger puzzle, but are important pieces.

Andrew, I think your theory has some serious merit.

IMHO, it's also behind a lot of casual drug use. This way it's just legal.

Life, taken as a whole, is depressing. True statement. When one stops to think of positive experiences, that's when life becomes great.

I have a tough time believing that nobody receives satisfaction and joy from at least something out there, and I bet there's something out there - somewhere - for people to get as much out of whatever that is as possible.

People aren't willing to talk to each other anymore - people are "too busy" or "have their own problems" or whatever. But, when people talk, sometimes people meet others that make their job or whatever easier, less busy, or whatever. Nobody knows until they try.

With that trying comes both success and failure. If one has already figured out how to separate happy from unhappy, good from bad, and joy from sorrow (and I really doubt that most people need pills to do this), that's what'll eventually lead them on the path from being depressed.

The current state of radio should make every one depressed!

As a wise master sergeant once told me "Lifes a bitch, then you die".