How Addiction Happens

Question by Olive: Does taking anti-anxiety/depression meds make me weak?
I always hear about people who conquered problems on their own but i caved and went to see a therapist and after a month she told me my anxiety and depression were to serious and sent me to a psychiatrist to start anti-anxiety/depression meds… I beat myself up because I feel like it makes me weak and I’m a stupid whiney baby who can’t handle their problems… Does taking these make me a weak person?

Best answer:

Answer by Melissa
Depression can have physical symptoms and biological causes that can’t be treated with therapy alone. People who call you weak are probably ignorant or uninformed about the science behind depression–it’s not just “oh I have problems I can’t handle and so I feel sad–woe is me.” If you haven’t responded to therapy alone, then taking an anti-depressant is no different than taking, say, Lisinopril for high blood pressure.

Also, depression is VASTLY overdiagnosed in this country, and a lot of those people who just “got over it on their own” probably never really had depression; they had the blues and a rough patch in life like everyone gets and most likely self-diagnosed depression when they’ve never even seen the diagnostic criteria for it. It’s much more than feeling sad.

Edit: Not to be disrespectful, but this comment below is what I’m talking about. I have never come across a study that shows antidepressants are addictive. In fact, that’s kind of a funny idea because all SSRIs do is stop your synapses from reuptaking serotonin, which your body already produces on it’s own. It doesn’t add more, it doesn’t cause more to be released, it doesn’t block receptors. Thus, there’s really no sense whatsoever in saying one can become addicted to it because there’s no pleasurable effect to become addicted to. Sure, if you stop taking them suddenly, you might feel “off” for a couple of days. The same thing happens if you suddenly cut caffeine, sugar, and herbal supplements. This doesn’t qualify as “addiction” or “dependence”. And, once again, depression IS NOT just feeling down when something bad happens. Please learn more about the disorders you’re giving advice on before you go around talking about things you are not properly informed about.

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