Posted by jannbeau on May 1, 2002, at 11:34:08
In reply to Re: Anyone had success on Effexor XR?, posted by Allen F. on May 1, 2002, at 3:25:32
> I very much AGREE with Allen--no meds if you can help it and NO EFFEXOR, for sure!!. I would suggest that, first, you try short-term intervention--psychotherapy--for many people with situational depression, short-term therapy provides new tools for dealing with feelings and resultant behaviors that come with life changes.
The two things you describe (ending MA pgm and ending relationship) are BOTH losses and you MUST allow yourself to grieve for those losses-even if they were good for you, they are still losses!
Short-term therapy, especially one based on cognitive therapy (all feelings are preceded by a thought; if you can control the thought, you can control the feeling!) might be very helpful to you and may help you avoid medications. On the other hand, if your depression doesn't lift, then meds may be appropriate. Check out the websites on cognative therapy. Just search "cognitive therapy."
To get you started with getting through the grief process, here's a rundown on Kubler-Ross's theory:
Grieving has approximately five recognized stages, which may occur in any sequence, may come and go, in different sequences. An excellent book Elizabeth Kubler-Ross: "On Death and Dying" -a bit technical and somewhat old written in the '60's, but the definitive work--since Kubler-Ross elaborated the concept of stages of grief, which may be applied to any major life event as well as to death.
If I remember correctly (and I may not because I'm taking this from 25 years ago when I did a paper on the subject), the stages of grief or something like this: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and, finally, Acceptance. First you deny the reality of the situation, then you are really angry at the one who left you--even if you left him or it; then you bargain with God to fix it, promising that you will do whatever is necessary if He will just make everything right; then you experience depression because it becomes obvious that the situation is permanent, and finally, you reach the stage of Acceptance. These stages may take varying amounts of time and may return many times, especially those of anger and depression, but eventually you are ready to Accept the permanence of the situation and go on living. If you can go through these stages without medication, you will probably be more able to FEEL, which is necessary for going through the stages of grief. I think that most drugs diminish your ability to feel and to work through situational depression and should be reserved for those who are chronically depressed or who are contemplating suicide or other non-productive responses to the situation.
Another thought: Gardner Murphey stated that "the known, no matter how horrible it is, is more tolerable than the unknown." or something to that effect. Any time we are faced with a step into the unknown, we are apt to become anxious, resistant, and even depressed. Again, situations can lead to this feeling; again, short-term therapy could help you to deal with it.
There seems to be a pattern of depression that arises whenever you have a life change--learn to stop this process before it becomes a habit--since it is the habit of depression that results in chronic depression!! Learn (with cognitive therapy) to welcome change with an attitude of adventure rather than fear and, I'll bet, your depressive response to change will disappear!!!
Cheers,
JannbeauIt sounds to me that your depression is more situational than anything and my guess is that it will lesson with time. I think that the Doctors are often to fast to prescribe than to look at alternatives to drugs. After all, how can they really access things in a fifteen minuite meeting. If you think that you can make it without an antidepressant, that is the way I would go. I am not sure the side effects out weight the benefits of meds either.
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> Although I am on Effexor I am weining off of it. I am finding that the emotions are not easy and that I do have to learn new ways to deal with things. But the side effects were (are) not easy either and I didn't like feeling slowed down mentally. Meds have their place, but I think they are often prescibed to quickely and once you are on them its hard to get off.
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> Just my two bits. Good luck!
poster:jannbeau
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020425/msgs/104629.html