2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Psychiatrist's notes
Anxiety and depressive disorders of varying severity and duration are one of the common reasons for referring to a psychologist or psychotherapist. If in the process of therapy pronounced symptoms of depression persist, anxiety, apathy increase, or suicidal thoughts appear, then it becomes necessary to consult a psychiatrist and prescribe psychotropic drugs, including antidepressants. People are often afraid to go to psychiatrists, and the possibility of prescribing antidepressants is simply terrifying. There are a huge number of myths around psychiatry and psychotropic drugs, and most of them are far from reality. So what is true and what is fiction?
Myth one: Antidepressants are drugs for "weaklings", any depression can be dealt with by willpower.
Reality
There are three degrees of depression severity:
1. Mild depression - symptoms of depression are mild and do not violate a person's social adaptation. With a mild degree of depression, there is no need to prescribe psychotropic drugs, psychotherapeutic intervention is quite enough, and sometimes such depressions pass spontaneously and do not require an appeal to a psychologist / psychotherapist.
2. Average degree of depression - the symptoms of depression are more pronounced, the feeling of apathy and anxiety, insomnia are so strong that they lead to a decrease in working capacity and literally "do not allow a person to live a full life." With this degree of depression, a person needs not only the help of a psychologist / psychotherapist, but also the consultation of a psychiatrist and the appointment of antidepressants.
3. Severe depression - symptoms of depression reach their maximum severity, suicidal thoughts and psychotic disorders (delusions and hallucinations) may appear. Severe depression cannot be dealt with by psychotherapy, and prescribing antidepressants can save a person's life.
Myth two: Antidepressants include St. John's wort, lemon balm, hawthorn, motherwort and other herbal preparations.
Reality
All of these herbs are herbal "antidepressants", but they do not eliminate the main cause of depression - a violation of the metabolism of serotonin and norepinephrine. Herbal antidepressants help manage increased anxiety, and are more adaptogens. They are only effective for mild depression.
Myth three: Antidepressants are addictive, “it's hard to get off them”, “you can prescribe or cancel an antidepressant yourself”.
Reality
When prescribed correctly, antidepressants are not addictive or addictive. they do not cause "high" or "euphoric" feelings. In people with personality disorders, character accentuations, it is possible to develop only psychological dependence. Antidepressants, like any medication, cannot be abruptly canceled. the body does not have time to rebuild and a sharp increase in side effects is possible. With gradual withdrawal, such serious effects do not occur. Self-administration of antidepressants is ineffective and even dangerous, because without knowing the action of the drug and the required dosage, you can only harm the body. The doctor selects antidepressants strictly individually! Quitting antidepressants on your own can also be a dangerous experiment for your body.
Myth Four: When taking antidepressants, a person becomes a "zombie", cannot experience normal feelings and live a normal life.
Reality
Antidepressants do not affect a person's feelings, thinking, and behavior, with the exception of those feelings that are caused by pathological depression and anxiety. There are "strong" antidepressants, which are used mainly for severe depression and in small doses for the treatment of moderate depression. In large doses and at the beginning of treatment, they can cause drowsiness, apathy, and fatigue. Over the course of a few weeks, these sedative (anti-anxiety) effects become less pronounced. Antidepressants, which are used primarily for the treatment of depression, do not have any special "stupefying" effects. And the people who accept them experience normal joy and sorrow, just like ordinary people.
Myth 5: Antidepressants are dangerous to human health.
Reality
As with other medications, side effects such as drowsiness and lethargy occur with antidepressants. But in severe depression, suicidal thoughts and psychotic disorders are the most dangerous, and the occurrence of side effects is in the background. Some antidepressants are contraindicated in case of impaired conduction in the heart muscle, with arrhythmias, impaired renal and liver function, and then antidepressants are prescribed that cause a minimal effect on these organs. There are antidepressants that can be taken even after a myocardial infarction. Antidepressants are hazardous to health only when administered independently without consulting a specialist.
The sixth and last myth: If you start taking antidepressants, you will have to drink them all your life.
Reality
The duration of antidepressant use is largely determined by the severity and type of depression. "Average" depression requires 6 months of continuous drug intake, without "experiments" and independent decrease or increase in the dosage of the drug by the patient. If taken for less than 6 months, the risk of depression recurrence increases significantly. If the symptoms of depression in a patient persist after 6 months of taking or after the withdrawal of the antidepressant depression resumes, then it is necessary to think about a more severe mental illness that requires the appointment of other psychotropic drugs.
Conclusion
Modern medicines have a rather subtle and differentiated effect on the human body, and their side effects are much less pronounced than those of drugs "in the old days." If you feel unwell, anxious, upset, have a difficult period in your life, or feel that you are not coping well with stress, please consult with your doctor (neurologist or psychiatrist) about all these issues. The doctor does not prescribe unnecessary drugs, and if you are really shown any drugs, their competent administration can significantly improve the quality of your life and will not harm you.
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