Was diagnosed with Persistent Depression Disorder (Dysthmia) recently. Treatment involves social support, therapy, and a concoction of SSRIs.I've heard negative things about SSRIs, but mostly from its effects on younger people. Im 28, almost 29. Im hesitant to take it. Wanted some advice from people with similar disorders / experience.
>>34926787>concoction of SSRIsWill quite literally turn you in to a zombie, don't do it. I'd rather be depressed for the rest of my life then take another SSRI.
>>34926787Therapy will carry. If therapy won't work, nothing will. And making it work is mostly your job - you're training your brain, same way say an athlete trains muscle memory (I am assuming it's something like CBT and not some Freud crap). SSRIs are there to make the process smoother/easier/tide you over when you feel so shit it takes all of you not to off yourself.I'm on zoloft for anxiety and on trazodone (sedating, not "anti-depressant" dosage) for sleep. I had a couple anxiety attacks when I started zoloft, and I got slightly lower libido, but no ED, and still high sex drive, just less obsessed. Lifting, boxing, life ambition/energy levels did not suffer in the slightest. Zombie-like, idk, I never felt much emotion anyway. Again, your participation in the therapy is going to do most of the work. In fact I suggest you add extracurriculum therapy with chatgpt or whatever. I self-cbt'd out of hard depression of many years with no ssris, it's mostly just reframing and repetition, maybe learning what you really want, and AIs are great for that.I'd go for SSRIs and see how it feels. Then either cease SSRIs or keep them. For the third time in this post, therapy is what actually heals you.
>>34926787>concoctionWhat do you mean?Like an SSRI with something else? I've taken them with mood stabilizers and anti-psychs.If you deal with a lot of mood swings or just seem to fly off the handle at the smallest things, they help quite a bit.The whole "zombie" thing is just how some people respond to a flattened baseline. Which is most of what they do. The lows aren't as low and the highs aren't as high.Like the anon above said, that emotional state helps you to be more receptive to therapy. That's going to be the most effective thing when it comes to long-term depression.
>>34926906I'm officially diagnosed with Persistent Depression Disorder with episodes of Major Depressive disorder. They recommend SSRI + therapy. So it would JUST be SSRisI feel confident I can reflect on the therapy w/o the need for "stabilizers"I have been using different AIs to talk through stuff like >>34926836 suggested. Also bit controversial but been experimenting with psychedelics (shrooms exclusively atm) and felt like that has helped alot. Haven't had any major emotional breaktrhoughs, but that psilosybin afterglow is nice.
>>34927206Stick with the shrooms. SSRIs are poison, they did a study that showed getting x amount of exercise each day was more effective than SSRI medication.
>>34927206>bit controversial but been experimenting with psychedelics (shrooms exclusively atm)Society is so retarded. This shouldn't be controversial at all.
>>34927214I don't doubt the excersize thing. Trying to get consistent w/ that as well.Gonna do a 4g dose soon. My 3g dose was bad but overall liked it. Wanna do a 5g dose and see god.My understanding is it allows you see your traumas / issues and deal with them in a more direct way. I think I like that. But im a n00b so im maybe im dumb
>>34926787Of course you're depressed, everyone is. When I leave my house and see niggers and shitskins everywhere taking up space, I get depressed. Then I get fucking angry.
>>34926787If you want my honest experience from taking a ton of them, most are borderline placebo. I mean, barely any side effects for me, but also no positive effects, might as well have been sugar pills.Stay away from things like mirtazapine (Remeron) and especially venlafaxine (Effexor), because those tend to cause much worse and significant side effects (they aren't just SSRIs, they're SNRIs/etc). Most simple SSRIs are pretty safe if you want to try, no need to be too afraid. But don't expect much. For many people they don't do anything, which you can see from this thread, too.
