Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Magmacube_tr]

what about going to church?

*Looks around*

*Still in Türk-fucking-iye*

lmao no

[eerr]

okay then, what about a mosque?

[Wilfred of Ivanhoe]

I haven't been on many for very long, but I've eaten quite few different happy pills in my day. Fortunately, I no longer need antidepressants. Whether they're an instant panacea or not depends on whether you have a chemical imbalance or, as you described, a type of soul cancer / circumstantial issue. Anyway, here's what I can tell you about the medicines I've taken that i'm most familiar with:

Buproprion (wellbutrin, NDRI) - This one I feel usually in days or hours. It generally felt to me like a gentle lifting of the "mood floor" compared to being off of it; I wouldn't dip quite so low on the mood scale. My brain adjusted to this one in a matter of months, though, and I was back to feeling pretty crappy due to certain life circumstances that didn't change while I was on it. This is probably the best one I've been on.

Venlafaxine (efexor, SNRI) - This one felt very unpleasant. Again, this one I felt in a matter of hours. I was very positive and high energy on this, but it felt like I had a rocket up my ass. I had *too much* focus, if that makes sense. This one also had an unfortunate sexual side effect for me. Depending on how bad your depression is, it may be worth trying out still.

Fluoxetine (prozac, SSRI) - I was on this one for years in high school. I don't recall necessarily feeling a change, but maybe because it was really long ago.

Again, I have no clue how any of these would play with your brain chemistry, but if you sought help and received any prescription medicines, my advice would be, if you find one that makes you feel more functional, to figure out what's causing the anguish and try to reorganize your life around what's important to you and remove those anguish-causing agents, to the best of your ability. Your brain and body will adjust to the chemicals, so, as Muz said, use them to get out of the pit before they wear off. Best of luck to ye, Magmacube_tr!

[Magmacube_tr]

okay then, what about a mosque?

Good idea.

One small problem.

Atheism.

Again, I have no clue how any of these would play with your brain chemistry, but if you sought help and received any prescription medicines, my advice would be, if you find one that makes you feel more functional, to figure out what's causing the anguish and try to reorganize your life around what's important to you and remove those anguish-causing agents, to the best of your ability. Your brain and body will adjust to the chemicals, so, as Muz said, use them to get out of the pit before they wear off. Best of luck to ye, Magmacube_tr!

Yea, I get your point. From what I've gathered from my own research, it seems that there is no way to just know the specific effects of any given anti-depressant beforehand. You might get vague outlines commonalities, but thats it. Thanks.

I was very positive and high energy on this, but it felt like I had a rocket up my ass.

Also, sigged.

[Magmacube_tr]

Okay, another question connected to the original one...

What is it like being in therapy? In the infinitessimal chance I ever step into a therapy session, and I dunno, look at the inkblots or whatever other esoteric shit they make you do there... Like, I imagine it is excruciating? Dentist appointment but for your soul and it hurts a trillion times more?

[Egan_BW]

Nah, it doesn't hurt, and as far as I know they don't really do anything esoteric. Ideally it's just having a conversation where the other person is good at getting you to talk to yourself about your feelings so that you can process them. In the worse case you just sit around for 20 minutes and don't get anything done.

[Magmacube_tr]

I didn't mean physical pain. I meant the mental pain.

It is painful to talk about stuff, you know? It is straining. It it horrifying because when you talk about it, especially to someone else, they stop being mere feelings. They become more real. More tangible. It is like being exposed.

What I meant by esoteric is it being closed off. In psychology work, analysis is more than what the patients say. For example, what a person draws in a drawing exercise is merely one facet of the total analysis. The attitude, the reaction to the proposition of drawing itself and such are also considered. Patient doesn't knows the exact criteria. And thats the point because otherwise they would be able to manipulate results.

In the worse case you just sit around for 20 minutes and don't get anything done.

Oh, that's actually my specialty...

Where do I sign up?

[delphonso]

Therapy is just talking to someone who is good at listening. Rarely do therapists push you to talk about anything at all, and if they do, bail. As you talk with this person more, or just talk more, you'll be more able to open up and discuss whatever is painful, and help alleviate that pain. You could try connecting to an online therapist or something if in-person isn't convenient. That also gives you another level of anonymity and safety, I would say. If a therapist /does/ anything it all, it would be teaching exercises to manage whatever is bothering you - stress, fear, anger, etc. Some may ask you to do a task, like spend some time analyzing yourself on a certain topic or behavior.

I would recommend a therapist who focuses in something with good evidence and science backing them up. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy stands out as being pretty good. Stuff like what you mentioned (analysis) is rife with pseudoscience, because at the end of the day, the criteria is "whatever the therapist thinks is happening" - and this can be miles off. Stuff like multiple personalities and repressed memories are all influential in pop-culture, but have no evidence backing them, and are largely just a therapist coming up with something that 'makes sense' at best, and 'is good for publishing' at worst.

Overall, the risk versus benefit for going to therapy is pretty clear - just go do it. If you're worried about the risks, read up on the risks so that you'll be able to identify them. I.e., if you therapist is trying to hypnotize you to talk with your past lives, you gotta call the certification board on their ass.