>take sertraline and lexapro for a few months>feel some side effects>start having extreme fear of long term side effects that may ruin my brain a few years from nowI gradually stopped taking all of these meds out of fear, but now I am miserable, fretting a lot over my present and my future, can't have fun with anything, can't even remember happy moments of my life without breaking down crying. Anyone here on brain meds? Are they safe? I can't just not think they're not part of a conspiracy, that psychiatrists are making you dependent on these meds for the rest of your life so you'll always be supporting the pharmaceutical industry.
>>35004012Here's two facts about SSRIs I'll drop, which you can verify for yourself:>In a study they recently concluded after 50 years, it was found that serotonin regulation had nothing to do with depression. They had been giving out SSRIs for nothing.>SSRI usage causes emotional blunting, flat affect, and lowered empathy over time the longer you use them. Being on them for over 6 months can cause steep changes. If you use them for years, they cause permanent life long damage to your neurological profile.SSRIs started as an earnest and sincere attempt to treat depression. But the more it became lucrative and profitable the less of a shit big pharma gave, especially when it was found out it doesn't even treat depression or anxiety in the long term and even compounds more problems down the line. Bottom line was $$$ and still is. Don't be that retard who falls for it. The best way to treat depression is to let yourself be depressed and stop fighting it, stop making misery your enemy and start to welcome it into your life as your companion. Do that and you'll see progress for the better
>>35004042>start to welcome it into your life as your companionHow so?
>>35004042>and lowered empathy over time the longer you use themMy mom has been taking lexapro for about 20 years, maybe a little bit less, she says that she's been much more apathetic because of them.
>>35004042>Moncrieff, et al. The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations. Some evidence was consistent with the possibility that long-term antidepressant use reduces serotonin concentration.Holy shit, I learned something new. Lexapro still helps the fuck out of me somehow but this is crazy. Never gotten facts from 4chan before.
>>35004135https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12947547/here's the most recent meta-review i could find that summarizes the debate and the facts as we know itantidepressants are still effective for some symptoms but ultimately you have to accept shit no matter what you choose
What about drugs like adderall or wellbutrin.
>>35004063>How so?Because the body and your brain are not your enemy. If you feel miserable or depressed it is in reaction to something. Often times that something will have been forgotten because depression is what happens when you suppressed yourself for a long time to survive some shitty life event. Then you keep suppressing and you get stuck like that, depression sets in. Depression is a bottle full of liquid that's been bottled for years to the point it's bending at the glass. People's first instinct is to keep bottling it for fear it will burst. What you do is either let it burst or uncap some of that shit bits at a time. This is metaphor for let yourself be miserable, sad, angry, whatever negative feeling you got, give yourself mental permission to lean into it. Keep doing that and the overall depression should decrease.Negativity is the cure. The reason why people go in circles is they keep chasing positivity even to the point they fake it and force it which makes them feel guilty because they know deep down it doesn't work and makes depression stronger. Nah, negativity is what gets you out.
>>35004135>The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations.Well, that's bullshit for starters. What do you think causes Seasonal Affective Disorder? Too much melatonin being produced, which leads to Serotonin depletion (because Melatonin is made from Serotonin). It's also lack of Serotonin that makes your mood crash a couple of days after taking MDMA.Now, it's true that depression often isn't caused by a lack of serotonin, but it's also true that headaches are absolutely never caused by a lack of paracetamol in the brain; but people frequently take paracetamol for a headache, and it often helps. Even if depression isn't caused by a lack of Serotonin, that doesn't cl automatically mean that boosting Serotonin won't help. And yes, SSRIs blunt the emotions; but if the emotion that is being blunted is suicidal despair, then blunting it is probably helpful.
>>35005853Suicidal despair isn't an emotion. Both despair and suicidal ideation are a bit more multifaceted than just emotion. Emotions are irrational by definition, what the suicidal and the despairing do is they give those irrational emotions a story or narrative using their thoughts, typically a cocktail brewed up from concepts, memories and ruminations. The emotions are just plain old melancholy + anxiety running in the background.
How bout get your shit together instead of distracting yourself with shut off brain chemicals>>35005889What's the definition of irrational? >Meaning: Acting, thinking, or feeling without logic or normal mental clarity (e.g., an irrational fear).So basically, illogical.>Emotions are irrational by definitionNot necessarily? An emotion by itself is neutral, it does not logically contradict anything unless you put it into context. And it can very well logically follow rather than contradict. Eg. Dog dies. Feel sad. That is logical, not illogical.>they give those irrational emotions a story or narrative using their thoughts, typically a cocktail brewed up from concepts, memories and ruminations. So basically, by using those axioms/starting materials, it logically deduces a fitting narrative. That is actually employing logic. That's the opposite of irrational. It may be a faulty premise, the axioms may be flawed, but the conclusions formed are still logically deduced from those faulty axioms. That is to say, it's still LOGICAL. It's still RATIONAL.
>>35006397What is meant by irrational when it comes by emotions is rationality is about agency. Emotions are not something that are chosen and that's why they're considered to be irrational since without a conscious agency behind them there can be no rationality.
>>35004012Take nortriptyline. No side effects. Works perfectly.
>>35004012you shouldn’t hope this helps
>>35004042>emotional blunting, flat affect, and lowered empathyThese side effects are what they're prescribed for, they're basically emotional painkillers in the same way antihistamines are sleep medications. Seemingly no medical consensus on how the serotonin system works or how inhibiting reuptake actually impacts mood, and no progress on the research in 50 years of drug development, but they generally fuck you up less than the previous generation of MAOI meds. Do your homework and make an informed adult decision, same with any drug.>>35005853Tylenol / paracetemol has a clinically significant emotional blunting effect and can be used for overwhelm in a pinch
