Posted by jedi on July 23, 2011, at 14:04:26
In reply to Re: Do Antidepressants Really Work? / Rebuttal » jedi, posted by Phillipa on July 23, 2011, at 10:50:47
> Jedi thanks thing that bothers me is the gray area of mild to moderate depression and meds not working. What in your opinion determines the differece between the three categories? You would think if mild or moderate the meds would work even better? Like a mild headache vs a severe one one dose of say motrin might work where severe might require more? Phillipa
Hi Phillipa,
In my layman's opinion, most mild-short term depression is not really depression. In these cases, the placebos could be just as effective since a little time was going to make it better anyway. As one of the rebuttals to the article said; in many of these studies, the people receiving the placebo also received many hours of supportive attention. This kind of support can be very valuable in treating mild depression. In real life, so many people do not get this kind of support.I put dysthymia in the category of moderate depression. It is chronic, long term, though not as debilitating as major depression. I believe this type of depression is under-treated. Medications can definitely help this disorder, and keep it from turning into major depression at some time. I had dysthymia and social anxiety from my teenage years. I know, if I would have been treated successfully for those disorders at an early age, my life would have been completely different. I doubt if I would have had to deal with the major depression later in life. Could be wrong, just thinking here.
In true major depression, medication saves lives. Many of the people on this forum have treatment resistant, major depression. In my opinion, this is best treated with medication and therapy. Many people have minimal or no insurance coverage which makes therapy for major depression very expensive or impossible to obtain. Plus, the people who are really good at any type of talk therapy are few and far between. They tend to congregate in major metropolitan areas. So, the choice often comes down to - medication or no treatment. I'm pretty sure I would not be living if not for psychotropic medications.
Be Well my Friend,
JediJedi
Treatment resistant, atypical, double depression with social anxiety.
Nardil + clonazepam
poster:jedi
thread:991624
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110714/msgs/991652.html