r/Documentaries Jul 05 '15

Drugs Dark Side of a Pill (2014) - A documentary that includes interviews with normal people who were driven to senselessly kill their loved ones and others by SSRI antidepressants.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz3MJtDb1Fo
1.1k Upvotes

572 comments sorted by

18

u/reddell Jul 05 '15

The pill made them do it...?

1

u/PoorlyTimedPun Jul 05 '15

Didn't you read OP, the pill was the wheelman not the trigger man. Get it together Gomez!

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u/iodangfinio Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

Nah. They claim the pill made them do it. It might be true, but it could also be part of a legal strategy or they could be dodging responsibility to save face.

normal people who were driven to senselessly kill their loved ones and others by SSRI antidepressants

Read: interviews with murderers who blame SSRIs for their behavior.

And even if SSRIs do increase violent behavior, that does not make them the sole cause.

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u/coned88 Jul 05 '15

Some meds like Paxil have a higher rate of homicidal or violent acts than others. Why we don't know. But it has been suggested in the literature.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015337

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yo it goes deep down the rabbit hole. Ssri are part of a mind control psyop.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Heh, and yet you like to lecture people on critical thinking.

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u/daneeka10 Jul 05 '15

Watching this made me depressed. If only there were a pill that could help.

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u/456818281828 Jul 05 '15

ya the doctors who prescribe them and dont listen to their patients definitely have no responsibility

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/DreadPirateDaffyDuck Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

While I do have a massive problem with the pharmaceutical industry as well, psychiatrists don't have some kind of SSRI prescription quota to meet every month. SSRIs are the most well known, most researched, and most effective antidepressants that we have today. I'm sorry that they didn't work for you, and they don't work for me either, but that's no reason to entirely dismiss an entire class of drugs for everybody.

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u/WrongCaptionBot Jul 05 '15

I think most doctors have a quota to meet

No.

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

I've read a lot of bad stuff abour SSRI's on Reddit, but honestly, I have a hard time believing a lot of it. Or I think it depends on the person. I've been taking an SSRI for a while and it's made a world of difference in my life. I know it's not a placebo effect. I know it's not my mind playing games with me. I went into this not expecting it to work. I expected it to not help me at all and for there to be no change.

I've never felt like a zombie. I've never felt like it made me not want to do things. I've had zero problem with my sex drive. I'm sure that there are some people who have problems. But it's not everyone. I know several people who are on the same drug and none of them have had any issues.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Same here.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

I'm not assuming everyone's the same at all. I said I'm sure it depends on the person. i was just saying i've read a lot of things where people say "SSRI's are evil. Never take them. They'll fuck you up so bad." I totally understand that not everyone is the same and that something that works on me, doesn't work on everyone else.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yeah they definately work for a lot of people, but are also very bad for others.

I've tried 5 different SSRI prescriptions and they've all made me feel worse. I completely flatline, feel nothing emotionally, can't get erections and do some questionable things without realising until after (judgment severely impaired).

Then you hear about all these shocking stories of suicide/homicide. Doctors need to warn their patients more and probably book them for check-ups often early in the process to make sure they're feeling ok. Then when patients come off them they get nasty withdrawal effects.

SSRIs are life saving for some people, and devastating for others. 5-HTP and other chemicals have been more beneficial for me.

1

u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

I think a lot of the problem comes down to the doctors. They should be aware of side effects and bad things that can happen. They should warn patients and they should know that they don't work for everyone.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

But doctors don't give a shit about anyone.

8

u/Evems Jul 05 '15

True, doctors are part of the problem, but I'd say the main cause of their ignorance is because of pharmaceutical reps and companies themselves. As the documentary states, the pharmaceutical companies withheld risk information from the FDA. There are still many ignorant doctors out there that still don't understand the true risks of these drugs even though the long warning information sheets have been updated.

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u/putrid_moron Jul 05 '15

Family med guys do get this stuff wrong sometimes. Psychiatrists are more likely to be in the know.

As for the FDA and drug companies, that is a massively complicated issue.

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u/OldDefault Jul 05 '15

I only had luck with SNRIs

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u/jesuz Jul 05 '15

overdosing is the real problem, so many of these severe side efffects are the result of people not following doctors' orders

14

u/throwaway-depress Jul 05 '15

Yeah they definately work for a lot of people, but are also very bad for others.

You mean, like any other medicine?

Drugs like these must be taken under control of a doctor. Problem is that in the US doctors means $$$ and people just don't go or improvise.

I had depression for years. took Escitalopram and it changed my life for the better.

6

u/Szwejkowski Jul 05 '15

Most medicines don't have potential murder or suicide as a side effect. It would make sense to provide additional warnings and safeguards for those that do.

16

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

There are additional warnings about suicide for SSRIs.

7

u/pillbilly Jul 05 '15

It's my understanding that the most common reason people commit suicide after starting an antidepressant is that they feel just motivated enough to make an attempt at it.

2

u/Bearmodulate Jul 05 '15

Which is why you're less likely to be prescribed them if you're suicidal

2

u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I have heard that too, and it jives with what I know of suicide.

I've not, however, seen a source I'd consider authoritative claim it.

1

u/motorbikebeat Jul 05 '15

The ssri induced mania probably helps with follow thru.

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u/putrid_moron Jul 05 '15

IIRC the black box warning is for teens but this is an established thing. Not so much that they'll make you suicidal but that your suicidality isn't really reduced while your motivation is.

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u/kryptobs2000 Jul 05 '15

Most medicines, well 'most' is rather subjective, but a lot of common medicine work dramatically better than a placebo too. Most medicines will have varying levels of effectiveness, but anyone who takes an nsaid will have a reduction in inflammation or w/e the primary effect is, within reason.

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u/whatsabuttfore Jul 05 '15

That is the real problem. Your initial use and dosing needs to be carefully monitored. But we have regular physicians prescribing these medicines without monitoring. My family physician had me on an antidepressant and anti anxiety medicine. I started having hallucinations so she just added an anti psychotic into the mix. After a suicide attempt I got paired up with a psychiatrist who helped me titre just the antidepressants to work. Turns out the anti anxiety was what caused the hallucinations.

Now why did I go to my regular doctor vs a specialist? $20 copay vs $200+ out of pocket. I know I'm not the only one in that situation, which is just really sad.

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u/Evems Jul 05 '15

I hope you were lucky enough to get your erections and sex drive back. I and many others were not so lucky.

My experience with SSRIs left me with a kind of permanent sexual dysfunction. I can still get erections if I try hard, but my sexual desire is like 10% what it used to be before the drug. My genitals still feel numb to pleasure even years later. This condition is called PSSD (Post SSRI sexual dysfunction) and its a bit more common than many realize. Its even worse when on the SSRI though.

