Don’t forget anti-depressants are also used to treat anxiety. Like for me.
But if the sister has been feeling these “her entire life” that pretty much rules out teen angst.
I wish I’d gotten on something back when I was 15. My life would have been a hell of a lot better. Maybe I’d have learned some social skills instead of scaring everyone away by being the psycho chick. 
As it is I’m now in my 30s and I feel like I’m finally making some progress toward leading a normal life.
Well, I had “teen angst” pretty much the moment I sprung from the womb. But I got over it long before I took meds for my (nearly life-long) depression. It’s possible to have long-standing angst that is not caused by depression and does not have to be medicated. I’m of the opinion that they can be two separate (but interrelated) problems. Not all long-standing unhappiness, irritability, or moodiness is a disease requiring medication.
Whether or not the sister needs meds is a question that a trained mental health professional should make. None of us is qualified to answer that question here.
Nay, you’re wrong my friend. Depression is THOUGHT to be a chemical imbalance, it is not proven. I’m sure though you know the truth, with those neuroscience Ph.D’s tucked under your belt…
Maybe meds do actually correct imbalances, but I also know of the power of persuasion too.
Wrong Paradoxical Some depression, maybe most is proven to be associated with chemical imbalance. This is proved by drug tests that show anti-depressant medicines having better results than placebos in group double blind testing. Since the anti-depressants are known to be effecting chemical balance within the brain and other tissues the association is proven.
It is not proven that the imbalance is the cause, or an effect of the depression, but changing or controling the chemical ballance does have a positive curative effect in many cases. Saying “will power” alone can cure depression is as foolish as saying “will power” alone can cure cancer. Good will power, counciling, healthy enviroment, low stress, and seratonin and other neurotransmitter effecting drugs all have a place in dealing with long term clinical depression.
Exactly. Her moody-cry-over-everything has actually decreased in the last 2-3 years. I spend a lot of time with my sister. The only time she usually starts crying anymore is when my mom starts doing her Inane Nagging Bits. Once, when I went to pick Liz up to go out to dinner, my mom was going on and on about how she had taken her good scissors, and they MUST be in her room. Even tho’ Liz used them and put them back, never having taken them to her room. Before she could get to the point of tears (which I saw coming), I got her out of the house. We get back, and guess what? Mom’s scissors had fallen into the side of the couch.
My mom has this amazing ability to make my sister and I cry. she thinks I need to go on Lexapro now because about every 3rd time I visit her, I end up crying. I never cry, unless I’m with my mom. Yadda yadda.
In what I see, I think that it would do both my mom and sister good to do some counseling. I know I could’ve used it when I lived with her.
But instead of seeing if it was situational depression or chemical depression, they go ahead and slap her on medication. If it even is depression and not normal teen angst.
It just seemed knee-jerk to me. “Oh, you feel kinda crappy today? Here are some meds!”
I am all for anti-depressants, when they’re needed. But I think they should be followed up and have counseling be a part of it, so that a person can learn how to deal with depression and what causes it, instead of just medicating it away.
And, exactly, to that last paragraphed quoted. That’s exactly what I’m saying. Heh.
Personally, I’ve never known a teenager who wasn’t depressed at times. Does that mean that ALL teenagers should be medicated so that they don’t have to feel that side of their emotions? OF course there are some teenagers that truely need it. I’m not saying that meds should never be used.
Sorry if I’m rambling. I just woke up, and my body is betraying me today. Ow.
Animist Dragon,
Please don't take offense to what I am about to say, and maybe I am completely wrong because it sure is hard to make a psychiatric evaluation in person, let alone on a message baord from one post, but....
Maybe you're not upset about the fact that she is on medicine as much as you are upset about what the medicine represents. Maybe you're upset because perhaps this means you don't know your sister as well as you think. You seem to be proud of the close relationship you have with her, which is great, but it could be that her being on medicine and you not knowing why is because there are things she is not telling you that she is telling your mom. Maybe its anger over you feeling jealous of your mom knowing something about her that you don't.
Only way to possibly know for sure is to ask your mom and sister, but even then it could be they aren't telling you the whole story.