>>34926787Don't take SSRIs, Specially for dysthymia.The goal of treatment of SSRIs is to flatten your mood to avoid periods of inactivity due to mental suffering, these only occur in Major depression and severe Bipolar.Psych will tell you the bullshit the sales rep guy tells him "Le Brian has le chemical imbalance". In reality you keep using the same networks that code for misery over and over again because they keep getting triggered by life's stresses, pressure on your roadmap, and you keep chasing after some far off checkpoint in a road full of suffering.Boomer work ethic made you believe you can only be happy by putting more and more effort. Meanwhile poorshit people do better than you in that regard because they live the day and live for feeling things right now and not in the far future. Current world is so unstable planning for the future isn't guaranteed either, and at your current state whatever future you plan will be held together by unhappiness.Try to feel happy for as many consecutive days as possible. If you manage to do that for 3 years you can say you have finally graduated from dysthymia. Do so by distracting yourself, but notice when that starts feeling boring, then call friends and maintain their friendship, and even if that's feeling boring, go to the gym and work out hard, but achievable routines, by becoming physically tired you can fast forward the day through sleep and start anew the next day.Whenever you're feeling finer, think about your future, aim for easy low paying jobs rather than getting rich bullshit.
>>34926787mom was so desperate as was I in feeling how I should be expected to act and do— that I got a month of prozac at 16. It gave me euphoria for 8 hours, then I immediately hated EVERYTHING. it was ABSOLUTELY FUCKERY AND THE FIRST THING I EXPERIENCED LIKE THAT.I know there's folks in society like a percentage that are so taxed that a pill will help but if you feel anything off after a low dose (please do not tell me they want you to take a mixture or a high dose immediately, and essentially right after the time they're supposed to take effect) to PLEAD with the doctors immediately.There's bigger fish to fry than "optimization". What are you even persistently depressed about anyways.>t. cptsd, adhd, ocd, bd, old pdd, gid, asd, ad
>>34927549Shitty neglectful father. Lack of connection with others. Pesmisitc about my ability to connect w/ others.Kinda wanting to turn inward and focus on hobby projects.Gonna quote the summary my psych gave me>Resumption of medication use related to struggles with depression is strongly encouraged, giventhe severity of depression symptoms and their impact on Anon’s functioning. He is encouragedto discuss this option with his primary care physician and/or a psychiatric provider. UndergoingGeneSight (or similar) testing may further aid in determining the most appropriate approach tomedication management.>If traditional pharmacological interventions are not fully effective, consideration to use ofinterventions for treatment-resistant depression are suggested, such as Transcranial MagneticStimulation (TMS) therapy or SPRAVATO.>Resumption of participation in individual psychotherapy on at least a weekly to every-other-weekbasis is also strongly encouraged, with emphasis on improving self-esteem, motivation, andadaptive coping skills (e.g., increasing social support, continuing to exercise)
>>34926787you can try them if you want. there's no chemical solution to life problems thoughever. i'm on 50mg of zoloft so basically a baby dose and they stop me from having tantrums or whatever, but i think if the world was more fair to me and society was set up in a way where i had more autonomy (ie less "laws" and institutions) and long term options for careers that weren't being gobbled up by ai, i wouldn't find them useful. i'm also miserable because of mass immigration and growing up surrounded by brown people and being bullied growing up. i also have no friends/girlfriend. personally i'm just biding my time in this life and waiting for something to come along, im pretty over everything so the ssris help me just ignore shit and enjoy smoking weed and gooning all day. if this lifestyle doesnt sound ideal then maybe try shrooms or lsd idk.
>>34926787SSRIs can really fuck you and are pretty unpredictable in what they do. I've taken fluoxetine 20mg for 3 months for agoraphobia. I didn't feel anything different, although my mom says I lost 10kg and had the eyes of a dead fish. For others, it can help them, make them feel nothing, make them want to kill others and themselves, make their penis stop working, or any mix of these. I'm not diagnosed with depression, but since the beginning of this year I have suffered from emotional blunting, more fatigue, brain fog, and sometimes I'll feel like shit for seemingly no reason, but all of these have been getting better recently. This mix of physical and psychological symptoms does compel me to believe that there's a physical cause to them. I've been taking a vitamin B complex with magnesium daily, as I've heard vitamin B1 helps with these. And within a couple of days, I was able to feel levels of pleasure I hadn't since the beginning of this year. I would recommend you look into safer treatments of depression, and try stuff out yourself. https://x.com/TakeThiamine/status/1954663356104925373 might be helpful.
>>34926787Be aware that if you're suicidal, SSRIs might perk you up just enough to give you the gumption to do it, without doing enough to make you not suicidal. That's why they have those black box warnings. I don't know if you are or not, but that's something to be careful about.