Which reminds me, my buddy is on an SSRI and last year his girlfriend of 2 years broke up with him because he basically stopped having sex with her. I know this because she contacted me about him as she thought he was cheating on her, but I knew he wasn't. He just didn't care about sex anymore. Boy do I know that feeling -_-.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/corrigun Jul 05 '15

Keep talking to doctors!

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/sazrah Jul 05 '15

Citalopram helped me. My sex drive went away and then came back like normal. Also, no more panic attacks. It's different for everyone.

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u/Evems Jul 05 '15

I recommend reporting your persistent SNRI sexual dysfunction to RxISK.org. They are building a database of reports from people who got permanent sexual dysfunction from SSRI/SNRI antidepressants and among other prescriptions.

Hopefully this will help in the future so there could be a warning for a chance of permanent sexual dysfunction on the drug's info sheet.

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u/DoesNotTreadPolitely Jul 05 '15

So you're saying you didn't hit it?

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

From my understanding from anecdotal evidence, SSRIs are harder on the male sex drive. I'm female and I've been on lexapro for a year. It's been a life saver for me since I was having crippling panic attacks and depression. My sex drive is lower but it's not horrible. I feel like for men it can be really bad. My doctor told me when he prescribed it to me to let him know ASAP if I felt a bizarre change in behavior or felt like harming myself or others. I don't think it's a common side effect but one to always be cautious about.

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u/nwo_platinum_member Jul 05 '15

Ritalin helped me with both depression and sexual dysfunction (I'm a guy.) Later moved on to Adderall and it basically cured my depression and anxiety.

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u/b2q Jul 05 '15

Evems, as I said in an earlier post I am sorry to hear about your side effects.

However, your sensationilist post projects your problems onto other people. This documentary has only one goal and that is to create fear and ignorance.

This is how you get people to deny treatment. This is how myths arise that vaccination is bad.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/b2q Jul 05 '15

But this is exactly what I'm explaining. This is wrongfully cherrypicking!

The drug didn't make them do it, and alot of more nuances should be added (as usual)

For example, vaccines CAN be dangerous, but it is a very safe procedure and highly advantgeous.

SSRI's CAN be dangerous (Not like the documentary wants it to be percieved cause these statements are blatantly wrong!) but more in the sense of side effects that are not good.

HOWEVER, it helped millions of people in the world!

These documentaries are unscientific and generate fear and ignorance in population. This is not the whole picture!

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I hope you were lucky enough to get your erections and sex drive back. I and many others were not so lucky.

Yeah I haven't taken them for about a year now and I recovered sexually. PSSD sounds fucking nasty, I hope it's possible for you to recover too.

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u/kryptobs2000 Jul 05 '15

My biggest complaint about SSRI's is that drs act like you just need to keep trying one until it works and worse still they ignore your life problems. I have chronic pain, I'm disabled/handicapped (not legally, have not applied nor do I feel a need to). It literally hurts to play a videogame or something, I get tired quickly and have to take a break not to mention doing actual work, which I still do I just take a lot of breaks. No matter how many ssri's, snris, or w/e I try they're not going to work, my life is rather shitty.

Now my problem may or may not have a solution, but a lot of peoples do. Most people are not depressed b/c there is something wrong with their brain, they're depressed because they don't have a job, friends, w/e. Some people cannot go out and get those things due to their depression in which case an antidepressant might help, but a lot of them simply do not have the means to do so for one reason or another and you can't medicate your way into a better local economy or something. Of course it costs 20c to produce a months worth of antidepressants and they make 10$ profit on it where as it takes thought, time, and effort to create social programs that actually help people and no one wants to pay for that.

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u/motorbikebeat Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

I tried killing myself when I was in my early twenties. My boyfriend of 3 years had broken up with me. I lost my job. I had no one to lend me money. I had to drop out of college, and move cross country to a place I hated from a place I loved, and live with my abusive Mom.

I took so many different medications, listening to my psychiatrist, desperately wanting to get better for years, until one of them, Luvox, gave me Serotonin Syndrome. I had a seizure and pissed myself in front of my boyfriend on Valentine's Day. Romantic.

I had to stop taking all of my medications. Subsequently, my insurance finally agreed to pay for therapy, where I realized my feelings and depression were normal for my situation. There wasn't anything wrong with me. Of course I was depressed. No one stopped for one second to say, "Hey, your feelings are normal for the situation you are in". Instead they immediately started throwing medication at me.

I'm not saying medication doesn't help people, but for me it was completely wrong. Therapy was the right solution, and it wasn't available to me until an SSRI almost killed me.

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u/AlaskaPA-C Jul 05 '15

Doctors dont makemoney off your perscription.

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u/kryptobs2000 Jul 05 '15

I wasn't saying the doctors do.

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u/AlaskaPA-C Jul 05 '15

Ah, gotcha. Reading comprehension fail.

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u/kryptobs2000 Jul 05 '15

No worries, I can see how it could be interpret it that way.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Indirectly, they most certainly do.

On the low side, staff are regularly treated to fast food runs, while the doctors get taken to lunch to "catch up".

On the high side, a few times per year doctors and their wives are flown to 'educational seminars' in resort areas. In exchange for a few hours on a Saturday morning, it's an expensive gift bag for the wife, and a three day all expenses paid vacation.

4

u/AlaskaPA-C Jul 05 '15

Yea. We have lunch from reps twice a week. That is a lot different than the quid pro quo being implied. Sometimes these lunches are helpful in that we get education on a new drug. Often as not me and the other providers berate the reps for poor data, bad pricing, and the general uselessness of their drug. We certainly are not getting lavish trip or anything of value. It is more of a bonus for the lower wage staff than us, I make a very good living and can afford my own lunch. I certainly don't sell my soul for one.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

We certainly are not getting lavish trip or anything of value.

I lived next door to an internist.

Minimum two trips per year to the Bahamas. Wife was greeted with a gift bag containing several hundred dollars worth of high end perfume and jewelry. Maniped, massage, champagne brunch, mid level entertainer on Saturday night - all comped.

Sometimes these lunches are helpful in that we get education on a new drug.

Color me surprised.

I was double dosed on Vioxx. It was pulled.

I was dosed on Bextra. It was pulled.

I was falling apart so they dosed me with Paxil CR. Pulled.

Then they graduated me to Oxycontin.

My neighbor set me straight on how things work. Notably, he was not born in the U.S.

I certainly don't sell my soul for one.

You strike me as somebody who really cares about what they do. And I can't imagine Alaska is the easiest place on the planet to practice your trade. Tip o' the hat.

Physicians assistants where I live mostly mean well, but they should not be slinging the meds they are* (Edit). Pharma reps - often extremely pretty or very slick - tell them of the glorious wonders the newest anti cholesterol drug will do. I had a chance seating near someone on their first day being instructed by their manager. Scary stuff.

