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[MetalSlimeHunt]

That does not make any sense. How could an Anti-depressant make you more depressed? Why would a medicine with a side effect worse than the thing it is trying to treat be cleared by the FDA?

Short Version: The brain does weird stuff when exposed to certain biochemicals, and it changes depending on the individual. The drugs cleared by the FDA are the ones that make people recover from depression in the most consistant manner. It just so happens that that isn't a very high percentage, but it's the highest percentage available.

[Burnt Pies]

My own experience with Anti-Depressants is that they had pretty much no appreciable effect. Possibly even slightly negative, as I was pretty terrible at remembering to get a new prescription, and worried about that a fair amount. I felt no effect after coming off them. That said, I'm pretty much oblivious to subtle changes in anything, so I may have missed something there.

It's almost definitely something that depends on the individual case, as I've heard stories both good and bad for the drug I was on, which was Fluoxetine.

[freeformschooler]

((Hope people still aren't angry about that whole argument. As long as i'm not used as an example, y'know?))

I don't hold grudges. It was a fun argument. Your political stance and personal beliefs make your presence in this thread entertaining.

That does not make any sense. How could an Anti-depressant make you more depressed? Why would a medicine with a side effect worse than the thing it is trying to treat be cleared by the FDA?

Short Version: The brain does weird stuff when exposed to certain biochemicals, and it changes depending on the individual. The drugs cleared by the FDA are the ones that make people recover from depression in the most consistant manner. It just so happens that that isn't a very high percentage, but it's the highest percentage available.

That's why medical science is a popular and rapidly progressing field.

[Reelyanoob]

Google "anti-depressants can backfire"

There's no such thing as an objective "happy" brain-chemical. They're "seratonin inhibitors" and the like. Show me proof that inhibiting seratonin makes you happy?

http://psychdata.blogspot.com/2007/05/antidepressants-could-backfire-for.html
"The makers of Lexapro have warned that children and adolescents taking the drug may have increased thoughts of suicide."

Thats the *makers* of the #1 prescribed anti-depressant in it's class - their own claim.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/963903/posts
"By an amazing coincidence, just as their patents are running out, the "blockbuster" antidepressants introduced by Eli Lilly, Pfizer, and other pharmaceutical corporations in the late 1980s and early 1990s are being exposed as dangerous -potentially fatal, in fact. The New York Times ran a front-page story Aug. 7 stating "Doctors are just beginning to react to the finding - -reported first by British drug authorities in June and then endorsed the next week by the Food and Drug Administration -that unpublished studies about Paxil show that it carries a substantial risk of prompting teenagers and children to consider suicide."

[KaelGotDwarves]

Anti-depressants take at least a month of constant use before you can begin to judge the long term effects.

There are literally hundreds of different drugs for different types of depression. The problem is that in this big-pharma culture, the most expensive ones are just prescribed to patients as a throwaway. People deserve better.

Sometimes certain drugs have no effect on people. Sometimes it makes people rage, sadder, or happier. Sometimes placebo effect kicks in and you can give people with depression sugar pills and they'll feel "better". Sometimes it even allows those with depression to live happy, full lives and they can stop taking medication after a few years.

The mind does crazy things.

[Bauglir]

The brain is a finely-tuned machine. Trying to treat a personality disorder with medication is the equivalent of trying to fix your car engine with a sledgehammer. Honestly, it never ceases to amaze me how well we're actually able to do that, but you work with the tools you have. Still, there are so many regulatory loops in the brain that I'm not at all surprised that medication can cause the problem to get worse; if nothing else, your brain overcompensates for what it perceives as a problem (because it's a change from the status quo). But that's a very simple conjecture, and I doubt if it's even a general answer.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Sometimes placebo effect kicks in and you can give people with depression sugar pills and they'll feel "better". Sometimes it even allows those with depression to live happy, full lives and they can stop taking medication after a few years.

The thing with the placebo effect and depression is that the patient not only has to believe they're being made better by what is actually a placebo, they have to want to be better too. Given that clinical depression is caused by a breakdown of the brain's reward system, I imagine that's less than common.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Well, here's the problem, mister.

You can walk into your PCP right now as long as you're insured, tell him/her that you're depressed, and you can walk out with anti-depressants before the hour is over.

Only the most severely depressed often need medication, while we are just throwing drugs at anyone who feels sad because boohoo, they can't afford a lexus in this economy. This also leads to another problem, the for-profit medical system means that the most mentally disturbed cannot afford service or medication because, they're mentally disturbed and have no job or friends or support.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20080227/antidepressants-no-better-than-placebo

EDIT: Oh god, don't link freerepublic here, that place practically qualifies as a HATE SPEECH site.

[Reelyanoob]

I never looked at freerepublic before, didn't realize it's political leanings, just citing the first couple of links i found.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Oh, I wouldn't mind it if we just shared political differences, but we're talking about people who cheered on this guy:

Among other racist, sexist, idiotics on that website that make the rest of the Tea Party look sane.

EDIT: That's the previous "founder" of the Tea Party that got disowned by the some of the main branches when it was shown how racist he was.

[Africa]

Can we go back to immigration for a second? And the fucking DREAM act? The point of the act, if you don't know, was to provide a path to citizenship for people whose parents brought them here illegally as kids, and who have no connection to their home country but no way to get American citizenship. Two kids I grew up with came from Africa when they were toddlers, they're for all practical purposes as American as I am, and they've never been back where they originally came from nor do they speak the languages (IIRC their parents are from two different ethnic groups and English is their only language in common). One of them graduated from college and now can only get jobs nannying or else if she's lucky enough, find an NGO or charity that's sufficiently idealistic, which can only happen through connections and good luck.

This is a ridiculous damn situation. Nobody could pick these two out of a lineup as not having been born in America because they've lived here basically their entire lives, and not only are they stuck as non-citizens here because of something they had no control over, but there's no way for them to fix that. And a bill that would have provided a way for them to fix that got shot down. Go Republicans!

[Truean]

On auditing the way in which women use space.

And, of course, auditing women's tennis for "too much grunting."

Well, if you're in a skirt there might be a um... *blush* real reason to keep your legs closed but the author was in a long skirt with no possibility of anything showing so.... It's really odd how most people don't notice there are real differences in how women have to wear clothing, the way you sit down, the way you move, and all sorts of things. I had to learn all of them either myself or with the help of some very understanding friends to fit in.... To the extent there's a real reason to sit like a lady, I'll happily do it, because it's a good idea.

If some little girl is holding a cello and the instrument dictates another pose is better, well... Why not?

The tennis thing is just stupid. Heaven forbid.... lol

[Vector]

The way one moves... haha.

I grew up walking with my hips level instead of swishing or something, and my aunt offered to teach me how to walk like a woman >_>  I still plop in chairs a lot of the time, and tend to sit with space between my legs.

Unlike dudes, it's not like anything bad will happen if someone happens to try an inopportune elbow drop :3

[freeformschooler]

Just putting this out there: I think that a lot of problem would be solved if everyone was bisexual. Or at least, we'd have very different problems.

I'd like to be bisexual. But alas, guys are inherently gross to me.

[KaelGotDwarves]

Speaking of fun gender/sex silliness, this weekend will be the first time I'm able to make PRIDE in SF despite having lived on and off in the bay for 3 years. So far my few girlfriends and I who are planning on going together will be wearing the most flamboyant shizzle we own. Just because. I have a frilly white dress shirt with baby blue floral print and a bright pink crochet scarf and my only pair of skinny pants. One of the girls plans on going topless with rainbow hair.

"Won't you be weirded out if a guy hits on you?" I get asked.

Flattering to me if anyone hits on me.