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Sejuhasz
Hi, /fit/ so a female friend of mine is has been diagnosed with "Melancholic depression" she's going to be put on anti-depression medication, what should I expect?

Truly, she has been acting very closely to how the wiki article describes it for the past 2 months, but I believe its just part of her personality. Any ideas on what I should expect in either situation?
>> Anonymous
Expect her to probably put on some weight, have some headaches for a 4-6 weeks, and gradually even out until she's either a shell of what she once was or is even more fun to be around than ever (probably the latter).
>> Sejuhasz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melancholic_depression

Wiki link, if it helps.
>> Anonymous
Depends on the meds. What specifically is she taking? If it's Seroquel(which it shouldn't be) she will be about as fun as a coma patient.
>> Sejuhasz
>>69655

I don't know the medication yet, but I doubt anything too harsh. (She's 18 and very tiny, about 105-110lbs)
>> Anonymous
>>69658

Yeah, definitely expect some weight gain. The smaller you are, the more likely it seems to be (at least according to my psychiatrist when he put me on anti-depressants a few years back).

But honestly, if you're close enough for it to be appropriate for you to talk to her parents about it, suggest working through it in therapy without medication. My thoughts, as someone who once took anti-depressants, are that medicating the problem away just puts off dealing with the core issue and exacerbates the problem if/when you go off the medication.
>> Sejuhasz
>>69664

Weight gain is weight get, I love child bearing hips. Huh...I wonder what her core problem is. But god dammit...that doesn't sound good.
>> Anonymous
>>69648

Bits of her memory will go wonky. She'll turn around and forget things. She will no longer be able to prioritize some things, or respond to things that disadvantage her with a disturbing degree of eagerness.

Our emotions help affix the events and memories into our brain, you see, and helps us to make on the spot decisions to favour us.
>> Sejuhasz
>>69671

She already fails at prioritizing things, are you telling me there's not to be a single thing to GAIN from her going on these pills?
>> Anonymous
>>69648
are you in love with her?
>> Anonymous
>>69677

She'll be ... happier. She'll feel... less pain. Less anxiety.

Oh, and the weight gain only happens because the appetite returns once the stressful emotions remove itself. However, you should try to limit her intake of caffeine and sugar.
>> Anonymous
She may want to plan her life a little more regimented than before. By setting arbitrary tasks some importance and regularity, it gives purpose and responsibility that cannot be avoided. So she may decide that no, she cannot do this one thing, because she always goes to the gym in the morning and she cannot miss that. The obsession to meet daily targets can be good because it avoids mood swings, but bad because she may end up with a full day plan of nothing tasks or a depression when her routine is interrupted.

Also expect that she may still feel so depressed that she just cannot be motivated to do anything, even eat or clean up after herself. The moods still happen, but the medicine will help avoid extreme down times.
>> Anonymous
My experience of taking antidepressants is that I became more easily able to let things go instead of dwelling on them, and more easily able to sort out my life and personality. But I admit I have been lucky with fluoxetine. Also, for the first few weeks, she may experience a tightness or dryness of the throat, which is eased a little by drinking plenty of water. And the medicine does take a few weeks to begin to work, and perhaps longer to get the full benefits. But if the side effects are intolerable, she needn't suffer when there might be a better anti-depressant out there for her.
>> Ian Curtis !f0VMpnwSCQ
Depends on what she takes. Try to get Remeron. Unable to be abused, very little side effects, effective.
>> Anonymous
I can tell you what you can expect. You can expect nothing but god damned hypochondria. All these so called mental illnesses from 50 branches of depression to Asperger's syndrome share one common trait: THEY ARE NOT REAL.

Sure depression is real, but it is not real in an "ooh I'm diagnosed with depression, I'm on anti-depressants" way. It just isn't. It's a bunch of made up bullcrap to further ease the job of a psychiatrist.