SSRIs are also used to treat chronic headaches, panic disorder, anxiety and a number of other problems.Oh, and if I had to go through high school now, my mom would have probably had me on SOMETHING for depression. ANd maybe it would have helped, who knows. Lord knows I sure hated a good portion of that time in my life. Never been on a medicine, though, and doing fine now.
Exactly.
THank you.
Yeah, sure. Whatever. :rolleyes: You know, if I had tried it YOUR way, I’d be dead. Or in a mental institution.
You know, I am so sick and tired of people telling me that I should just “get over it” and then I wont’ need pills.
“Normal” for me (meaning without meds) is constant panic attacks, strange, outrageous obsessions and constant crying jags.
Depression is not just “teen angst”. It’s lying on your bed, feeling numb, not wanting to do anything but lie there, in the dark, and just wait until it’s late enough that you can go to bed.
It’s when nothing makes you happy. Your favorite foods no longer taste good. Pleasure you like-your favorite songs, books you love, activities you adore-none of it makes you happy. You’re just a shell. It’s just a constant pain and it’s like being locked in a dark, cold closet. There’s nothing there.
I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. When my obsessions hit, it’s like being possessed by demons. I can’t think about anything else, I can’t sleep, I can’t eat, I’m on constant alert. Because I HAVE to keep thinking about it-otherwise, whatever fear I have will come true. No matter HOW fucking ridiculous.
I keep remembering when it finally hit rock bottom. I was in the backseat of the car with my mom and little sister, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I started screaming and howling, over and over-like I literally wanted to jump out of my skin. That was probably the worst night of my life. In fact, I’m near tears here just thinking about it. I NEVER, EVER, EVER want to experience that again.
I swear, some people think that we WANT to be depressed. That’s not true at all. I wanted to be HAPPY so much. I just remembered how I USED to be, when it wasn’t bothering me, and I wanted that back so bad-but the more I tried to “get over it”, and just be “strong,” the WORSE it got. Trying to cure myself through willpower made it worse, because it wasn’t working, and it only made me even more frustrated.
And if that’s not enough, then we have people accusing us of just making it up. Shit all OVER that!
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
Animist, I too see where you’re coming from, but please do not give your sister a guilt trip over taking medication. Assuming the doctor who prescribed it is not a quack, you sister probably needs to be on the meds, at least for a while. Be thankful that whatever is bothering your sister is being treated. Remember that YOU are not a doctor. Even though you know your sister well, the doctor (preferably a psychiatrist) has seen lots of people with a variety of personalities and mental conditions, and probably has a better sense of where people are in terms of their mental health.
In retrospect, I started experiencing Major Depressive Disorder, Dysthymia (chronic depression), and generalized anxiety as young as 7 years old. Third grade. I asked my mom and dad a few times in high school about seeing a shrink, but they shrugged it off as “normal teenage stuff.” I didn’t receive treatment until I was 23 years old. After 16 years of dealing with depression without even knowing I had a problem, the absolute shock of experiencing how a normal person feels when I started meds was simply overwhelming. I spent 16 years in absolute agony, thinking it was normal. How was I to know that what I was thinking and feeling was not normal?
I can function without medication. I can exist, and in all likelyhood I would not end my own existance no matter how badly I wanted to, it’s just against too many other parts of my personality. But I choose the capacity for happiness instead.
Oh, and my mom, maternal grandmother, and sister have also experienced depression. You mom may have had a sudden realization that she had a depression problem, and saw it in her daughter as well. Good for her for seeking treatment. If your sister is being medicated without proper diagnosis, then it’s the doctor’s fault for being to quick to medicate, not your mom’s.
I had dysthymia, too, all through my teen years. I too thought it was just “normal teenage angst” and I was “just being myself” and finally started to pull out of it when I read the symptoms in my intro Psych class. “Shit,” says I, “It’s a disorder, not me being myself.”
I’m no doctor but I am certainly someone who lives with the problem. I probably have a will as strong as anyones but it won’t stop depression. The will keeps me alive, it does not keep me happy.
Plus, depression does indeed tend to run in the family.
If your sister has had these her whole life, then maybe now she won’t, and she’ll feel better.