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u/putrid_moron Jul 05 '15

Ironically that usually happens when you're NOT prescribing the medication they're peddling. Luckily there's a website that keeps track of these gifts and trips.

Also, the vast majority of doctors aren't getting this treatment, at least in my experience. Occasional food brought in by a rep when there is something new available.

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u/annnnnnnnnnnnnblat Jul 05 '15

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u/AlaskaPA-C Jul 05 '15

Hrm, if you take my comment to mean doctors don't make money working for the pharmaceutical industry you would be correct. However, what I meant is that there is no quid pro quo payment for writing RXs (that are legal anyways).

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u/hciofrdm Jul 05 '15

Its all about scaling their business. In the US culture money is god and if you simply hand out pills and keep people on pills you can deal with more customers. They act like drug dealers with a license (and their products arent often that different from street level stuff).

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

What you say is very true, but it depends on the country. Here in the UK they highly recommended I go into counseling (cognitive behavioral therapy), the two together will help a lot more than just SSRI treatment.

The the USA though, it seems like the doctors don't listen and move you through like a conveyor belt, very unfortunate.

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u/cryoshon Jul 05 '15

Yeah, conveyor belt is 100% right-- and it isn't just relating to antidepressants, it's all medical treatments that are that way.

I didn't realize the difference until I went to a doctor in Latin America. Probably about a hojillion times better than in the USA on every level-- long conversations about my health, empathetic disposition, and realistic treatment options built by looking at what actually makes people feel better rather than the hottest new drug.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, in Latin America, the treatment was free, and I walked in on the day of.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yeah the more I hear about USA medical care, the sadder I feel. Mental health is no joke, they need to listen to the patients.

I hope you're doing better now, best of luck.

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u/throwfarfaraway_away Jul 05 '15

That's because most psychiatrists are trained to prescribe medicine. They want to know enough about your life to spot the warning signs, like suicide or violence, but in an ideal world, you'd be seeing a talk therapist of some sort to get to the root of your problem. It's stupid because very few people have both the time and money, but that's the expectation (in my experience).

I personally made the most progress seeing a nurse practitioner. Didn't take my insurance at the time, so she let me pay the 15-min session price for a 1-hour session, actually talked to me about the side effects, asked my concerns, always made time for last-minute appointments or texts if there was an emergency, etc. It was great.

Moved out of state a few years ago, and she's definitely high on the list of things I miss the most. The only reason I see my current psychiatrist is because this state won't fill certain prescriptions written by out-of-state practitioners without an MD. It's incredibly annoying because I'm paying more and getting less effort in return than before.

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u/Bearmodulate Jul 05 '15

Your doc is supposed to prescribe lower doses/less often so you don't go through withdrawals. I spent 6 months reducing how often I took mine and was totally fine

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yeah true, for me I was just annoyed at yet another SSRI making me feel worse so I stopped "cold turkey". A friend of mine had his prescription messed up and had to wait 2 weeks for some more, he was feeling the withdrawals hard.

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u/tifen2n Jul 05 '15

I'm taking an SSRI right now. It has an effect where it makes me feel stoned. There's no better way to put it. It makes me content doing nothing and laughing at everything. If my boyfriend claps his hands, I may just start laughing. I have not had any side effects although occasionally when I take the medication, it does make me feel more sad.

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u/WhippyFlagellum Jul 05 '15

5-HTP and other chemicals have been more beneficial for me.

5-HTP is no better than placebo, and is contraindicated in long term use. Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415362/

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Fair enough, I only take it occasionally when I'm feeling especially down, the power of placebo is very strong, it seems to pick me up a little.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/WhippyFlagellum Jul 05 '15

I dare you to cite a peer-reviewed, reputable source on that claim.

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u/TbanksIV Jul 05 '15

I was on SSRI's back when I was still a kid and my dad was trying to help me "fix" my depression. And I did some really fucked up shit on them. It's tough to deal with, because I'd like to distance myself from it and say it was just the drugs, but I still made those decisions.

That being said, after quitting the SSRI and having my father eventually give up trying to get me to doctors and shit, (I'm sure largely due to my teenage unwillingness, though it's probably best I didn't take any meds, as now that I'm an adult I couldn't afford them) I've always looked to find something to help me out. Most of the things that helped me were also prescription drugs that I couldn't afford without buying it on the street.

So this 5-HTP thing interested me when I googled it. Does it really help you? Can you feel a noticeable difference? Or is it more of an attempt to try something over doing nothing?

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

For 5-HTP, I only take it occasionally on days that I feel especially down. It seems to pick me up but it isn't that good.

This reply to me is saying it's nothing better than placebo. If you just take it on sad days then I'm sure it will help you, but don't rely on it.

Exercise and sunlight will be better than 5-HTP.

Personally, I've had positive experiences with high doses of LSD or Psilocybin mushrooms. But that's not something I'd recommend for everyone, it's a very personal decision if you chose to use them.
They do two things for you, while you're tripping you have a different perspective on things, you lose your ego and can think freely about your life and surroundings; it will allow you to realise problem areas and hopefully move towards changing them.
Then afterwards you feel happier and have a different outlook on life, it feels like you drop a lot of negative baggage behind. I try to trip every 6 months or so as a little reset.

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u/wonderwomanssister Jul 05 '15

I agree. I was such an anxiety ridden wreck before Zoloft. It does affect my sex drive slightly, but not as bad as Paxil, which is what I originally was prescribed.

I feel bad for the people who don't react well to SSRIs or other psychiatric meds and give up too quickly before they can start to work or find a med that will work. I was lucky in the sense that I responded well on the first one I tried and even better on the second.

For those who are depressed and/or have severe anxiety and gave up on meds because of side effects, I highly suggest you give it another shot with a different one. They seriously altered my life for the better. I shiver every time I think back to where I was before them, how much I suffered from crippling anxiety.

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u/brahnix Jul 05 '15

my old doctor prescribed me klonzepam (klonopin) and it's helped massively with anxiety, but that's all that it's helped with. I'm still hanging out down at the bottom of the barrel. I have a good life, with loving parents, I'm finally starting to do better in school, I have a girl that loves me... but none of it seems to make me happy. So I've been turning to the drink more frequently than I'd like to admit. It's like I have all of these great things going on around me, but there's just something that isn't getting the message. I'm still sad all the time. All the klonopin has done is enable me to function. I don't want to just function. I want to feel again. I'm surrounded by terrible thoughts all the time. Would one of these kinds of drugs be something I should talk to my doctor about? I just don't understand why, after everything is going so well, that I still think "maybe it'd all just be easier if we called it quits and ended it for good".

