Exploding the Antidepressant Myth



I think it's also important to realize (especially for people who have no experience with depression) that the cure to depression isn't something that creates happiness, and being depressed isn't synonymous with feeling sad. A lot of people think that depressed people take drugs because the drugs make them happy, but the goal of the drug is to make the patient capable of being happy on their own.

I think this is a reflection of the societal fallacy that happiness is a default state when in reality it's as exceptional as any of your other emotions that deviate from the norm.
 
I take 2 anti depressants(max doses of both) for pain and they work much better than oxycodone for nerve pain.

Don't feel any happier or sad from them, just less pain.

Pls elaborate. That's sounds like a party that I want to go to
 
Pls elaborate. That's sounds like a party that I want to go to

Old thread.

I take 3 anti depressants + oxycontin + percocet for chronic neuropathic pain that started in my 20's.

Cymbalta (SNRI) has the worst withdrawal of any of the anti depressants, it's worse than oxycontin...I've run out of both a few times.

I take an old ass one that's a Tricyclic anti depressant called nortriptyline, that's mainly used for nerve pain rather than depression. It makes you tired and gives drymouth which is 1000x worse when smoking herb.

And another SNRI called effexor which is also used for nerve pain primarily.

The anti depressants actually work better at reducing nerve pain than opiates, they change your brain chemistry to block the pain signals.

I take oxycontin 30mg before and after work, and smoke 3-4 joints at work.
 
I think this is a reflection of the societal fallacy that happiness is a default state when in reality it's as exceptional as any of your other emotions that deviate from the norm.

I apply this line of thinking in my own life, but don't expect to make sense of the world with it. Happiness is relative, but every man has a breaking point.
 
I think this is a reflection of the societal fallacy that happiness is a default state when in reality it's as exceptional as any of your other emotions that deviate from the norm.

Agreed.

I heard a saying once, "those who chase happiness are the one's who'll never find it"....very true.
 
Xanax is an antidepressant? I thought it was just something you take when you wanna have an extra good time when you go out?

As for all that sciency stuff about old people and meds...when we put my grandma in a retirement home she was pissed as hell and kept trying to leave. I figure I would probably react the same way. But then they started giving her like 65,000 Ativan pills every day and now she pretty much chills. So yeah I guess it works.
 
I apply this line of thinking in my own life, but don't expect to make sense of the world with it. Happiness is relative, but every man has a breaking point.

I've found that gauging my life in terms of my level of "satisfaction" with various aspects of it is a pretty objective way of doing an audit of my own emotional state without any of the trappings of trying to pursue this through emotional (and subjective) terminology.

At the least it gives me a more linear platform to channel my own productivity through. To me it's like stripping away that other layer and dealing with the core of the issue itself (ie: satisfaction leads to happiness, not the other way around).

I think the comfort I derive from that system primarily comes from the binary nature of it all. Either I'm satisfied or I'm unsatisfied with something, and if I am unsatisfied with something it's because of XYZ reasons which I can then address with some sort of triage.

I'm essentially just replacing the term 'happy' with 'satisfied' and it may sound stupid but it without a doubt puts me in a more productive, less subjective mindset.

Agreed.

I heard a saying once, "those who chase happiness are the one's who'll never find it"....very true.

Pursue what makes you happy, not happiness itself.
 
I took mushrooms maybe 4 times and they ended up ruining my life for probably just over a year. So yeh, not everyone has great experiences on them ;)
 
What most people don't know is, that the so called "Placebo effect" can vary in strenght and can, in some cases, make or break the efficacy of a certain treatment. Medical doctors are imho advised, to find ways to increase this general therapeutic effect. The "Chemical imbalance" narrative is a strong one and does help the efficacy of common anti-depressants. A Study has shown, that the efficacy of these treatments has actually RISEN, even though there has been VERY little progress in terms of improving these drugs. One could argue, that the medical narrative has grown so strong, that more people believe in it and therefore are able to activate their self-healing powers.

As for Psychedelics, there are quite a few anthropological studies, showing that they indeed might help mental illnesses such as depression. For instance, the major ayahuasca churches were studied...you could say that yes, they are indeed more happy. The same with the Peyote Church (NAC) which helps alcoholics tremendously getting clean. But then, one could argue, that the efficacy is not rooted in these substances alone but that the support of the community also plays a big role in the healing process.

It is really troublesome, that these substances are just now getting a little more positive attention. Ayahuasca can be a very healing experience, mushrooms as well...and of course mescaline. Connecting you with life once again, washing away all the dirt, reordering your inner realms, allowing for continous healing to unfold...days after the experience.

I took mushrooms maybe 4 times and they ended up ruining my life for probably just over a year. So yeh, not everyone has great experiences on them

I'm sorry to hear that. If you want to talk about it, or need a possibly different perspective on things, pm me. This offer is valid for everyone who is having emotional troubles after a trip.
 
I've struggled with depression since I was a little guy, and I've only recently found a system that works for me. Doesn't involve drugs.
 
I've been lucky enough to pick peyote south of Laredo texas in Mexico, and shrooms are completely different. Well, there are hundreds of types of shrooms, I've only tried a few kinds, maybe there's better ones.

There was a study in the denmark or around there that showed people who'd taken peyote were more honest and felt they were better people afterwards. You do a lot of self reflection when on it. I had an out of body experience.

Peyote tastes like bile, so fucking nasty. We juiced it and put it on low heat for a day while the water evaporated off leaving a thick gooey tar. We filled our mouths with orange juice, stuffed in tar and tried to swallow without puking.
 
GimpSpack - what's that system you are speaking of?

shindig, have you tried other mescaline cacti? One way to eliminate the taste is to coat the resin in sugar, and then let it dry completely. It can get hard as rock after all water has evaporated.
 
GimpSpack - what's that system you are speaking of?

shindig, have you tried other mescaline cacti? One way to eliminate the taste is to coat the resin in sugar, and then let it dry completely. It can get hard as rock after all water has evaporated.

Yeah, I tried san pedro once, but it wasn't nearly as good as peyote. Also my uncle who took me peyote hunting said he'd tried pure mescaline and it was nothing like peyote, even though that's the active ingredient in peyote.

My hippy uncle also said he tried to do a peyote enema up his ass back in the day which was a disaster haha. He said it just made him feel like he had an emergency diarrhea and he didn't get high at all.

10 years ago I bought a couple hundred ecstacy pills and it felt a lot like peyote on speed. I bought them to sell but ended up eating them all with my friends several days straight.

I went back to pick peyote in Texas, but it was really sketchy on the Texas side as there are fucking border patrol everywhere and I couldn't find any. My uncle knew where to look, we picked a big box of them. He said back in the 70's they picked truckloads in oilton texas, which is just east of Laredo. But I couldn't find any there.
 
Interesting to hear. Peyote is said to have the highest ratio of secondary alkaloids, even more than pedro or achuma. It is really interesting to hear how some people prefer pure mescaline over the full plant extract or vice versa. Too bad there aren't that many Peyote comparisons available but then, poor peyote is going extinct by overharvesting. Best to grow your own...pedro or bridgesii that is....

or one could try something like this:

http://i.imgur.com/wP4zVV8.jpg
 
I took mushrooms maybe 4 times and they ended up ruining my life for probably just over a year. So yeh, not everyone has great experiences on them ;)

Dude feel sorry for you. I've taken shroom probably 7 times and 2 times on a plane and it changed my life. Granted the more memorable sessions were the absolute scariest and hardest mindfucks to get over but overall I stopped taking antidepressents because of it and was really able to overcome some mental barriers i had.

:xomunch: