Why is everyone on meds?

[Hopeiseverything]

I know that meds are not the answer for me because as many of you know, I have expressed the fact that only klonopin works for me and my thoughts of self harm. I have ocd, ptsd, anxiety and depression. My question to all of you is...are you all taking meds due to a chemical imbalance or due to something that happened in your life? My root cause for all of my problems was trauma thus the ptsd, ocd, anxiety and depression. As much as I would like a quick fix, I know there isn’t one however part of me still believes that there has to be some med that would help stop the madness in my head while I am in therapy.
Bottom line....do meds only help when there is a chemical imbalance involved.....thanks.

 

[Champagne]

I'm on medication so I can live a normal life whilst suffering from chronic anxiety. A benzo I take daily helps me. live my life to the fullest that I can and it works. Couldn't live without it.

I have suffered trauma but that is where therapy helps me. I have the coping skills to not SH, re-live it in my head or get stuck in flashbacks and drown them out as to not let them trigger me.

 

[Sunspots]

Ummmm.. that's probably an almost impossible question to answer. Most people have had some sort of trauma in their lives whether big or small (or perceived to be big or small as we all react to trauma differently). Trauma doesn't necessarily cause PTSD or depression. There are millions of people on the planet who have gone through horrendous trauma but can come out the other side and live the rest of their lives happily. Equally there are others who can't. So is it the trauma causing the problem or do some people have a chemical imbalance that makes it harder to process the trauma? Do people with no perceivable trauma have repressed memories etc which have caused their depression? This theory would seem to be backed up by phobia sufferers. Many people have lifelong debilitating and sometimes strange phobias but often it's only through therapy that the cause of these phobias are unearthed. Frequently these phobias stem from a seemingly innocuous event in childhood that the sufferer didn't even remember.

I went through two significant traumas, the first as a young child, the second in my late teens. Were they the underlying cause of my depression in my 40s? I thought I had processed both pretty effectively but maybe not. No psychiatrist or therapist can definitively say whether it's caused by earlier trauma or a chemical imbalance.

There is little research into how antidepressants actually work. That's why it often takes dozens of different medications or combination of medications before finding one that helps. It's taken me many years to find a combination that seems to help but maybe it's the therapy I've been having all that while that's finally paying off rather than the medication. If it was as simple as purely a chemical imbalance the right medication should work 100% but that doesn't seem to be the case for anyone and there isn't any medical tests that can pinpoint an individuals chemical deficiency.

 

[Hopeiseverything]

I'm on medication so I can live a normal life whilst suffering from chronic anxiety. A benzo I take daily helps me. live my life to the fullest that I can and it works. Couldn't live without it.

I have suffered trauma but that is where therapy helps me. I have the coping skills to not SH, re-live it in my head or get stuck in flashbacks and drown them out as to not let them trigger me.

A benzo every day? My dr won’t let me take one every day...says I would be ‘chasing my own tail’ as he put it...benzos are the only thing that quiets my brain,...just cannot get them prescribed to me,

 

[Lane]

I know that meds are not the answer for me because as many of you know, I have expressed the fact that only klonopin works for me and my thoughts of self harm. I have ocd, ptsd, anxiety and depression. My question to all of you is...are you all taking meds due to a chemical imbalance or due to something that happened in your life? My root cause for all of my problems was trauma thus the ptsd, ocd, anxiety and depression. As much as I would like a quick fix, I know there isn’t one however part of me still believes that there has to be some med that would help stop the madness in my head while I am in therapy.
Bottom line....do meds only help when there is a chemical imbalance involved.....thanks.

I take meds for both @Hatingmyselfdaily. I think they help even if there's not a chemical imbalance involved. Also I know that they have improved over the past decade or more, the choices and combinations. We're fortunate to have them available. I feel that they improve our relationships and help me function at work and perform mu everyday duties. I can feel the difference if I miss a day or two.

 

[Champagne]

A benzo every day? My dr won’t let me take one every day...says I would be ‘chasing my own tail’ as he put it...benzos are the only thing that quiets my brain,...just cannot get them prescribed to me,

I'm actually on a few benzos a day, have been for years, I cannot cope at all without them. My doctor is happy to keep me on them as long as I attend therapy and keep on trying my best to recover

Some doctors refuse to prescribe them because a minority abuse them and also they often shadow issues but I have full-time anxiety, generalised, so they work perfectly for me which is their intended purpose.

 

[PrincessPure]

People who take medication are still depressed anyway. So doubt not taking them would differ much. Once a doctor prescribed some mild medication for me but yea... i threw them skipped them all lying to my mom that I was taking them. And she thought that I was doing better just because she thought I took them. So to me that was enough of a proof.