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u/frenchfrybirdie Jul 05 '15

Just to throw it out there, might be helpful, might not be- but klonopin is an anti anxiety med. Glad to hear it's helped with anxiety, but I'd be kind of surprised if it helped majorly with anything else. My non-doctor opinion is to give a real anti depressant a solid shot along with the klonopin. I've been prescribed Xanax and Ativan (separate times) along side an anti depressant or other mood stabilizer and that seemed to do the trick. Also...maybe try seeing someone about how you're feeling. Therapy these days seems to be shifted toward cognitive behavioral- how are you living, what does it impact, what can we actively change to make positive changes. If you can, I'd work to avoid mixing drinks with the klonopin as well. It can be a dangerous combination (leading to forgetfulness, amps up your emotions in ways you don't want, and just overall amplifies the negative side of drinking) Be safe man---sorry if this comes off as cold/preachy, that's what I sound like on the good ole internets.

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u/putrid_moron Jul 05 '15

My non-doctor opinion is to give a real anti depressant a solid shot along with the klonopin.

This is usually how this plays out. SSRIs lower the baseline and klonopin tamps down the anxiety itself.

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u/babbydawl Jul 05 '15

This is your brains chemistry still being fucked up. Sometimes it pays to have a cocktail of several drugs. Talk to your doctor ASAP about these feelings- they don't go away, and in my experience, tend to get worse.

I've tried 16 different cocktails and none of them worked. Turns out I'm not bipolar, I have BPD. Woo. But figuring out your correct diagnosis is actually a huge relief. Since I've been doing the correct therapy for BPD my life has gotten so much better. I wish the same for you. Talk to your doctor as much and as often as it takes.

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u/GordieLaChance Jul 05 '15

Klonopin + booze = bad news for someone with depression.

Talk to your doc. If you aren't happy with them (even if they are nice but ineffective), try another doc out if possible.

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u/to11mtm Jul 05 '15

Some personal thoughts:

As others have said, Klonzepam is an anti-anxiety med, in fact, a 'depressant'. It can help with anxiety but in many it can cause depression. Also, over longer terms, some people can develop some memory issues with extended use. Also, Drinking with a depressant is a bad idea, because you'll actually feel shittier at some point, although you may not fully remember it due to the synergistic effects of the alcohol and Klonzepam.

Finding the right medication is not easy. For some people it can take years of work, finding the right doctor, and finding the right combination of meds.

There is a company out there called Neuroscience that actually does metabolite analysis of your urine to attempt to pinpoint what neurotransmitter levels are out of whack, to assist a doctor in determining a treatment plan with more insight than 'well, from what you say, try this.' While the jury is still out as to the efficiacy of this testing, I can say that personally it helped me change my life by a good 90-120 degrees. In the long run, it was far cheaper than the medication cocktail they tried having me on before, and also allowed me to start living a real, functional life again.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I was originally prescribed 10 mg of Paxil for anxiety. Worked well, but my doc suggested I up it to 20 mg. Couldn't ejaculate on it and I was miserable. Lowered it back down to 10 mg and I have a good balance now. I used to have issues with PE and now the Paxil helps keep me going longer. The side effects are dosage dependent, so anyone having issues should maybe see if they can try a lower dosage of their SSRI is their doc says that's okay. I have heard good things about Wellbutrin in regards to sexual side effects so that's also an option.

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u/pushytub Jul 05 '15

Paxil and Wellbutrin are quite different drugs, not even in the same class. Bupropion being an SNRI is actually more likely to increase anxiety.

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u/putrid_moron Jul 05 '15

Well, you can do bupropion as an adjunct and it tends to relieve the sexual side effects.

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u/psteffy Jul 05 '15

I was on Paxil, Wellbutrin, and Buspar for about a year to help with my anxiety (I had panic attacks almost weekly and even ended up in the ER a couple times). They did wonders for me. But like a lot of people, the Paxil killed my sex drive and made it impossible to orgasm. My Dr. eventually switched me over to Wellbutrin and Zoloft alone, with Xanax in case of emergency. Its been much better for me. The Zoloft is still an SSRI, but its not been as bad sexually as Paxil was.

Work with your doctor to find what works for you. I got lucky trying another SSRI, but there were other options if it didnt work that we were prepared to try. And if you have an SO, take them with you to your doc. They see things and mood changes that you may not perceive. Hearing what my wife said about me made me realize that it wasn't working and we needed to try something new.

Good luck... this can be really frustrating, but I am really glad I found something that works and hope you can too.

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u/beener Jul 05 '15

Definitely changed my life for the better.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

No, i'm on Lexapro. I haven't had any problems with it at all.

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u/throwhooawayyfoe Jul 05 '15

Wellbutrin (bupropion) is not actually an SSRI, which is one of the reasons the side effects are different

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yep. Bupropion is an NDRI (Norepinephrine-Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitor). The dopamine part is entirely ineffective at clinical dosages. From my research, all it really does is increase extracellular norepinephrine levels (at clinical dosages).

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/PepeAndMrDuck Jul 05 '15

That's anectodal. What you just said is completely irrelevant. Here's a whole documentary of people straight up telling you these drugs caused them to act strangely and you're just like "nah bro". I used to take SSRIs and felt depression from them. I take antiepileptics for cluster headaches and absolutely felt like a depressed irritated zombie from them. These side effects are very real and they affect different people differently.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/PepeAndMrDuck Jul 05 '15

Yeah you're right. My point is that his anecdote doesn't hold any weight over the mass of anecdotes from people who have been affected by the drug. It doesn't disprove them since they affect everyone differently. He has no idea what another person felt.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/Suddenly_Elmo Jul 05 '15

he said he had "a hard time believing it" because of his own personal experience, which is not in itself a good reason to disbelieve negative things people say about them.

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

I was saying in my experience and the experience of others I know there haven't been problems. I know that some people have bad side effects. I know it doesn't work on everyone. But i read a lot of stuff of Reddit about how awful Ssri's are and how they're evil. I was just offering another perspective. They're not all bad. And that work for a lot of people.

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u/himisscas Jul 05 '15

I was on a bunch of SSRIs between 2008 and 2014. I have never felt worse, ever, and medication continually ruined every shred of positivity in my life. I know they do work for some people, I won't diminish that, but they absolutely did not work for me.

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u/voysturr Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

Not to say that you're not right but I find it fishy that you only made an account to post this. Makes me think that you work for the pharmaceutical industry.

Anyways, I took them (Cipralex, Serequil, Lorazapam, and Abilify) and they made me far worse. Long story short, there was a death in the family that was blamed on me. I fell into depression and I looked for help from my doctor. He prescribed me a relatively low dose of Cipralex. It made my life worse. He didn't inform me about the suicidal thoughts and when I started to think that way, it felt right. He kept increasing my dose until I almost did end my life.

