Comment by zer00eyz | Hacker News Reader

Comment by zer00eyz | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I begrudge no one their medication.

I have been blessed with some very dear friends over my life. My first brush with the ills of psychopharmacology was with a woman I knew whose mother had just passed. I went to visit her a few days after the funeral and she was rather spry. I, being a man of little regard for my own well being asked the probing question "You seem rather upbeat". It was met with a resounding "I know, and I can't even cry". She removed prozac from her life shortly after, went through a bought of horrid depression (putting off processing things means you pay later). Today she's happy, bright and successful...

I have a current friend who is "suffering from anxiety and depression". Her life is hard, for a number of reasons. Medication makes her "happy" and she does not address the structural issues in her life. You can't help those who wont help themselves, I get that. But if you dont feel the pain how do you know to pull back from the fire.

Considering how the exact same thing happens without meds, but people will just kill themselves more sometimes…..

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17728420/

Except kids.

Barbiturates were a problem for how many decades? How much over prescription were there of "mothers little helpers"? How about oxy? How many people did that kill? How about benzodiazepines? DO we even have accurate data on that, or did we just stop looking at the long term effects.

We're not studying the impact of over prescription of psychopharmacology. There is NO data on what happens if you give these drugs to people who DONT need them. Zero, None. And we would be very naive to think that we dont have that problem.

Edit: The only reduction in suicide rate of those taking SSRI's vs those getting a placebo is in the over 65 age group.

I was on an SSRI for two years, off it now. That stuff is evil.

But why? I resisted for years and started taking them a few months ago, and they really seem to be helping. I'm not so much ignoring the structural issues as I'm not so sore from them that I can't deal with them frankly.

The problem is that after these drugs "take the edge off" there's work to be done. I like the allegory I have hear w/r/t psychedelics:

Psychedelics allow you to pitch a tent in your backyard to renovate your home. But eventually, you make your home as you want it and stop needing renovations.

This is the right attitude for all medicine.

the challenge from a psychiatry perspective is that psychiatrists almost literally just do drugs (as do many MDs). therapy is almost always done by LCSW’s sometimes Psychologists, rarely by Psychiatrists. Same with PT and physical therapists vs MDs.

And as any PT/MD will tell you, even getting people to take a full course of antibiotics or their drugs properly is difficult. 1 in 3 odds? 1 in 2?

Getting someone to finish a full course of PT? Nearly impossible. Like 1 in 20 type odds.

So, the system throws medicines and surguries/treatments at the patients when possible (because they can control those things, and they work!) whenever they can, and do tell people about the other options - and they do work and are necessary for issues to really work out well a lot of time - but almost no one really does it.

Then they blame the medicine or surgury for not fully solving the problem, or when it comes back in a different form/direction.

Like weight loss.

But what else are we going to do?

honestly really do not think you understand SSRIs or anti depressants at all man. Never once encountered people being unable to cry or feel negative things whilst on anti-depressants. Even if you have, to disregard antidepressants as some evil big pharma mind control is so incredibly narrow minded.

I don't think GPs post generalises well(nor does any simple statement on psychopharmacology, everyone is and reacts differently), but I've spoken to many people who have reported emotional blunting from SSRIs. It's a fairly common complaint. Being "upbeat" from antidepressants also happens a lot to people with bipolar disorder, who are often misdiagnosed with and mistreated for depression before their first episode of hypomania/mania.

Well that's the thing, we really don't understand the long-term effects of SSRIs. PSSD[1] is a thing, reports of long-term anhedonia and/or emotional numbness after quitting SSRIs are widespread.

The parent poser never said anything about "evil big pharama mind control", however "pharma companies trying to make money disregarding long-term health of patients" is not a particularly narrow-minded view, anti-depressants are used to put people back to work disregarding their long-term health, and widespread over-prescription of SSRIs by physicians (not even psychiatrists), even to children, is a thing as well.

If 15 years ago, when I was 16, someone had told me that these meds would potentially make me lose the ability to feel pleasure, I probably would'nt haven taken them, but there was no such warning.

Thank you. I have just deleted a long comment because I don't want to get into this discussion for my own well-being.

I was once told that ADs were as well-understood as insulin for diabetes. In retrospect I feel hard-pressed to find any other word for that than "blatant lie". I was 21 when I was put on Effexor.

I was on SSRIs for 7 years and I was unable to cry on them. While feeling extremely helpless and wanting to die often, unable to have sex etc

I went from 10m of Lexapro to 20 during the lock down , been cutting down to 15 for a few months now . Taking it slow ... Cause when I quit abruptly a few years ago... I caught myself , while gazing at my 12 year old ... "I'm gonna miss him" .... that scared me, I'm not suicidal OR homicidal but .... having that thought freaked me out .... so I started taking them again . I hate it . I feel like it's why I don't care to have sex Scared

And hand waving all the suicides is rather obtuse

Reply on news.ycombinator.com