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Comment by slackson | Hacker News Reader

You know what my worst nightmare was? Depression.

My second-worst nightmare is that a loved one is about to get help but then a "friend" convinces them about how eeeeevil Big Pharma is and they stop. The "friend" feels happy and walks away, while the close relations of the loved one have to deal with the latest relapse.

I view those who discourage people from taking their meds as the same as people who encourage alcoholics to "just take one drink."

Totally agreed here. I don't understand people who discourage others from taking medication to treat a medical problem, its akin to somebody suggesting that a diabetic should stop taking insulin and just man up instead.

In some cases doctors over prescribe to people who are suffering from situational depression, giving out medication instead of treating the root cause and finding a way to tackle the problems in somebody's life, but for others it is a medical complaint. Without knowing which category somebody falls into its grossly irresponsible to tell them they shouldn't be taking medication which in many cases quite literally keeps them alive.

My worst nightmare is when a friend tells me how she wanted to kill her 2yo son and husband in terrifying detail. Despite her physician's assurances, she stopped taking the happy pills. They are all alive & well and the dark thoughts dissipated within a week of cessation. YMMV.

It sounds like there was more to that situation than simple depression, there are many conditions that can be made worse by inappropriately applying anti depressants. Unfortunately it seems your friend was in that situation, but it doesn't make the drugs universally bad.

Yeah, doc was calling it post-natal depression. Two years after birth. I suppose it's possible, I'm no physician. I posit perhaps it was was an ambitious, accomplished woman programmed since birth through culture & genetics to be a 'mommy' and was having trouble coming to terms with the daily realities while losing her independence, selling her business & having no time left for herself. No gruesome thoughts, just feeling over-whelmed. The doctor was throwing pills at the problem, IMO and that is when she began having the images. Again, I'm no doctor but I am a person who hallucinates on Doans & becomes a drooling, incoherent wreck if I take Coricidan or Dramamine. YMMV.

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