Depression

Thought i would start this thread as although the statistics show that 1 in 5 Australians are diagnosed with depression i wonder if the figures would actually be higher. :eek:

I find that GP's can more often than not prescribe anti depressants like giving out bloody lollies - my experience only - i went and seen a local GP at my local medical centre and was having an off day and he gave me a sample packet of zoloft and told me to take one a day and come back in a week - no questions as to what is going on in my life - am i sad for a reason etc etc - i went home - took me little sample packet of zoloft and put them in the cupboard - if i am going to be prescribed any form of tablet be anti depressants or antiobiotics i would like to have a few questions put to me first - i was a little pissed off to say the least :mad:

I have been diagnosed with depression from my usual GP and i found him to be professional - although i went into see him and was bawling my eyes out :( he still asked me questions and then gave me the DASS21 - which showed i had severe depression - in saying this it was a rough time in my life as well but i did take the zoloft and continue to do so and find they "stabilise" me - i still feel emotions - i have a lot of clients stating that their anti depressants make them feel numb and no emotions and like any form of tablets there are many around and what the GP original prescribes for you may not be for you same as dosage. I re did the DASS about a fortnight ago and my scores have gone down.

Will i have to take zoloft for the rest of my life???? I dont know but if i have to i will n i dont think about it i just make sure i take them every day - as i thought i was ok for a while there and stopped taking them and man i crashed like a tonne of bricks - and have learnt (the hard way as i do) not to just stop and at the moment it is ok for me take them and i dont find myself different to somebody who has to take heart medication or insulin for diabetes - at the moment the zoloft are an effective treatment for me.

well i would be happy to hear anybodies thoughts on this topic :p

i have an opinion on the psych med industry. and drugs like zoloft...

its nothing bar a pseudo drug dealing operation. if you could see the sponsorship incentives that are handed out to doctors for using a particular brand of drug, then you would have to question what the motives are.

to find a cure, or to make money ?

i find it to be the latter...

Unseen,

I must say i do agree with you and i know the doctors get something out of it - or actually i assume that they do but hey at the moment they keep me stable and are working for me - is there a cure???????

Unfortunatelly it seems these days most people only care about making a dollar - band aid solutions rather than fixing the root of the problem - hey that is the fucked up world we live in i suppose.

This is just my personal opinion based on practice in a psych facility.
Drugs when used properly are used to snap you out of your depression long enough for another therapy to be applied. e.g counselling/CBT/gestalt etc.

Triggered depression, has always seemed to me like pain. In a sense it's a pain of the soul. Just like pain is a message that something is not right with the body, depression is a message that something is not right within your life.

The top triggers for depression are,
Death of children/loss of children.
Death of your SO.
Divorce/relationship breakup.
Death of parents.
Loss of house/career.
Loss of limbs/disfigurement.
Extra points if it's unexpected.

Anyone see a pattern here?
I do, these are all things that involve loss/uncertainty, threats to your sense of meaning and place in the greater scheme of things, and thus bring you face to face with existential questons.
Who am I, What do I want, Where am I going, Why am I here, Am I really going to die. Or as Tolstoy so eloquently put it, "Does life have any meaning that death and time do not destroy?"

Also you would rarely wake up one day with major depression.
First you get minor depression.
And you ignore it, or you do the wrong thing to try and fix it.
Or you take booze, zoloft etc to supress it.

Then you get moderate depression.
And if you ignore that it will eventually turn into major depression.

I can see many things that could be making you depressed.

*Your son is/was majorly shitty with you.
*You have a breakup you feel at best ambivalent about. Possibly also some feelings of doubt/regret/guilt(this is what I feel in your writing and also pretty normal for most people).
*You work with people who show you that things can get pretty ugly.
*You may feel like your not making a real differance but just saving bits of kindling around the edge of a big bonfire(I have felt this way at one time or another).
*Something else entirely or in combination with the above.

Whatever the cause I don't think depression can be soley fixed with drugs although they may make a useful ally, ultimately it is something you must understand your way out of. And that understanding will be both the same and yet also different for each person. Just as each person is the same (a human being) and yet different(an individual).

At least that is how it seems to me.
Warm Regards,
Konstantin

Sure pharm companys and docs are in kahootz! but there are some good Gp's ou there who arnt!, the golden question huh to medicate or not depends on how well you function i guess or can you full stop?. Much like a diabetic can sit there take there meds and eat all the lollies they want and think well cuz im on meds im fine? NOOOOOO! I think you still need to work at your issues, exercise diet and take your meds so ou can eventually taper down nothing changes if nothing changes right? :confused: