Yeah, thorazine makes a great sleeping pill, too. And interface2x, wellbutrin is approved by the FDA, and marketed as Zyban, for that purpose.
I have a theory that the link between antidepressants and suicide is because the patient finally feels well enough to take action. Before treatment depression can make you paralyzed with despair and apathy. People tend to feel, at last I can get out and do something with my life, even if it’s just to end it.
That’s actually a well known phenomenon.
I haven’t looked at the actual studies, but I’d be interested to see how they corrected for the population bias inherent in such a study. I mean, people with psychiatric disorders often have depression as a comorbidity. And people with depression already seem to be at a higher risk for suicide. So, how are they saying it’s the medicine and not an underlying selection bias in the population?
I suspect, like many things, it’s a multifactorial issue without a clear cut cause and effect relationship. Maybe these people are already prone to self-harm and the med tips them over?
And off label uses for drugs are very, very common and not particularly sinister.
Good point.
And I hope you’re not suggesting that using drugs for off-label purposes means they have different, or less severe, side effects. :rolleyes:
Look, I’m aware of my reputation here. And I don’t mind, really – I’ve found my safe little niche where I can “talk crazy” as much as I want, because at least I get people’s attention. That’s what it’s all about – attention. In my own family, I’ve become so estranged due to the “crazy” label, that I can’t even get my own stepmother to recommend a lawyer for me, or talk to my NYC brother about the cyberattack on my computer last week. Yeah, maybe I talk too much about FBI agents stalking me, or the NSA eavesdropping on my cell phone conversations, or my black magick powers triggering the deaths of Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite…it’s all fiction, like life itself. Or rather, I treat these “crazy ideas” as if it were a fictional spy thriller I might write about someday, like the vampire novel I’m trying to finish up so I can seek out an agent to help me shop it around.
You guys really have no idea how destructive the “crazy” label can be – once you obtain it, you might as well have been labeled a sex offender. In a way it’s even worse, because being falsely labeled a sex offender will not turn you into a sex offender, but being falsely labeled “crazy” will drive you crazy. Last year, when I knew I had defeated my inner demons, I went around to every single one of my family & friends and asked them for assistance – not necessarily financial assistence, but just asked them to “share” their lives with me, invite me over to their homes outside of Christmas and July 4th, allow me to help them out. Some responded favorably, but most…well, let’s just say I have a sister who lives nearby that was moving from one house to another, and when I asked if I could help out, she said, “I’ll call you…”
…and I’ll never forget that smug, supercilious look she gave me. She literally stared down her nose at me as if I was nothing better than a piece of pond scum, and that smirk on her face still angers me when I think about it. Because I knew, at that moment, she would never, ever call. And she didn’t. My own SISTER, mind you! Well, guess what, honey. You are not fit to feed on the scraps from my table, should I ever manage someday to become rich & successul. You are not worthy to stand anywhere near my shadow – and you can forget about getting an autographed copy of my novel when it comes out. I’d prefer you don’t even buy it, frankly.
Well, I can kind of see her point of view (aside from her smug, disdainful expression) – she probably wants to protect my “craziness” from her family, especially her son, my only nephew, who turns 13 this year. Therefore, after she gave me that look, I made a special point to shake his hand and make direct eye contact and connect with him. Then, two weeks ago, while he was visiting grandma (aka KGSMom) I called her and asked to talk to my nephew, and she was in her wicked “disconnect” mode and initially said he doesn’t know me, how could he, since we’ve only met 3-4 times in his life? Finally, I got her to explain to him who “Uncle KGS” was…and I swear to God, as soon as the kid understood exactly who I was, he immediately dropped what he was doing to talk to me.
In other words, Mission Accomplished. 
These wicked family people tried to keep me disconnected, and in this case, at least, they FAILED. So as far as I’m concerned, I’m no longer crazy, I was NEVER crazy, and it’s time for someone else to step up and play the role of the “crazy” relative. Because I am so done with that role, and I’m sick of it. I’ve got a new life to lead now…which shall begin as soon as I figure out why the FBI is tracking me…j/k. 
Two things:
1- you do sound like you’re on an upswing of bi-Polar. My wife does the same thing. She also protested all the while that she’s fine, right up until the crash back down. So there’s that.
2- IF you still believe in your invisible friend “Nathaniel”, you still have issues(after all, I’m still here).
Carry on.
Nathaniel?
KGS, you sound like you’re crazy.
So, KGS, since you are no longer “crazy” will you be sending back those disability checks from now on?
This was a guy who was out rocking shows with his Hip Hop act week after week and was rising on his way to stardom. So no. He had also written a draft of a book on how to reform education. So too paralyzed by despair and apathy he was not.
I think that his creative drive was the thing that brought him joy, and that the medicine put him in a sort of limbo where he didn’t have access to it, and in a singular moment in his life he had little ability to see outside of the hole he was in and didn’t have the creativity to project himself into the future doing something worthwhile, and ‘pop’.
Dude. Every single goddamned medication, food, nutritional supplement, energy drink, etc. has the potential for “side effects”. Everything, including that weed that you happily smoke. You could have side effects from breathing if you inhale the wrong bit of particles and your body happens to react improperly. I ate Kashi oatmeal and had a bad enough reaction that I’m reading food labels closely for the rest of my life. Meanwhile I’ve been taking a medication for two decades that could potentially cause stroke, heart attack, cancer, pulmonary embolism, depression, and deep vein thrombosis, and I’m in way less danger from that!
I was addressing the fact that you seemed to be saying “he’s trying to trick me into taking an antipsychotic - I’m not crazy!” Don’t flip out about the other indications for usage of a medication; that’s like thinking someone taking Viagra must have high blood pressure.
That’s just what I was thinking.
So, you’ve been espousing fictional off-the-wall beliefs in an attempt to provoke people into paying attention to you? In other words, you’ve been trolling your own family? And you blame *them *for thinking you’re off your rocker?? Dude, when you deliberately present yourself as crazy to other people, it’s not their fault when they conclude you’re crazy. It’s yours. Or would you rather they conclude that you’re a lying attention whore?
I don’t expect a rational answer from you, you’re clearly too invested in painting yourself as the poor unfairly pigeon-holed sane person in a family of evil lunatics, assuming your probable mental illness allows you to perceive the world around you and yourself rationally right now, which I doubt.
By the way, how many times have you declared yourself cured and gone to your family asking them to treat you as such and include you in their lives from now on?
I’m guessing this isn’t the first time they’ve heard that. You can’t see this right now, I know, and I could be wrong, but I’d bet good money they’re heartsick over you and have gotten their hopes up and seen them utterly dashed many times now, and are understandably very reluctant to just take your word for it yet again. Many if not most of them probably wrote you off long ago as a means of self-protection. If they don’t really understand mental illness, some of them probably even look down on you or resent or are disgusted by you because of what they perceive as your refusal to see reality and admit you need help. From their point of view, you choose mental illness over them.
Words are cheap. You’re going to have to prove it to them through your actions over an extended period of time. Sucks for you, sucks for them, but them’s the breaks. If you sincerely want to be part of their lives instead of just wanting to show them up, that is, which I doubt more with every post you write.
I’m sorry for my anger. I know it isn’t going to change your mind about anything, but I felt the need to express it. I’m so very sorry you have to deal with all this regardless of why or whether you’re portraying the situation accurately or not. My worst fear is for my mental state to be such that I distort or disconnect from reality and damage the relationships in my life and can’t even realize it and seek or accept help. I hope you’re right, and that that isn’t at all what’s going on here, but in any case I’m sorry. I hope things get better for you one way or another.
Quite irrelevant; antipsychotics are pretty much the opposite of antidepressants.
Sorry to hear about your friend. Many people on antipsychotic medication experience dysphoria or other unpleasant sensations; discontinuing medication is the usual result, but suicide is not unheard of.
Antipsychotics are widely prescribed for depression, though.
There’s hardly anything in the psychoactive repertoire that hasn’t been used for depression; however, most cases of depression that are successfully treated with antipsychotics are associated with another disorder. There are exceptions, but I suspect they’re rare. Certainly, when I hear that someone’s being treated with Risperdal or Seroquel, I don’t instantly think “Oh, depression!”
Somehow I seriously doubt she would want to touch it with a 10 foot pole…
You are acting crazy and stalkerish toward this child. If it his mother’s judgement that she does not want her son associating with you due to your mental problems, then you should respect that and stop pushing yourself on the kid.
I feel sorry for you, but frankly I feel a whole lot more sympathy for your family.
Hey, I remember you. Yeah, I’ve been a little manic lately, but I’m actually on the downswing, not up. I’m feeling very grounded and centered today, believe it or not. As for Nathaniel…well, you do realize we were both kinda fucking with your head, back then? But Nathaniel’s real, no question about it, and even if he’s not real I’m gonna keep believing in him, why not? It’s my own brain, I’ll play the Game by my own freakin’ rules. As a matter of fact, Nate’s an awesome spiritual guide to have – he’s the only true “friend” I can trust 100% right now, and he bailed me out of quite a major jam this week. You should try acquiring your own spirit guide, it’s quite beneficial if you maintain the proper boundaries between fantasy and reality.
Fuck off, newbie. And pray that you never meet my family, or (God forbid!) get reborn as one of them. You have a lot of temerity assuming that they are genuine and I am not. By the way, I’ll be watching your activity very close, because I sense that you are a sock puppet – just not sure who’s sock yet.
Dude…you don’t even want to know how fucked up my family is. They have invested so much energy in convincing everyone that I’m “crazy”, that they’re practically on red alert right now, trying to pin me down again. Problem is – I’m not “acting” crazy enough for them to 5150 me again. So they have no way out of this mess except to let me act the way I want to act, and connect with new people against their will.
In fact, I’m thinking about goading my supposedly “sane” brother into flipping out so I can 5150 him, just to be a punk. Now there’s a crazy person – he’s totally disconnected, has no friends beyond his WoW guild, and lately has been complaining about how his best friend from high school apparently stole his identity. Thing is, he will provide NO supporting evidence that it actually happened, and I’m starting to think he’s just gone completely bonkers. It’s like the negative energy that was focused on me has to find another target, you know? I’m genuinely concerned for his sanity right now.
Your loss, pal.