Posted by Hombre on December 6, 2010, at 3:05:39
In reply to Re: Do antidepressants induce chronicity?, posted by linkadge on December 5, 2010, at 11:51:56
OK, yes I agree that sometimes we expect too much from antidepressants, or choose to ignore that our life might suck.
That's why I see recovery as a multilayered strategy, since I ascribe to a holistic view of the human organism.
From the base physical aspects, which almost always need attention, to our relationships with people around us, to our general outlook on our role in the world. Disease can enter from any of these levels, which are just descriptive, not necessarily set in stone, but once disease enters, it wreaks havoc at the other levels.
If you're tired all the time, stressed out, you will feel it physically and then it will start to wear on you emotionally. If that goes on long enough and you do not or are not able to stop it, it progresses to the next level where we really don't understand our purpose in life, what it all means, "spiritual" stuff.
Or maybe our problem is a bad relationship, and we get hurt/frustrated/angry, that will seriously damage our normal functioning and it will manifest again as physical symptoms and probably "spiritual", or our greater purpose that is beyond our immediate selves.
And of course, losing our bearings in life, being spiritually lost, will over time trickle down to damage our emotional and even physical well being.
Plugging one hole in the dyke is not enough; we have to address all the levels of our being if we really want to root out disease and be healthy.
Antidepressants may actually numb us, so even though we're not miserable, we aren't in touch with our feelings. We'll ignore those bad relationships and life frustrations, and we may ignore our bodies and its needs.
Again I agree with you, I just have this particular way of categorizing health and wholeness, maybe different from your own, but I think we can still agree on general principles.
The greatest healing I've experienced to date is at the level of the heart, to speak up to people that are abusing me, whether intentionally or not, and to honor my feelings. And also to ask forgiveness from those I've hurt, and to try to honor their feelings.
Sometimes that just hurts a lot, because I've been suppressing hurt for a long time. I may try to pray, to eat well, to take medications, but if I don't address my emotional issues, I am still vulnerable to illness. Or maybe I have guilt because I wronged someone else, and it's eating away at me because I am still aware at some level that the other person is hurting.
Chronicity is just a sign that we are still ill at some level, and though we may be able to temporarily adjust at other levels to feel comfortable, we have not attacked the root of the problem.
You can't really blame one method or another for causing chronicity. Drugs are powerful, and they change the body, the brain, hormones, and alter basic physiological functioning. The problem is that people act like antidepressants only alter a few neurotransmitters, and leave everything else untouched. That's just naive, but we can't help thinking that way because that's how the drugs are marketed, and that's what doctors tell us.
It's a very narrow-minded way of looking at things, and if we adopt that narrow outlook we will see no options and feel helpless, continuing to suffer, and will apply black and white thinking to things like medication.
> >But take it a step further, right? Stopping at >life just sucks just leads to a sense of >frustration, helpless, classic stagnation of >thought/energy that is often at the heart of >depression. It sucks the energy out of you, and >eventually weakens the whole body.
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> No, I don't think that people should give up at "life sucks". I totally believe in hope. Thats what most of the people on this board are looking for. However, in certain cercumstances, by looking for the latest antidepressant cocktail are we just avoiding opportinuties for true recovery? I guess what I am saying, is that I believe we need to find hope in something that is *really* going to make a life changing difference.
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> >deciding that there is something that you can do,
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> Yeah, but at some point, don't people just get tired of the "new pill of the week" strategy for renewed hope? Is that really "doing something about it?
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> >We know how depression can create artificially >negative thinking, so we have to accept that >maybe sometimes we need to wait a bit, postpone >huge generalizations until we can do so in a way >that lets our creative energies flow again.
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> But, for many of us, we need more than just "a positive happy outlook". I don't beleive in the school of thought that says "have a happy outlook, and everything will start going you way". We need reason to know that life is worth living. Popping a pill might win a battle but, does it win the war?
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poster:Hombre
thread:972394
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20101203/msgs/972663.html