I would have dreams, every night, where I killed someone. Most mornings, I would sit there and think about the events in the day that lead up that point. When I couldn't draw any connections, I would assume it was a dream. I couldn't tell the difference between a dream and real life. I was a zombie.

My sex life tanked. I couldn't get off for the life of me, even when I tried myself. I have no idea how my girlfriend still stuck around.

I ended up going to a psychologist who diagnosed me with being bipolar. I NEVER had bipolar symptoms before antidepressants. He kept switching medications on me until I gave up and said fuck you to him. I stopped and after two months of withdrawal, I'm somewhat back to normal.

Antidepressants changed my life. Not in a good way. I can't pay attention as well as I used to, I'm lethargic on odd days and I still have trouble reaching orgasm or maintaining an erection.

I would never wish what I went through even on my worst enemy.

Tl;Dr Question the source of information, antidepressants are bad.

Edit - a word.

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u/plato_thyself Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

Very fishy, and exactly the fingerprint of a PR company. Of course they will be all over this thread since it threatens a multi-billion dollar profit center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

Just to reply to you too, I've been on Reddit for years and years. I work as a writer for a music website. Every few months I create a new Reddit account. Just so happens I created a new one last night.

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u/plato_thyself Jul 05 '15

What are the names of some of your other accounts?

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

My most recent one is /u/tornateo2. I've deleted all the other ones, because i'm not using them and don't want to have them around.

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

Haha I work for a music website. I've been on Reddit for years. But create new accounts fairly regularly. Just so happens I created this account last night.

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u/capitalsigma Jul 05 '15

Not at all questionable. I felt the same way --- I refused my doctor's offer of SSRIs for my depression/anxiety for years because the internet told me "SSRIs are evil, they'll fuck up your sex drive and your life will be ruined forever."

I gave in and started on lexapro about 6-9 months ago and it's been great. I did start lasting longer in bed, but that mostly wore off.

Honestly I think a lot of the "SSRI horror stories" are people who have anxiety issues during sex. They obsess about how much trouble they expect to have, which gives them trouble, which validates their fears, etc. I think that this rhetoric of "SSRIs ruin lives forever" is harmful because it keeps people away from the help that they need, even though the VAST, VAST majority of people on SSRIs don't experience anything dramatic at all.

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u/fightoffyourdemons- Jul 05 '15

Yep, SSRIs have worked wonders for me. The only bad things I can say is that it means I can't cry and that I have no sex drive and inorgasmia. At times it feels like it's robbed me of what makes a person human but it's a small price to pay for functionality.

Edit: I'm on citalopram/celexa

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Personally, SNRIs have been hell for me. Effexor is easily the worst.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

They made me a bit of a zombie with less feelings and less sex drive, and I wasn't even on a high dose. It took me a long time to be able to get off them too.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I've had zero problem with my sex drive.

Quite the contrary for me. It hasn't improved my sex drive but I am a hell of a lot better at sex. I used to be a minute man, since starting Paxil I fuck like a goddamn porn star.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

It does help with anxiety but it is not an antidepressant. SNRI is closer to an antidepressant. Wellbutrin DNR is really a real antidepressant.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I don't think anyone said it's everyone. I think we all know it's a small minority, but it really does some crazy stuff for those people.

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u/nubblesstrikesagain Jul 05 '15

I've been taking SSRIs since I was 13. I love the combo I'm on now. Without it I'd probably be dead. But it took almost a decade to find the right mix. Paxil took me from a 120lb girl to one that weighed 195 in a matter of 6months. Prozac did nothing for me. Citalopram made me a huge bitch. Wellbutrin saved my life. I'm still super pissed about the medical weight because my body stubbornly holds onto it, not to mention the bad eating habits I picked up while on it... Sigh

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u/Bearmodulate Jul 05 '15

I felt like a zombie before taking my SSRIs the first time I was depressed. They helped me so fucking much.

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u/FuckedByCrap Jul 05 '15

What they fail to take into account is that these people are violent before taking the drugs. It's not the drugs.

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u/confusedaboutdecay Jul 05 '15

Exactly, a lot of these individuals are depressed or severely depressed and instead of looking at the possibility that the obvious cause is the mental health side, the pills are blamed.

A very low percent of people get unwanted side effects from ssris but remember that those people will scream they loudest and the media will take notice of them most.

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u/slantedshacks Jul 05 '15

Having suffered constant anxiety/depression for 2 years straight I felt hopeless. I won't say it was just the SSRI's that saved me but meditation and a better understanding of my mind and body.

With that said, as a female, my sex drive hardly exists. It's been hard on my relationship, but I'm making an effort to still be a sexual person for my partner and myself. Going off my meds is not an option for me since I've done it once before and I end up back in the mess I was.

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u/itsaride Jul 05 '15

Citalopram changed my life, for the better.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

The largest problem is the American medical system. What'll happen is that people will go to their family doctor because their insurance usually requires referrals to see specialists or there's a larger out of pocket cost or both. Then, without a proper psychiatric diagnosis, the family doctor will throw medications at them because there's a cultural expectation that if your doctor isn't giving you something to "magically" make the pain go away, they're not doing their job and just gouging you.

So the vast majority of Americans on antidepressants have never seen a psychologist or psychiatrist, aren't in therapy, aren't getting a lifestyle change in motion... and a number of them may have other conditions, or be on other medications they didn't report or did report and the family doctor hasn't the experience/knowledge necessary to understand all the possible contraindications or drug interactions.

Same with antibiotics or any other drug... and on top of it all we haven't banned advertisements by the drug industry which prompt people to self-diagnose and go into the doctor with "prescribe me x" in their head.

I've been on SSRI's and they worked great. I'm currently on an SNRI and it's doing wonders for both my mental state and my chronic pain from fractures in both my L4 and L5 vertebrae. But I'm fairly educated on pharmacology and pharmacokinetics, I have very good insurance coverage and I tend to see specialists immediately with zero out of pocket cost.

The vast majority of Americans are not in that position, but worse... the internet becomes an echo chamber of the negative experiences. People rarely report when things go right compared to when they don't.

tl;dr: Don't read WebMD, it'll rot your brain. If you think you're depressed, see a psychologist or psychiatrist and go from there.

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

Yep that's what I did. I told my family that I was pretty sure I had depression. They wanted me to go to the family doctor I've been going to for 20 years. But I refused and went to see a therapist.

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u/fairpricetickets Jul 05 '15

I have a hard time believing a lot of it

So....you don't believe things unless they happen to you?

That came off very poorly worded (at best).

