Posted by laima on August 16, 2006, at 10:45:20
In reply to Re: Optimistic part/ Possible Trigger(?) » laima, posted by linkadge on August 15, 2006, at 19:31:47
That's interesting- but I still maintain that some of them can be "lifesavers", even if studies or statistics don't necessarily reflect that. I would also like to gently (friendly) point out that statistics and studies can be shaded or skewed, depending on what data are included or excluded, how those decisions are made, etc.I'd say prozac "saved my life" when it came out because before I tried it, a whole smattering of tricyclics failed miserabley, and I really saw no future for myself whatsoever. I became obsessed about death at age 17-18, vaguely religious, and even repeatedly asked god to let me die in my sleep. Wondered if I could get "lucky enough" to mysteriously die in my sleep from an unknown cause. Briefly messed around with ouji board in effort to determine what age I'd die at. So no, no suicide attempt- but scary and weird stuff. When I started prozac and it kicked in, all that behavior and those thoughts vaporized; I developed (and carried out!) exciting plans for the future, college turned out to be fun and successful, etc. But I doubt this would make it into any researcher's book as a "suicide prevention".
After prozac konked out on me some 10 years later, similar experiences with a stimulant and then later with another antidepressent. No more "asking god to die", but more feeling like "story of my life obviously is over because I'm such a collasal failure, and yet I'm stuck with otherwise perfect health and another 40-50+ years to endure, etc." Drugs were the bullets that vaporized that kind of thinking before it had a chance to spiral too badly, and allowed me to initiate positive life adjustments and so on. But these experiences would never be classified as official "suicide preventions" either, I am sure- especially since there were no official suicide attempts or plans.
Ever notice, when someone is very depressed, psychiastrists will ask, "Do you contemplate suicide? Do you have a plan? DO YOU HAVE A PLAN? No, well, what about risky behavior? Ever run into traffic instead of waiting for the light?...etc." This suggests to me that maybe they think there can be an unconscious element , ie a "death wish". (Note- NOT talking about Freud's subconscious-and I hope you actually don't know what I am talking about :)
Back to Kramer- if it turns out to be accurate that depressed brains are not like "normal" brains, and if repeated episodes of depression make one permanently vulnerable, if depression isn't "curable"- well, I figure, best then try to figure out how to keep it under control and in remission as best as possible via lifestyle, "neurogenesis considerations", and generally staying informed and paying attention to triggers. When things get rough, perhaps the invaluable role of drugs can be to help get back on track (?) And to keep in mind that their effects likely won't hold up, not to rely on them without trying to make other life adjustments. Sure, it sucks to not have a "normal" brain, to possibly have a chronic condition, to have to make any adjustments at all--and I'm sure people with cancer or heart disease or any number of other chronic conditions are feeling something similar.
I dare speculate- perhaps the upside of so many psychiatric drugs eventually fizzeling out might be that it's evidence that the brain has a lot of capability to grapple with and overcome or neutralize a foreign substance which enters it??? Maybe?
Not sure about a lot of this- I imagine lots of people here can easily shoot these un-fully-gelled thoughts full of holes-I'm still trying to make sense of it all so I can come to peace with myself and live as good and satisfying rest of my life as possible. Whatever drug use and abuse is in my past, (plenty of both)-whatever regretful things happened-- already happened and there is nothing I can do about any of it now other than to consider, and then attempt to move on. (I guess this is where quality therapy and strengthening support systems comes in...)
ps- is clozapine same as clonazapam/klonopin? I'll look up that as well as the study you cite, I'm curious about it. Thanks.
> To be completely honest, no study has been able to conclude that antidepressants reduce the rate of suicide.
>
> http://biopsychiatry.com/suicide.html
>
> OTOH, the only two drugs that have consistantly proven to lower suicide risk have been lithium and clozapine.
>
> Linkadge
poster:laima
thread:675829
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060810/msgs/677055.html