>>34928889I do have ideations sometimes, and have really dark episodes (ie episodes of Major Depressive Disorder) where I was my closest to attempting. I have self harmed though.
>>34926787>SSRI, SNRIat BEST they do jack shit (marginally better than placebo)they can kill your dick and brain if you're unluckyoh yeah and withdrawals are hellisht. trying to quit effexor, let me tell you I want to murder everybody rn
>>34926787>Experience with SSRIs20mg prozac for anxiety and dysthymiamade me so anxious i had to pop xanaxafter about two months i got more depressed and quit
>>34927427This is correct. Depression/anxiety are basically just those neural connections that keep firing again and again and again. Every time they fire they get strengthened. This works for feeling happy/calm too. Every time you feel happy, the feel-happy circuit strengthens.>Try to feel happy for as many consecutive days as possible.Bruteforcing this pulled me out of depresso. CBT is basically that, but with extra steps. >>34927225In all honesty traumas/issues don't really matter. You just need to weaken sad/anxious neural connections and strengthen happy/calm ones by just feeling that. It sounds impossible but it works, constant gratitude & focusing on sun, sky, birds, water, not having your legs cut off with a rusty saw, etc.
>>34929125So psyop yourself into joy?
>>34928395Idk if my feelings are technically ideations. I've always been on "I wouldn't ever actually do it but this is a new low for my spirit." I have not self harmed physically. Btw. If your ability to make new friends is pure "pessimism" just, force yourself into an environment without any long-term stakes like an actual third-place like, idk if bars work for you but there's similar strategies to that. Force yourself to say hi to people, jump into conversations where appropriate. There is that consensus where you're afraid of failure so you must fail 100 times and then you suddenly aren't afraid anymore. However I've yet to optimize that myself.Again, be seriously careful about ssris. No joke n shid. Treat it as seriously as temporary amputations. >>34929125I finally started reading my textbook for my first stem class in college (english major) and I'm gonna increase it bit by bit per day. No computer til I finish my quota in the morning.
>>34926787What it comes down to is that antidepressants help some people a bit. They rarely make a dramatic difference (but they help more with severe depression than with mild). In some cases they don't do much at all. SSRIs in particular tend to make you feel more numb than happy - but if what you'd be feeling if you weren't feeling numb is suicidal despair, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you've been prescribed them, the best thing is just to try them for 8 weeks or so, and see how you feel; and if they don't seem to be helping, come off them again.
>>34927214>they did a study that showed getting x amount of exercise each day was more effective than SSRI medication.But of course, you're not able to cite it. >>34928445>there's no chemical solution to life problems thoughever.Depression isn't the result of life problems. If something is happening that makes you unhappy and you are unhappy to an appropriate and expected degree as the result of it, that isn't depression, that's a healthy brain functioning normally. If there isn't any reason for you to feel unhappy but you feel unhappy anyway, *that's* depression (or one form of it).
>>34929597u didn't account for misdiagnosis
>>34929559I've definitely had had vivid fantasies about suicide and thought of it as the only real choice. >>34929597While not the main one, I am depressed because I feel like the boat for peak socialization is over, and I don't see myself having a family. Makes me wonder what any of this life is for. Just wasting my time w/ hobbies isn't appealing.
>>34926787you just need a good christ.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPHyR92MQic&ra=m
>>34931015Nice outsider art, anon
>>34926787I had a period of high anxiety and depression caused by a new job and took SSRIs for like seven monthsIt took almost a full month to kick in but i remember clearly that one morning suddenly i felt a massive surge of energy and posity mindset i didnt had in months and months. The same challenges that made me anxtious at work suddenly were not something to be terrified off. I didnt experienced the fog or apathy other users reportedThe biggest negative effect i had was a strong reduction to my libido. I wasnt interest at all in sex anymore and wasnt even horny enough to get a natural boner most of the times. But i didnt had a GF back then so i tought It was a good temporary trade to fix my moodOnce i stopped SSRIs my libido gradually returned to normal levelsIf you are a man, this is usually the most common negative effect
>>34931587I Need to specificy my main issues was a chronical severe anxiety, that eventually also kickstarted depression as the illness had me live as a shut in for weeks, worsening my mood. Once i fixed the anxiety, depression disappeared too
>>34930931>I feel like the boat for peak socialization is over, and I don't see myself having a family. Makes me wonder what any of this life is for.This is all in your head and doesn't necessarily reflect reality.
