Posted by laurenjb on July 19, 2005, at 18:33:19
In reply to Re: Dr. Breggin on Tom Cruise, ritalin and psychia ? Iansf, posted by Racer on July 19, 2005, at 13:07:33
Racer: I have had very similar experiences. I was in therapy on and off for about 12 years without any significant change in my depression until I was finally started on meds and saw some improvement. I needed the meds to pull me enough out of the depression to see that there were alternative ways of thinking. Please let me emphasize that my previous post was only intended to share my own experience with treatment with meds plus therapy as what has worked for me (off and on) for major depression. For those of you with schizophrenia or bipolar or other diseases, I defer to your experience. I'd also like to say that I've had some pretty useless therapists (i.e. the ones who treated me during 12 years of severe depression without suggesting meds!) and that it's only worked for me because I have a good therapist and I work my butt off (which is NOT to suggest that those of you for whom therapy hasn't worked did not -- again, just stating my own experience). I feel that I am at a point where I have changed my perspective and done everything I can do to handle any situational sadness or anxiety -- it's up to the meds now, which, unfortunately, do not always play their role. Still, I find it very helpful to have a good, informed, compassionate psychiatrist who monitors my meds AND provides therapy. I wish the same for everyone and realize how lucky I am.
Take care, Lauren
> > I'm curious to know if you've actually been helped by psychotherapy.
>
> Yes, I have been. I've also been helped by psychotropic drugs. I certainly didn't want anyone to read that I advocated therapy instead of drugs, just that I think both are valuable -- especially in combination.
>
> I do not believe that psychotherapy alone can resolve major depression. In my case, at least, I couldn't get anywhere in therapy until I went on anti-depressants and my depression went into remission. I do believe, though, that what I did in therapy helped me learn to manage my life and my reactions to events so that I could avoid triggering depressive episodes in some cases. Obviously, since I'm here, it's not 100% effective, but I still believe that therapy helps by both resolving certain internal difficulties and by teaching tools for resilience in the face of potentially triggering events. Without therapy, I would still believe that I was the cause of every bad thing that happened around me, that I was a sort of poison that was destroying my environment, that I deserved all the abusive behavior directed at me, that I had no right to object to bad treatment from others, and that suicide was the only humane solution. The anti-depressants helped remit the depression itself, but they really couldn't effect that sort of world view. Just as I was "taught" to see myself that way, through therapy, I could learn NOT to see my world that way. Make sense? Once I was able to change my perspective, I could see some my way around situations that might have triggered a major depressive episode for me in the past, and I was better able to speak up for my rights when they were being threatened.
>
> >> As for using "will power" as Tom Cruise recommends, I've never known anyone to conquer a serious mood disorder with will power - in fact, people often end up feeling worse because they blame themselves (and often others blame them too) for not having sufficient will power.
>
> Oh, boy! I agree with this one wholeheartedly. That whole "pull yourself up by your bootstraps, stop looking for a magic pill, you're just lazy" thing has a lot to do with how I learned that I must be the worst person on the planet! After all, I wasn't able to "snap out of it" as everyone around me kept telling me to do. That is very, very damaging, especially since so many of us do internalize that view.
>
> >>My guess is that Tom Cruise has never experienced serious long-term depression or bi-polar disorder and consequently has no knowledge at all what it takes to overcome it. He's just spouting what he's been taught, not speaking from experience. As the saying goes, walk a mile in my shoes before deciding you know what's best for me.
> >
>
> Why an actor thinks he's qualfied to discuss what's best for anyone is not something I can discuss, since all that will happen is that I'll pull off my shoe to start banging it on the table.
>
> As for walking that mile? I can't walk a mile in your shoes, Ian, because I've got too many blisters from walking in my own. I have a long history of depression, which has only remitted when I've taken anti-depressants, and the recurrences of which have become more and more frequent when I've tried to go off the meds because of side effects. It's very hard for me to adjust to the idea of putting up with some of these side effects for the rest of my life -- some side effects are really horrible for me, even if the side effects you experience are worth it to you. I never meant to be understood as advocating therapy instead of medications -- I don't think that therapy alone can be effective for severe depression.
>
> I do, however, think that a lot of people who are taking anti-depressants for mild depression could be effectively treated by therapy. A lot of those people are experiencing something that we wouldn't recognize as depression -- something much more likely to respond to changes in lifestyle and situation. I won't beat that drum, though. I'll just say, as clearly as I can, that I think medications are literally lifesavers for those of us with severe depression; and that therapy is a valuable adjunct to medications.
poster:laurenjb
thread:529095
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050718/msgs/530255.html