Life Changing Mindset

How do antidepressants change your mindset?

I have depression and am thinking of going on them. However I've heard some patients complain that they make you feel happy in a drugged up way rather than bring a normal mindset.

Public Comments

1. I had a friend who used to be on them and they said it gave them a little lift. However, it takes a few weeks for them to work.

2. You may have to keep trying different types and strengths. Generally (though they fall in more than one catagory) they stimulate your production of the hormone Serotonin, which in turn is used by your neuro-receptors to pass on neural messages.

You might like to try Ask.com - they have very good easy to understand explanations regarding various aspects of depression.

Best of luck - me too. Christmas is going to be rather quiet for me this year! x

3. I've never taken them, but my dad has.

He took them so that he could get out of bed. He was so depressed he couldn't leave the house for a month, so he took the anti depressants to get up and about so that he could see a therapist.

They change some of the chemicals in your brain, I don't think they actually change your mindset. In my dad's opinion, they certainly didn't make him feel "better," they were just a tool to get him up so that he could really tackle the problems behind the depression, otherwise he'd be in a vicious cycle.

My dad and my partner have both been on a course of anti-depressants and both say that they don't actually help the problem, they just pep you up in a very superficial way. Therapy is the only way to get to the root of the problem and really deal with it.

Hope that helped!
XXXX

4. they gradually take effect and make your general mood happier. The people that complain of feeling overly happy are probabbly on a dosage that's to high or need a change of medication or lastly don't need to be on them at all.

5. It will be the biggest mistake of your life. The doctors will tell you that they are non addictive but that is the opposite of what they are. What they do is make you feel good but the feelibg isnt a normal healthy good what you end up doinbg is relying on the drug to make you feel good so you loose who you are your strength of mind your personality and the drug becomes your personality. In my experience treating people who have taken these drugs there is no hope after you take them.

6. I would always recommend seeing a docto and having counselling or talk therapy first. They can then recommend you to a suitable anti depressant if you need one. They work in different ways, but it is about changing the way your brain chemistry is working. The main chemical things are serotonin and norephrine in most modern anti depressant drugs (Fluoxetine, Duloxetine and Venlafaxine) amd by modifying these chemicals in the brain can change the way it reacts to anxiety etc.. It's a big decisions.. seek help.

7. They are different in every body , and they only take or help the symptoms they dont make the depression etc better

8. anti-depressants do not change your mindset, they alter your mood only.

9. They change your mental state by correcting the chemical imbalance in the central nervous system. They stop the serotonin/
5-hydroxytryptamine, from being reabsorbed into the brain and therefore cause the level of 5-ht to rise, easing the transmission of signals between nerve cells and relieving some of the symptoms. I think the patients you were talking to are confusing antidepressants with things like diazepam. Antidepressants shouldn't cause a drugged effect. Drugs like diazepam cause an immediate lift in mood and a sense of calmness, but are addictive. Antidepressants fight the symptoms of depression but take a long time to work, usually a few months. Also, they are not addictive, although suddenly coming off them could result in relapse. You are unlikely to crave an antidepressant. You should probably ask a psychiatrist for better information.

10. being depressed means your hitting rock bottom on your emotional stability. anti depressants boosts you to be alive and energetic.