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Should I Take an Antidepressant?

I don't know, you should probably ask your doctor

By Katherine NesbittPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 3 min read
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I am by no means and expert. I'm just an advocate trying to start a conversation. I can only share the knowledge I have through experience. It's important to understand which type of depression you have before you decide which treatment option is best for you, in your particular situation. Everyone is different. Everyone responds differently to each individual pharmaceutical option.

People also have different experiences in therapy. I describe finding the right therapist as "being a lot like dating." Some people click. Some people don't. That's okay. Some people seek a therapist for a season, some people go for life. You might need to pursue treatment in a different setting or a different group than others. That's okay too. There are groups specifically for alcoholics, groups specifically for the people who love them, as well as survivors groups for things like domestic violence and trauma. There are three main types of depression: situational, clinical, and seasonal affective disorder.

Situational depression where a person is depressed for a specific identifiable reason. They feel trapped in a dead-end job, a broken marriage, or by feelings of failure. Antidepressants may help but it is also important to address the cause of your depression as well. Processing the emotions of sadness or grief, anxiety or fear, can help a lot of people overcome this kind of depression. Some people might need to listen to their gut with a call to action drastically changing their lives, even though it can be scary to do something drastic like change jobs.

There is also, clinical depression. These are people with a true chemical imbalance in their brain that causes feelings of hopelessness. This imbalance could be a genetic predisposition, or substance induced. Researchers still don’t fully understand what causes this imbalance or how exactly certain pharmaceuticals like SSRI's work to correct it. We still don't understand a lot of issues regarding mental health.

Then there is Seasonal Affective Disorder also called (SAD) ironically enough. This is seen in people during the winter months and attributed to the lack of sunshine that time of year as well as the stress many people face regarding the holiday season.

It’s important to understand what type of depression you are experiencing before you decide what treatment is right for you. Many people see benefits from anti-depressants but they aren’t magic pills. They can’t fix your marriage, get you the promotion you’ve been seeking to feel validated, or make your kids behave. These are all external issues that everyone faces and in some of these situations therapy might be the better alternative.

Many people are barred from seeing a therapist one-on-one because it’s expensive and there are a lot of restrictions put in place by health insurance companies. Many group therapy and support groups, are available at no cost. There are also workbooks of guided journaling that deal with every subject you can think of from helping you to process trauma, grief and loss, to understanding mindfulness.

I’m glad that as a society we are now allowed to talk about things like depression, once a very taboo subject. In the 90’s around the time that Prozac came out it was thought to be a miracle drug. Everyone was taking it but no one talked about it because if you said you were depressed people automatically assumed you were suicidal.

In my life, time I’ve watched the conversation about mental illness change. As people share their experiences we all suffer less stigma. Slowly, one-by-one this very taboo topic is becoming less stigmatized. I remember in 2006 people were barely getting used to terms like “depressed” and “anxious.” Fast forward to today and parents are talking to pediatricians about mental illness and what they should do for their children. It’s been slow but its progress.

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About the Creator

Katherine Nesbitt

I write social commentary in the forms of novels, poetry, short stories, satire, speeches, and will be releasing a poetry audiobook.

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