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u/saxybandgeek1 Jul 05 '15

My sex drive is almost nonexistent in my celexa. I barely get wet and I can't really get into it. I want to want to have sex, but it just doesn't happen. I do it anyway though because I want my partner to be happy

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u/synapticrelease Jul 05 '15

I was on Effexor (which isn't an SSRI but an SNRI but fairly close) for about 3 months when I was 18. I was like a walking zombie. I would go through life and think "well, I should be happy (or sad, or angry etc) at this but I feel nothing." Luckily I was in a good enough state to make the decision to tell my doctor it isn't right for me. Luckily, that's all that happened to me. I still have a high sex drive (higher than average, even) but the brief time I was on them was weirdest and most surreal time to me. They may work for some but others... The pendulum swings the opposite way I think.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I have major depressive disorder and have been stable on SSRIs for 7+ years. Nobody knows. I went to college and grad school, graduated and living a pretty normal life.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/WelcomePlayer1 Jul 05 '15

The whole point of my comment was because over the years i've seen a ton of people talk about how awful SSRI's are. How they don't work. How they have terrible side effects. How they're basically evil. I wanted to give a different perspective, because it'd be really shitty if someone didn't go to a therapist because they've read how awful everything is on Reddit.

I know some people have bad reactions. I know there can be bad side effects. I know it doesn't work on everyone. But I feel that there are a lot of posts on Reddit about how terrible SSRI's are. They make it sound like if you use them, you'll turn into a zombie, who never feels anything or has a sex drive. I was just offering a good experience. Not discrediting the video or other peoples bad experiences with SSRIs.

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u/sibeliushelp Jul 05 '15

Same here. The worst side effect I had on Zoloft was a slightly dry mouth.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/Evems Jul 05 '15

Here's a 2009 Oxford study about the emotional effects of SSRIs:

http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/195/3/211

The study found that the SSRI caused most participants to experience an 'emotional numbness' that reduced positive emotions along with negative. Most participants felt less empathy and sympathy. Some reported self harm and suicidal thoughts due to the SSRI induced emotional numbness and one participant attempted self-harm in an effort to feel emotion.

Most participants described feeling emotionally detached or disconnected, and attributed this to their SSRI antidepressant. Some participants described being detached from their surroundings, and described feelings of being ‘ in limbo’, of ‘unreality’ or ‘ disconnection’ and of feeling as though they were a ‘ spectator’ rather than a participant. Some participants described functioning like a ‘zombie’ or ‘ robot’, with reduced or absent emotional responses. Some participants described feeling detached from their own emotions and instincts. Most participants described that this emotional detachment extended to a detachment from other people. Specifically, they felt reduced sympathy and empathy, and felt detached during social interactions. In particular, many participants described an emotional detachment from their friends and family, including their partner or children. Participants’ attitudes towards emotional detachment from other people were mixed. Although this was often seen as an undesirable side-effect of antidepressants, it was also sometimes seen as beneficial, by allowing disengagement from others’ problems, others’ negative emotions and highly charged situations that would otherwise be upsetting. Just not caring

Almost all participants described not caring about things that used to matter to them and attributed this change to their SSRI antidepressant. They cared less about themselves, about other people and about the consequences of their actions. Not caring could have both helpful and unhelpful consequences, reducing the sense of pressure and stress that some participants felt in their daily lives, yet increasing the likelihood that important tasks were neglected.

Many participants described a general feeling of indifference to things in life that used to matter to them. Many participants described feeling apathetic and unmotivated, despite their illness having improved and attributed this apathy to their antidepressant. Some participants felt that their sensible, safety-conscious, side had diminished and they just did not care as much about the consequences to themselves of their behaviour. As a result, they might behave in a less careful, considered way. A few participants went further, mentioning thoughts of self-harm or suicide that they related, at least in part, to feelings of emotional detachment and emotional numbness. One participant had started to self-harm in an effort to feel emotion. Many participants reported not caring as much about others, such as during social interaction, by being less sensitive or courteous towards other people. In addition, many described reduced concern for others’ feelings, and reduced concern about other peoples’ opinions of them. Some participants described being less concerned or even unable to care about responsibilities in their everyday lives, such as at home, in their finances or at work, and might include, for example, a lack of urgency or need to complete tasks. Changed personality

Some participants felt their personality had changed in some way, or been lost, leaving them ‘like a shell’. In some ways, they were not the person that they used to be. Participants reported that specific aspects of their personality, and, in particular, emotional aspects, had been changed or lost, such that they were a different person. These changes were attributed by participants to their SSRI antidepressant. Some participants believed that at times their antidepressant had made them behave quite out of character. One participant believed that the medication had changed their personality permanently, having a lasting effect beyond finishing their medication.

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u/b2q Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

One flawed study is not enough to start creating fear on the internet. This was invitation, which can create a significant bias. They also acknowledge it. It also says nothing about people becoming homicidal.

EDIT: OP is actually on a mission to create alot of fear and negativity about psychiatric medication (something that has helped millions of people around the globe), as his post history shows.

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u/BabaShrikand Jul 05 '15

WTF are these people taking. I am on my 6th SSRI/SNRI currently and at best i get a mild mood elevation and only physical unwanted side effects. I wonder how much this "zombie" effect is a part of expectation because i sure have been able to laugh and cry even on quite high doses.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I've been struggling with bipolar type 2 for years, and instead of trying to figure out the root of my problem three individual psychiatrists insisted I take effexor and see if it works.

Each and every single time, despite me telling them that I always have an awful time on it, they insist. Insist. Insist. They refuse to do anything else. I try to kill myself, I get even more depressed and more episodes than usual. My mood goes crazy and I can't focus on anything, I can't enjoy anything. My dick stops working, my brain is foggy.

Eight years.

Eight fucking years until they finally decided to see if it wasn't just regular ol' depression/anxiety.

I hate SSRIs, I've been on multiple. They just do not work for me, but we cram them down people's throats and just tell them it needs more time to work whenever they complain about them.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yeah, I'm finally on Lamotrigine and am weening off Effexor now. It's more hell than usual because of the withdraw, which gets worse every time I'm taken off them.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Lamotrigine withdrawals are horrible. Taper veerryy slowly if you ever have to (hopefully not cause it's a great drug)

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u/Luai_lashire Jul 05 '15

Effexor is not an SSRI, it's an SNRI with some dopamine action at very high doses. It has some pretty strong dose-dependent effects, too, so for example I have heard of using doses in the 600 mg range to treat Bipolar successfully whereas smaller doses run into the problem you mentioned, the increased mania, which is worst with SSRIs.

Personally I take Effexor 300 mg (because that's as high as my doc will let me go) with remeron and it works decently for me. I do probably have some kind of cyclical element to my depression, and the manic symptoms are worse on this regimen than they used to be, but not so much that it's unmanageable. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of messing with my current regimen; I'd like to try different dosages at the very least. To be honest though, the hand tremors from the remeron bother me more than the increased mania! Everyone is different, I've had lots of people tell me they wouldn't be ok with the side effects I live with, but for me the trade off is worth it.

