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Prozac 'no better than placebo' for treating children with depression, experts

(www.theguardian.com)
228 points pseudolus | 2 comments | 21 Nov 25 00:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.45s | source
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hirvi74 ◴[21 Nov 25 02:48 UTC] No.46000685[source]▶
I can't bring myself to try an SSRI. I just cannot do it. I've got a prescription for an NDRI on my desk, and I still won't take it. I am not anti-psychiatry either. I take psychiatric medication for a different condition already. But something about anti-depressants just doesn't sit well with me.

As crazy as it may sound, I think a lot of my depression stems from living a life that is not true to myself and due to countless failed attempts to be someone I cannot never be. As far as I am concerned, depression is just a symptom of my situation and not some true disorder. For the sake of analogy, I would say it's like food poisoning. Yes, the GI issues are awful, but the body is responding appropriately.

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BeetleB ◴[21 Nov 25 21:08 UTC] No.46009007[source]▶
> As crazy as it may sound, I think a lot of my depression stems from living a life that is not true to myself and due to countless failed attempts to be someone I cannot never be. As far as I am concerned, depression is just a symptom of my situation and not some true disorder.

It's true for some, but be wary of such a generalization.

It took many years of people telling me the same thing before I understood what they were saying: "Having an objectively crappy life is normal. Being depressed about it isn't."

(Almost) everyone will have problems - temporary or permanent. And while they may feel down about it for a while, or occasionally, most of them more or less recover their mental health and are not chronically depressed.

Because the majority of people have problems, it becomes easy for a depressed person to think "Ah, this is just due to problem X" or even "This is just because I want a life different from mine". Most people with problems also want a different life than what they have. But they're not depressed.

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1. NoMoreNicksLeft ◴[21 Nov 25 21:33 UTC] No.46009239[source]▶
> "Having an objectively crappy life is normal. Being depressed about it isn't."

Sounds like a philosophy more than a science. What does "normal" even mean in this context? Are we talking about something measurable? For instance, if the number of people who were depressed about those circumstances doubled (or quadrupled) would it then be normal, and there would be no reason to treat it (because it's normal)?

If you have an objectively crappy life, but not just ignore it and instead are incapable of even noticing, that sounds a little like dysfunction to me. It's not some superpower, it's a micro-lobotomy.

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2. BeetleB ◴[21 Nov 25 21:50 UTC] No.46009393[source]▶
> If you have an objectively crappy life, but not just ignore it and instead are incapable of even noticing

Noticing it is very different from being depressed about it.

> What does "normal" even mean in this context? Are we talking about something measurable?

Let's take a trivial example. Person A is depressed because he is unhappy that he doesn't make enough money to travel and buy nice cars. Now take all the people who are unhappy that they cannot afford to travel and buy nice cars. Most will not be depressed - they will merely be unhappy about it.

Person A isn't depressed because he can't travel and buy nice cars. He's depressed and he can't travel and buy nice cars. He's mistakenly coupling the two.

Another tell for these kinds of things: Ever know someone chronically depressed who blames it on X? Then somehow, X is resolved. There may be a temporary improvement, and they go back to being depressed again, only they now blame it on Y? Somehow Y gets resolved and some months later they're blaming it on Z.

Everyone has problems. Including those who are not depressed. Fixing X, Y, Z, AA, AB, and whatever else is not going to take care of the depression.

On the flip side, people who do not suffer from depression make the same mistake: They claim they are not depressed because they "choose" not to let the problems get to them. Self serving beliefs!