>>34931602>This is all in your headyou are an npc
>>34931602You telling me I can have an active and regular social life in my 30's? All my friends are busy w/ their own shit to hang out. We see eachother like every few months.Also I'm pessimistic about dating as you age. I feel like I could bag a woman, but I'd be "good husband material" and not someone she genuinely desires. I'd rather be single then.
>>34926787Are you fat? You will get fat and it permanently screws up your metabolism.
>>34932068Been fat my entire life anon
>>34926787From my experience (was put on many different types before giving up on them) SSRIs are there to shut off feelings. They do not make you happy. It's more like a canceler. It might help if the negative feelings are unbearable and it might make you feel like a zombie.My only advice is stay away from benzos if offered by the psych. Those are extremely addictive and can completely ruin you both mentally and physically. My father is essentially permantly mentally disabled now due to benzo withdrawal, for benzos prescribed for bouts of anxiety.
>>34932078I guess you are good then continue being fatass
>a concoction of SSRIs>concoctionAlready fearmongering? I know damn well you weren’t prescribed multiple SSRIs simultaneously
>>34932204No I just phrased it that way.
Using SSRI’s ruined my life. Was on them for 5 years. It makes you content with ANYTHING, thereby removing all motivation to change.Quitting viewing porn and all artificial sexual stimuli cured my depression, anxiety, OCD and ADHD. Check out Your Brain on Porn on youtube if you want to see the neurochemical reasons why.
>>34926787It is very very very very very fucking obvious doctors are getting kickbacks for pushing SSRIs on people, just like they were getting kickbacks for pushing opiates on people in the 2010's.Big pharma is literally a government approved drug cartel. Take everything they tell you with a healthy dose of skepticism and avoid taking drugs to fix things that don't require drugs.Depression can be fixed with a change of lifestyle. If you're depressed, you're almost certainly lacking one or more of the following:>Socialization>Exercise>Outdoors/sunlight>Novel experiences>A goal and meaningful progress towards itIf any of those are missing, change that. It might be unpleasant to do it, you probably don't have the dopamine kicking around to want to do it automatically, so instead force yourself. Before you know it, you'll want to make progress at stuff, go out and do things, etc.Unless you're genuinely having psychotic episodes where you may harm yourself or others, you probably don't need drugs.
>>34935515Not saying I'm this, but what if you are a person who can't push themselves to do good things for themselves?
>>34926797had the same experience, took 4 different ones over 5 years, got tired of feeling like a fucking robot, so I weaned off of them, low lows are worth it if you have high highs
>>34926787Don't know about SSRIs, but I take an SNRI. I used to have manic episodes where I would just spiral out of control over nothing. Literally screaming on the phone in a parking lot in front of women and children. Thanks to the duloxetine aka cymbalta, I don't do that anymore.Lowers your libido at first but then it normalizes out. Least it did for me. Other main downside is that it stops acid and mushrooms from giving you visual effects. Drinking's off limits cuz I'm an alcoholic. And weed is off the table because of my job.
>>34937344Also B4 someone asks. I asked for it. Doctor didn't push it on me. It was my last resort. I was totally against antidepressants for my whole life but was tired of feeling bad and decided it was time to give them a try.
>>34928958I've done it, but I only took 75mg max, then asked for 37.5mg, then cut those in half, over a couple months, to get off of it, takes longer if you're taking the 200s or w/e
>>34929129nta but yes. you have to. if you wait until you 'feel better' the time will never come
>>34926787I've been on many different ones most of the time since I was 16. 33 now. I am honestly not convinced they do anything, except I remember it being very difficult to get off when I first started and if I miss them for a few days in a row I become very lightheaded
Stop taking all medications, cease all communication with therapists or doctors and start attending church. I'm not kidding.
>34942985Typical christfag response. I miss when this was an atheist website.
>>34928951If you decide to go through with taking SSRIs, make sure to report any worsening symptoms to your doctor ASAP. If you decide to stop taking them, ask your doctor for advice and don't go off of them cold-turkey unless they say to. Going off SSRIs suddenly can make you feel way worse than before, and I know this from experience.Most importantly, don't take the advice of strangers on 4chan as gospel. Talk to professionals who are actually trained to deal with this shit, like your doctor and pharmacist.