 

[dandelions]

I know that meds are not the answer for me because as many of you know, I have expressed the fact that only klonopin works for me and my thoughts of self harm. I have ocd, ptsd, anxiety and depression. My question to all of you is...are you all taking meds due to a chemical imbalance or due to something that happened in your life? My root cause for all of my problems was trauma thus the ptsd, ocd, anxiety and depression. As much as I would like a quick fix, I know there isn’t one however part of me still believes that there has to be some med that would help stop the madness in my head while I am in therapy.
Bottom line....do meds only help when there is a chemical imbalance involved.....thanks.

i have two strong feelings about meds. one is that it is wrong for me. the other is that it should be a second or third step when in person therapy or treatment of some sort clearly does not work. that in person therapy or treatment has to be something much more than one 45 minute session with a social worker therapist too. it should probably be 2 or 3 times a week and twice as long. i think that less is just superficial treatment. i am also pretty sure most people would think what i’m suggesting is unpractical. to me that would be like saying operable cancer surgery is not practical if it takes the surgeon more than 45 minutes to do the job. maybe this does not apply to anyone else. it might just be me. it might be that the professionals really do know me better than i know myself. but there are so many things that i tell them about me that they just say immediate response is major depression or anxiety or ocd or schizotypal/affective and immediately move on to suggesting meds. to me that means that they do not want to do the work that actually needs to be done. this is what i keep coming up with over and over again. then i hear people seemingly saying the same sentiment as mine but only going so far and then seeking medication. like i said, i may be the only one who feels the way i feel. i’ve taken trintellix and my therapist said i was doing better. i know i spoke more cheery, but all the issues were as alive and active as ever and my self harm consistently an active danger to me. i have many diagnoses and for a couple meds supposedly won’t even work. then for the others the meds might work. but i would still like much more intensive in person work. i wonder why that is not avialable. i speak up to my therapist with moderate acceptance and understanding and “if onlys” i have mentioned it elsewhere but have not gotten much of a response in agreement. so i’m generally at a loss. i wonder if what i’m telling you now will be helpful at all but i wish it was. i really believe in person therapy on a much more intensive basis is much more important than meds.

 

[dandelions]

There are millions of people on the planet who have gone through horrendous trauma but can come out the other side and live the rest of their lives happily. Equally there are others who can't. So is it the trauma causing the problem or do some people have a chemical imbalance that makes it harder to process the trauma? Do people with no perceivable trauma have repressed memories etc which have caused their depression?

i have my own theories. so i wish i was a professional psychologist or some kind of researcher. but i have only my own mind and beliefs that make sense to me but probably no sense to anyone else but i stand by them and they are always being refined and strengthened.

basically as you know i have my spiritual beliefs but i think spirituality does have scientific confirming basis to hold on to of only a scientist would pick up on it and give it some serious thought. maybe some day... but to me, as my own experience shows me, the spirit dwells in the brain in the case of human beings. and is shaped by what is inside. experience shapes the inside and thus the spirit (or thought process, if you are not open to accepting spirits) are shaped by the shape of the insides of the brain. to simplify this you can envision a gelatin mold being a simple bowl or a more complex shape. the gelatin is different in each and so trauma, good experience and whatever the initial shape is, all play in to making the playground or palette or landscape that the thought or spirit function in. it is this first, as i see it that may have an effect on chemicals. i think the shape of the playing field needs to be worked on first. it could be that someone with many good experiences are better equipped to handle trauma. or lesser trauma might be devastating in a person who has little other internal mechanisms developed through good experience. so to me it is essential for actual human interaction in a controlled positive setting that is most important to get to the problems and deal with them effectively. i think meds may at times circumvent that in a less than healthy way.

 

[Lugh]

I'm on medication so I can live a normal life whilst suffering from chronic anxiety. A benzo I take daily helps me. live my life to the fullest that I can and it works. Couldn't live without it.

I have suffered trauma but that is where therapy helps me. I have the coping skills to not SH, re-live it in my head or get stuck in flashbacks and drown them out as to not let them trigger me.

I also use medication for anxiety, and it's been amazingly effective for me.

In the past, I have taken a few kinds of medication for depression. I think that one medication did help when I was very depressed, but it also made it hard for me to think. It was useful as a short-term measure.

My particular mental health issues are pretty easy to diagnose, and are almost certainly due to a combination of life experiences, and being suspectible to depression. In my case, any brain chemistry is an effect, rather than a cause.

 

[HappyKitty]

I take meds cause of my physical health and mood disorders, not necessarily because of a life disaster. I used to take ssri, anti-psychotic and currently on assessment for new one, in hopes to find that work. Meanwhile, I love to use lots of coping mechanisms.