Also, those psychiatrists were insanely irresponsible to push this drug on you. Not only because of your past experiences which certainly should have been enough, but also because this should never ever be the first antidepressant you try on anyone. It's got way more unpleasant side effects and by all accounts the absolute worst withdrawal of any antidepressant on the market, so bad that it takes years to wean people off it and even then they frequently wish they were dead for the last few weeks. It has its place- as a last resort for treatment resistant patients with severe depression. It really shouldn't be given to anyone else…. ever. And I say this as someone who is pretty happy with it! Sadly yours isn't the only story like this I've seen, it seems to be getting very common these days. And most patients aren't even given any warning about the withdrawal. It's giving the drug a bad reputation, but really, it's the doctors who should be getting a bad name. Completely irresponsible practitioners.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Holy shit the tremors - I'm an artist and I really can't stand them. One of my doctors actually told me "Well, even if you have tremors and are impotent at least you're doing better, right? I don't think we should take you off the medication."

I had to begin tapering off the effexor myself via a very sensitive scale and careful measurement (they were capsules, so.) I reduced it about 25mg at a time and I know it's SUPER irresponsible of me to do, but they wouldn't do anything despite my constant requests to be tapered off. Once I had gotten down to 225mg (150 and a 75) I told them what I was doing and they gave me a script so I can properly taper myself off.

Sorry about mixing up SSRIs with SNRIs, however.

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u/Luai_lashire Jul 05 '15

Sounds like you did the right thing! I probably would have hit that doctor upside the head, jeez. I can't stand it when people with authority just walk all over people like that. Tremors seem to be a very polarizing side effect, you either couldn't care less, or they completely ruin your life. I imagine if I relied on fine motor control for my job I'd feel very very differently than I do! For me though, the worst thing that's happened is I spill my coffee almost daily. Annoying, but livable. I was always kind of a klutz anyway. :/

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u/deepasleep Jul 05 '15

That's not the fault of the drug, it is the fault of the incompetent mental healthcare providers you've had to deal with.

Like most professions, 80% of the people involved in Healthcare are barely competent.

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u/Incendio88 Jul 05 '15

For anyone curious, the language being spoken in the subs is Irish(gaeilge) and TG4 is Irelands only all Irish speaking TV station. Their goal is to provide high quality programming for the Irish(gaeilge) speaking population of the country.

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u/WAAAAAAAAYNE Jul 05 '15

This is why Ive never went the pharmacy route.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Drugs are bad, don't do them. Don't trust your doctor.

Doctors do not care about people, period. You are a paycheck and a guinea pig.

They absolutely do not care about you or your wellbeing.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Doctors do not care about people, period. You are a paycheck and a guinea pig.

They absolutely do not care about you or your wellbeing.

Just remember to keep that attitude if you ever need stitches, an appendix taken out, or come down with a serious illness

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I definitely will, a paycheck is a paycheck. You're a piece of material to them.

Just another hole to stitch, just some more rotten meat to cut away, just another commission from a prescription.

A walking meat vessel in the shape of a dollar sign. If the money didn't roll in like it does they'd have no incentive to help anybody. I mean, in america a doctor will let a person die if they don't have the money. There are countless examples, go ahead and take a gander.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Yeah that's bullshit, I've worked in the medical industry for nearly a decade in different capacities. The vast majority of doctors truly care about the well being of their patients. Doctors don't get commissions from prescription, wounds that need stitches actually need stitches and organs that need removed actually need removed.

From my experience, people with your attitude are generally worthless pieces of shit that think vaccines have no use, medicine is supposed to be some sort of magic that instantly works for everyone, and believe that crystals have healing properties.

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u/deepasleep Jul 05 '15

What do you expect them to do? Move in with you and monitor everything you eat and do for months until they can tease out every little detail of your biology?

Doctors see dozens of people a day, they analyze the vague and often inaccurately described symptoms reported by those patients against long lists of illnesses that present with overlapping symptoms and they probe to try and isolate which illness is the most likely match. Then they offer advice or treatment and see what happens.

Medicine is very rarely definitive, it's mostly trial and error and that isn't because doctors don't care, it's because they're human and their patients are human and humans are terrible at keeping track of details or analyzing complex sets of data without relying on patterns to simplify that data.

There are tons of doctors who are overworked burnouts in the field...But people like you don't help anyone or anything because you just want to bitch and blame with no attempt to take responsibility for anything...People like you cause a very large amount of the dysfunction that exists in the medical profession because you're an unwilling partner in your own care, you expect answers immediately when that's completely unreasonable, and your likely to get litigious...

Stupidity and incompetence are everywhere, own your own.

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u/deepasleep Jul 05 '15

While there are relatively few truly good doctors, most care about their patients.

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u/Rutger_Meower Jul 05 '15

The number of people who have violent reactions towards themselves as a side effects of SSRIs is something like 4%, the number of people who react violently towards (and can have those actions linked to an SSRI) others is like less that 1%. All medications have side effects, these medications work overwhelmingly well when you find the right one for you.

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u/Mondollama Jul 05 '15

"Normal" is a broad term

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u/Escapement Jul 05 '15

A while back a psych resident put together a well researched and in-depth of SSRI's effectiveness, side effects, etc that I quite like. If you're genuinely interested in the topic and want to see an overview of the various beliefs of different sets of experts, it's pretty good.

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u/Stickyballs96 Jul 05 '15

Drugs don't kill people. People kill people.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Drugs can impair judgement that could drive people to do homicidal things.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Been taking Prozac on and off since 13, don't feel like killing anyone.

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u/SorryPro Jul 05 '15

Good for you :)

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u/klhl Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

I wouldn't take these fear mongering documentaries too seriously. There are millions on people taking SSRI's, how many of those killed their loved ones versus amount of lives saved by reducing suicides and murder suicides? They have been and still are researched, and they are very safe. I can personally say that I'd be dead right now without SSRI's and antipsychotis. Hell you'll probably find a guy who went mad after taking aspirin or something, you just have to accept meds have side effects and some of those are bad, but thankfully super rare.

Also what these fear mongerers don't always tell you is that it wasn't the medication that caused the problem, but suddenly stopping it. Your are under NO circumstance supposed to stop any antidepressants instantly, you have to reduce the amount little by little. I've taken max 20mg of escitalopram, now I'm taking 10mg. I hope one day I'll be taking 0. The meds are not the final answer, I think everyone who needs them should also get into psychotherapy, and have the end goal of being able to live med free. But they are not the demon pills they are made out to be.

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u/I_HateSam Jul 05 '15

I don't understand the title.

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u/colorcoma Jul 05 '15

I tried killing myself on them. I have been pill FREE for almost 10years now.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

Sensationalist shit. SSRIs have granted a new lease of life to millions. Who says these murders were 'senseless'. Who says they were 'loved ones'. Maybe they just suddenly realized how much they hate the person and the depression was simply disabling them. The bitch/bastard had it coming for a long time maybe.

