Some kind of wonderful -

[kyburg]

You'll hear me rant about overmedication a lot - well, it's a sore point. Giving pills is cheap - compared to long-term talk counseling with active therapy. Trouble is, the pills stop working. Oh, you can cycle through a ton of stuff - it's out there - but the expensive, labor-intensive-with-a-real-person is where long term results lie (unless you're one of the people who truly HAVE a chemical issue, and one of the hallmarks of THAT is the pills don't stop working and you don't have to cycle, yadda ya).

Then I hear about Cymbalta. Holy chrome. This stuff is being prescribed off-label right, left and center for things OTHER than depression...and damn if it isn't doing some incredible things, mostly related to pain relief (and we all know I think that's going to be HUGE when it happens).

But for depression? *wiggles hand* Not so much. Read about coming off it and UH.

...and so many, many reports are from people who came to this medication because - you guessed it - they needed to cycle from something else.

I have to wonder about what this all about - and if the cycling is a Good Thing, or a sign that this is not the right way to treat depression, period.

Yeah, maybe I do more than wonder. Like - NO.

Here's a thought for the day - isn't it still addiction when it's legal and you don't have to worry about getting it on a daily basis? You go without and you're not going to feel good, yanno. But get your drug and everything is fine.

What makes that okay?

As for me, I'll pass. And yes, I know that's a privilege.

Comments

[tomlemos.livejournal.com]

I am a firm believer that medications alone cannot treat a mental illness.

That being said, I am lucky that I had help when I needed it. I would probably still be on medications if I had not both medication and therapy and the will to be medication free at the end of my treatment.

Of course, this is just my opinion.

[machineplay.livejournal.com]

Agreed. If nothing else, therapy is vital to correct wrong thought processes and behaviours and trauma brought on by the illness itself. It's very important for quality of life. And we know that it can help bring on chemical changes in the brain that are similar to drugs, for those who can be helped by it, that last for a good long time before a relapse (usually situationally triggered) occurs.

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

In many cases, however, depression means that years of therapy won't do squat, and life changes won't take effect, without medication. This also goes for ADD and a number of other conditions. Years of therapy never made a dent, no matter how hard I tried, until I got by chemicals balanced and suddenly it was easy. And after that I didn't need therapy, and still don't.

Therapy can be just as addictive as drugs, IMO. Especially bad therapy.