How do you not feel shame in taking anti-depressants long-term

For anyone concerned about the cocktail of drugs they have been prescribed - Visit your pharmacist and ask them to check the list of drugs to see if any are incompatible. It was the Pharmacist who spotted that my mum was still taking a drug that should have been cancelled when she started another, phoned Mum's GP which led to a full review of medication and much reduced drug regime. GP made a home visit, inspected the medicine cabinet and took away all the redundant prescribed and over the counter pills for disposal. Mum was very reluctant to stop the pills she had been taking for years but was noticeably better once her medication had been sorted out.

Talking now with my therapist head on. There is no shame in taking anti-depressants. There is 'circumstantial' depression, which means circumstances in our lives can trigger depression e.f. a break up of a relationship, bereavement, loss of a job etc, then there is clinical depression, which can mean a level of medication is needed to maintain good mental health. If you needed heart medication or medication for a physical condition you would probably take it. No shame. Has anyone suggested counselling or CBT to help you understand and manage how you are feeling? This help can be accessed through your G.P x

and much more of it! it beats the alternative............

I think this is a bit of a feature of modern society . That we should all be exercising and eating healthily and if we become unwell it's our fault. I feel this because of my type 2 diabetes. That it's something to be guilty about.
I think we should be aware of this so we can counteract it.
If you need anti depressants to cope that's ok. Like I need glasses to see and shoes so I can walk. Don't let them make you feel guilty.

You shouldn't feel ashamed of having to take them. However, they are only treating or masking symptoms rather than really addressing the cause or causes of your pain.

Hi, in my work I see many people on antidepressants long term. I think it’s ok to be on them....equally, ok to want to stop taking them. If you decide to try coming off them, you will want to find some support, emotionally, and physically, so you know how slowly to wean yourself off, and you have somewhere to go, to offload emotions that will come up. There’s no easy way to do it. If you have the motivation, it’s really possible but you may decide you’re happy with how things are. No one can, or should make that decision for you.

It’s not your fault that you are prone to depression, no more than anyone else who has to live with any other medical condition ...... so take the help available and don’t beat yourself up about it ?

Don't feel ashamed and if anyone has every made you feel that way, they should be ashamed. You live a fuller life on them and that is all that matters!

Cuppa. We are what we are and if taking a certain something helps you along life's some times stressful highway then there is absolutely no shame whatever in taking it. I have family and friends that need similar help so please whatever you do don't go cold turkey. If you're worried about long term effects why not discuss them with your doctor.

i know how you feel i have been on them for similar amount of time and sometimes i think oh maybe this isnt right and i should be ashamed of having to rely on them but i know without them i would be a lot worse off probably be in hospital long term or even have taken my own life we have to do what we have to do to survive

I’ve been on ads now on and off for last 25 years and have now agreed with my gp that I can stay on them indefinitely. I’m on a relatively low dose, 50mg sertraline a day, This helps to keep me stable and able to deal with all the stuff in my life.

I don’t feel ashamed of being on them, or hide it. I’ve found also that if it comes up in conversation so many other people say they are on them as well.

Wort not Worth.

I think one problem is that so many people think that they are experts in depression or anxiety in a way that they wouldn't with cancer or heart disease and they are often negative about ADs.
I have taken them (citalopram) and now occasionally take St. Johns Worth which helps if I feel myself sliding towards depression. I wish I had discovered it earlier as I suffered from it for years. I haven't found anything that works for anxiety except to try to avoid situations that make me anxious which is obviously not always possible. If you have found something that works then I hope you will be able to see that as a positive.
I am sure that there are far more people who are taking anti-depressants than would admit it although no one would think twice about saying that they were taking most other medications.

Suffering from depression or anxiety is completely different from being depressed or anxious. You can't function at all. You can't sleep, can't eat, can't concentrate..... and it goes on for months...... it takes your life away. With anxiety you can feel like the mad axeman is coming to get you (My doctor's phrase) for no reason at all. ?

travelsafar - believe me you do know when you have depression rather than sadness!! The two are entirely different and there is no comparison.

I felt so very ill that I was desperate to make that terrible terrible feeling stop! - whatever it took. It is like nothing else I have ever experienced, dropped on me from a clear blue sky and in the context of a normally positive personality.

A friend of mine's mother was in a frail care facility practically comatose when we would visit. A new younger doctor came to work there, was horrified at her drugs regime, reviewed and adjusted and stopped drugs left, right and centre. She woke up so to speak, and improved so much she moved back into independent living in a flat and had many more years of normal life.

I don't think anyone should go cold turkey off prescribed drugs, I did that with HRT and made myself really ill, learnt a lesson. However that was because the doctor didn't hear me 're the terrible breast pain it was causing.

Can it be the problem is not shame in the medication but shame in the fact you have a mental health illness?

You can accept medication is needed for diabetics , asthmatics etc, yet not medication for depression ?

We all get days when we feel down in the dumps and we all get anxious for example, before an exam, going to the dentist etc.

But how do you know when one or the other has taken hold to the effect that you require medication?

Very hard for your DD to go 'cold turkey' Paddyann and probably risky too. Could she find another GP? A younger more recently qualified one with up to date knowledge and an open mind?

Would you feel ashamed if you were a diabetic on insulin ?what’s the difference ? If you need them you need them and good luck
Paddyann I agree with you I think one tablet can work against another and cause more problems than it solves and 23 is an amazing amount can they be sure that there isn’t more harm than good being done would you daughter be open to ‘starting again’ and going back to the beginning and maybe changing her doctor
Its as much as I can do to make myself take a paracetamol i think all these chemicals in our bodies are the plague of outr time we need to find other ways to manage our health if we can

Jane 10 I'm convinced the cocktail of drugs she's on is making her worse.She has 3 children and this is affecting them badly too.WHY dont some doctors actually LISTEN to their patients.The latest rise in AD dosage is massive ,doubling her dose.Mind you her doctor is an old school type who didn't think fibromyalgia existed until she was diagnosed at the hospital...only took nearly 3 years .He insisted for a long time it was depression with her that caused the fatigue ,muscle pain etc

In one psychiatric unit where I worked we used to have people admitted to get them off the drugs for the side effects of drugs for side effects! Sometimes we wondered if all the various prescribes really looked at the poor patients and their notes.
Our very good clinical director arranged for a specialist pharmacist to get involved. We had some surprising results.

I take them, and feel no shame whosoever. I have taken then for alot of years.
I am calmer and able to hold down a hard full time job because I take them.

Just seen your post Paddyann so sorry for your daughter. My problem is insignificant in comparison with your daughter’s problem.

Slight deviation - I am trying to get off steroids, it has taken me a year to get from 6mg to 2mg a day (I started on 15mg a day). I would love to be drug free but it is not that easy.

Steroids have side effects, do anti depressants?