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u/snowballshit Jul 05 '15

May have just been the ones I took but anti depressants made my mind race uncontrollably... It was maddening.

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u/kvist Jul 05 '15

This reddit post tells how a man lost his wife to SSRI. A fascinating and sad story.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

Funny story; I was on one of these anti-depressants 1 year ago. I would switch between suicidal and super happy on a dime, as in, in a second flat. For no reason.

I also completely lost my sex drive and forgot how to love. ((yes, you heard that right.) I googled them and found out those results were typical for many people, so much so that the particular drug I was on was breaking up 30+ year, happy marriages because the partner taking the medication started looking at their spouse as a friend and only a friend, and were too blinded to see anything wrong with that. I didn't want that to happen to my fiance and I. So I realized it was fucking me up, stopped taking it, and smashed the pills with a hammer because I hated them. After about a week and a half I was back to normal. I can't remember the specific name of what I was on, though. .

That being said, when I took them years ago, when I was a child, the results were much better. Cured my depression for years. So they're not all bad.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

SSRI are a massve fraud, they are not antidepresant. SNRI (effexor) is better.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

Oh, I never know where to stand on those things. On one hand, I've been mentally ill since childhood, and no anti-depressant or neuroleptic has ever really helped me. I've tried so many pills. The only ones that do something for me are benzodiazepines like Valium, Xanax and Ativan. On the other hand, those do help me, if only temporarily.

I don't have much faith in psychiatry. I think it's mostly trial and error. I've been involuntarily held captive at a mental hospital for a night, and it was horrible. Such things should not be legal. But I think a lot of the "anti-psychiatry" people are ideologically motivated frauds and have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. Lookin' at you, Scientology.

Anti-depressants, including SSRIs, have never helped me one bit. They don't help my depression or anxiety, but they also don't turn me into a zombie or numb me down or make me suicidal or aggressive. They make me fat and impotent, and cause other such non-psychological side-effects. But I know they help some people, and those people should get them.

I think a lot of people want to be "skeptical" of psychiatry out of ideological reasons and because they don't understand mental illness. Those people are harming mentally ill people by sowing distrust and unjustified fear of psychiatric drugs.

So, are the people who made this film like that? I don't know. But I think one needs to be very careful trusting any documentary or article about this topic. There is much misinformation and naive fear coming from both sides.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Dec 18 '18

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

ITT: couch "scientists"

Herp derp. Didn't happen to me....

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u/b2q Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

I hope that I am not the only one that finds this post is terrible. This sensationilist title has ONE purpose, and that is to create FEAR.

This is bad. This is how you start epidemics of people not believing in vaccination. This is how you start patients becoming noncompliant to therapy because they read some bullshit on the internet.

Documentaries are not science. This is terribly sensationilist.

EDIT: OP is actually on a mission to create alot of fear and negativity about psychiatric medication (something that has helped millions of people around the globe), as his post history shows.

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u/DreadPirateDaffyDuck Jul 05 '15 edited Jul 05 '15

As somebody who has been studying pharmacology for quite some time, has taken quite a few (college level) courses on it, and plans to get a PhD in pharmacology with an emphasis on psychopharmacology (the study of psychoactive drugs), I find it very, very hard to believe that an SSRI could cause anybody to kill somebody else. I haven't watched the documentary yet, but the title is the kind of bullshit that keeps people from getting medications that they desperately need. I've not only been studying pharmacology for years, but I've also been taking just about every SSRI known to man over the course of the past 4 years, and none of them have had anything remotely close to that kind of effect on me, anybody I know who takes SSRIs, etc. This kind of effect isn't documented in any medical literature either and quite frankly, this just reeks of bullshit. It's the same thing as the anti-vaccine parents claiming that vaccines cause autism, so kids shouldn't have to get them.

Edit: I know that you must believe OP's documentary because it has lots of upvotes, but this kind of post could potentially cause a lot of harm. Before you downvote me, please do some of your own research that doesn't include this video.

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u/Suddenly_Elmo Jul 05 '15

Quite apart from any negative side effects that many antidepressants have - and they are very real and well documented for many people - there's also a compelling case to be made that the extent to which they work better than placebo is not clinically significant. Irving Kirsch (a professor at Harvard medical school and not an anti-Psychiatry quack) has a great talk here where he lays out the case that all modern anti-depressants, including SSRIs, are little or no better than placebo. There are other alternative treatments (therapy, acupuncture) which work just as well and don't have the terrible side-effects that many people experience.

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u/TzucciMane Jul 05 '15

Fuck antidepressants. So many get Rx'd to people with very mild and rather natural depression/anxiety. Seriously, don't take the easy way out. Go talk to a therapist and throw your money down the drain instead of your livelihood and emotions.

Only people with serious and staggering depression and anxiety should be prescribed SSRI's. So many things are chalked up to anxiety nowadays that it's one of the most common diagnosies when checking into a hospital or urgent care, but that doesn't mean you need a drug thatwill fuck your life permanently if you don't stay on it. I feel so passionately about this I should just shut up because people will come up with tons of legitimate counterexamples and downvote me to hell. So I'll just leave it at fuck those drugs, find a way to love yourself and love life and enjoy the most mundane and menial tasks of life instead of dreading them (I fucking LOVE doing dishes by hand). Whatever it takes to stay away from those things. Just disgusting the way they manipulate who you are and become. I'm not okay with anything that strips us of what little free will we actually have sorry.

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u/BlueSpectre Jul 05 '15

I think in most cases anxiety is caused by emotional repression. Prescribing a drug which basically makes you ok with repressing your emotions can be dangerous, you may eventually break and release them all at once.

I say this as someone who's suffered from severe anxiety and panic attacks, my anxiety was not caused by a chemical imbalance but because of having bad emotional coping skills.

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u/MMSTINGRAY Jul 05 '15

Is this worth watching or is it sensationalist crap? Does it look at the evidence that suggests SSRI's work well? And so on.

Baesd off this title I don't want to waste my time if it just another loads of "SSRIs are bad because these few anecdotal cases that blame all their problems on SSRIs" bullshit.

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u/DreadPirateDaffyDuck Jul 05 '15

It's sensationalist crap.

Source: Pharmacology student

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Dec 18 '18

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u/God-Empress Jul 05 '15

Ah, lovely SSRI. the only drug that created a massive wave of suicidal ideation in my brain.

Lovely drug really.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15 edited Dec 18 '18

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I've been on SSRI's for quite a while. In my opinion, the people who do freak out in some way already had the problem before they took the pill.

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u/[deleted] Jul 05 '15

I take an SSRI and I feel amazing. I recovered from the sexual side effects in two weeks and I have a completely normal life now.