Since you’re quite insistent on word definitions as per your ATMB thread, I respectfully submit that you do another look-up on “empathize.” Because someone who glibly says “happiness doesn’t come out of a bottle, hang in there” is not empathizing.
If you don’t have depression, if you’re not “wired for sad,” then don’t pass along phrases you saw on kitten posters. Seriously, your post made me want to punch a hole in the wall.
For many people (not all by a long shot), medication is indeed the only solution (or add-on solution, in addition to therapy) that works for them. As others have said, most long-term, clinically depressed people aren’t seeking happy-happy-joy-joy. We’re seeking not-miserable. Baseline–not feeling the onerous weight of sadness, exhaustion, often inability to function, self-loathing–would be a freaking relief.
The few times medications have worked for me, in concert with therapy, the difference was… oh God. Incredible. Like after you have a migraine and it goes away. Your head isn’t feeling actual pleasant sensations just because the migraine disappeared, but you are now thankful because you suddenly don’t have the pain.
My head was clearer, I wasn’t insulting myself for every little thing I did wrong, I looked at the future and could make plans for it without assuming I was going to cancel or fuck things up somehow. I don’t think it was what most would call “happiness,” that’s just called “living.” The ability to experience it for a few weeks in my life has a bittersweet consequence. At least I know something once worked. But I also know that I had something precious and then it went away, and I haven’t been able to get it back. And that is so disheartening that it makes me feel even lower than I was before.
To go back to the OP. Since developing panic disorder I haven’t been able to go back on the two meds (out of, uh, 8 or so?) that worked for me, both of which were SSRIs. (Prozac and Zoloft.) The Zoloft just aggravated my anxiety and gave me more panic attacks. The panic/depression combo platter is a bloody nightmare to solve, at least with me. Everything that works for depression makes me anxious.
So eventually my pdoc put me on the old tricyclic Elavil (Amitriptyline). That worked relatively well, and oh gosh, did it put me to sleep wonderfully! (Insomnia also doesn’t help my mood any.) Downsides: super-dry mouth and postural light-headedness, plus an unbelievable hankering for sugar. If I could have mainlined caramel via an IV bag I would’ve been delighted. I gained 20lbs on that med.
After we decided I don’t need the weight issue, Doc put me on Pamelor (Nortriptyline), which is related to Elavil but has fewer side effects. Well, that it does. I’ve been on it for a year and not only does it have fewer side effects, it also has very little noticeable effect on my mood; I felt much better on Elavil despite the annoying dry-mouth and cravings. For anxiety I’m taking Klonopin (Clonazepam), and even that’s stopped being as effective as it used to be, as my two recent ER visits due to panic attacks can attest.
Anyway, my point is, the old school meds do still work well, it’s just that the newer ones became more popular due to their (generally) lower side effect profile. (I did try Effexor, and holy shit, that made me incapable of getting out of bed. I’ve never felt as low as I did on Effexor. Had to wean myself off of that very slowly due to the infamous withdrawal problem, but eventually I was free. Interestingly my sister is on Pristiq, another relative of Effexor, but it’s worked very well for her. But yeah, if she forgets to take it one day? Dizziness, flu-like symptoms, shakiness. The natural suggestion I always give her is: don’t forget to take it, duh.)
But all this is almost always an adjunct to therapy, whether it’s CBT or DBT or whatever works best for you. I have some situational depression in addition to what appears to be hard-wired and genetic predisposition to depression and disthymia, so my wonderful therapist helps me talk through various coping strategies and long-standing external issues and internal thought processes that need to change. But without the medicine I’m not going to get to baseline. It’s just not gonna happen.
