Can ye help me please :) (65)

your mad in a good way hun no doubt about that

happens 2 us all hun.. hormones i blame just outbursts of crying but at least its in the past now and crying is a good thing.. getting the emotion out

hi
i suffer with depression and only for the tabs and councilling i would not be here ,feel free to mail me if u want any info ,dont want to chat bout it on this

What about in situations where it is a chemical imbalance that is causing the depression?

This is not an EITHER / OR scenario. It's quite common for antidepressants to be used in conjunction with counselling. If the depression is too full on, the tablets allow an element of control in the healing process.

You are quite right about alcohol though. It is a depressant. It depresses the central nervous system.

I think you may be mistaking anti depressants with valium or librium or the like. Todays antidepressants tend not to be addictive and patients are more closely monitored. We're way past the 60s and Mother's Little Helper.

Then there are different types of depression which I would probably suggest as your starting point such as reactive depression or manic depression (mania) which we now call bi polar.

It realy is too big a subject to make a straight forward call. I like many on here have had times on tablets and times in counselling. I think the problem is more common than we would like to think.

Well, that's an interesting subject for sure!

Generally, I am rather against chemical anti-depressants. For cases of serious critical depressions though they might be useful.

Only once in my life was I perscribed some. It was 4 years ago when something really terrible happened and my life just crumbled. I tried to deal with it on my own at first, but the effect was so terrible that for months I could not sleep more than 2 or 3 hours a night. Still I had to go to work to make ends meet, and that took it's toll. My GP (who has been my GP for over 20 years and knows me very well) perscribed an anti depressant in liquid form, so I could adjust the dose to my needs. He instructed me to take only 4 drops 1 hour before going to bed (the leaflet stated a normal dose of 3 x 40 per day!). It helped me to finally sleep through a night and thereby helped me get my strength back. At the same time I was getting counseling therapy, which also helped me deal with everything. After 3 months I could do without the drops, and haven't taken them since.

I think a perscription of such drugs has to be done very carefully. And a doctor perscribing them should be well aware of his patience's mental condition.

For cases of "burn out" or "just down" I would always prefer natural remedies such as St John's wort. I have taken that myself sometimes in the past, and always thought it did the job nicely.

You say you are against them completely, but I beg to differ. Sometimes, as in my situation back then, there is just no other way, if one has to continue to function in the job and as a single mother. However, I am all for not using them on a permanent basis. They can be a "crutch" for a short while, but shouldn't be abused as a "zimmer frame" indefinitely.

Depends on the patient or if the professionals do a proper assessment or if there are enough qualified people to deal with the workload. The general feeling is that meds are too widely prescribed as a first resort. Not enough attention given to other means. Still a stigma attached to depression, pill may be used as a quick fix, and not a good idea to go looking for help outside office hours they reckon. You ll prob end up depressed when you find out how bad services are!!. Just going on stuff i ve heard.