Anyone who has been diagnosed with any form of depression is granted access to some bullshit placebo drugs and told he has a serious illness, which will lead him to think he is different from others, perhaps even better, as they can't understand what he is going through.

Truth is, there are actually real diseases out there, both physical and mental, so don't get too moved by attention whoring of perfectly healthy individuals. Though, seeing as you have already opened up this thread and asking what can you expect from her "condition", my words will probably be in vain.
>> Ian Curtis !f0VMpnwSCQ
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>>69793
>> Anonymous
>>69796
I actually read that book and liked it very much when I was younger. But... Get the fuck out malingering hypochondriac.
>> Anonymous
>>69793
>chemistry is a bunch of lies
>> Ian Curtis !f0VMpnwSCQ
>>69805
See
>>69811
>> Anonymous
>>69793
Anyone who has experienced actual clinical depression would hit you for being an insensitive bastard right now.

That's not to say one cannot be misdiagnosed but it certainly exists.

I for one dearly wish what you said was true, as it would make my life considerably less fucked up (not saying I'm not a fault, but psychological problems don't help). Sadly it isn't.
>> Anonymous
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>>69793

Go back to your gay Lron commune Tom.
>> Anonymous
>>69655
Seroquel is an antipsychotic, not an antidepressant.
>>69766
I have never known anyone who took Remeron for its antidepressant properties, only for its sedative side effects for use as a sleep aid.


Don't "try" to get her put on any medications in particular. Most likely she will have to try a variety of different medications and perhaps even classes of medications before she finds something that works for her. Everyone's brain chemistry is different; what works for me won't necessarily work for you. Also, each medication will have a different set of potential side effects, of which you could experience none, all, or just a couple. Side effects of medications within the same class of drugs tend to be similar.

That having been said, if it's possible, she should try to avoid Paxil, Effexor, and Zoloft, as their discontinuation effects can potentially be excruciatingly difficult to deal with.

On the whole, once your friend finds a med that works for her, it will be beneficial. Don't let these guys scare you off the idea of your friend taking medication. Just make sure that she gets therapy to work on the underlying cause of her depression, and do your best to be supportive of her.
>> Anonymous
>>69856
I know it's an antipsychotic, but it has also been prescribed in very low doses in cases of anxiety and depression.
>> Anonymous
>>69793

Scifags are being implanted into all the chans. Everybody beware.
>> Anonymous
>>69826
See, people ITT taking my words out of context and making it look like I said something completely different. Actually depression is very much real, and don't jump to conclusions that I too am not experiencing it, there is just one thing I was talking about:

Try to make an experiment of sorts. Open up a thread about depression and anti-depressants on /b/, since it has more people than any other board. If you hit the time right, the thread will soon have more than 150 replies, and that's my experience based on seeing tens of such threads. In that thread, at least 100 replies will be people telling what anti-depressants they were on.

Exactly the same thing has happened ITT, and is happening right now. Look above this post and see how they have already started throwing around names of numerous AD drugs they used.

Now try to connect a few dots here. Everyone on /b/ is by default an obese basement dweller, no job, very little friends, no girlfriend, no self-confidence, no perspective in life, nothing. Now one day he wakes up and says to himself "hey, I feel like shit". But what does he do about it? He goes to see a fool that will comfort him by telling him he is having an XY form of depression and prescribe him an AD. Soon he will prescribe him another AD, and another, and it will come down to the said person drinking AD drugs for the rest of his life, being absolutely dependant on them although they do him no good whatsoever, and tell everyone "oh shit you guys I'm diagnosed with depression, doctor gave me these anti-depressants". Soon everyone believes him and start taking his non-existent illness seriously. This thread occurs.

What is really the sweetest part, if any of you were really depressed, you wouldn't actually consider using meds for that, let alone tell your doctor about it. Fact. A very pathetic fact.
>> Anonymous
>>69876
oh shit I can't wait for an Asperger's thread
>> Anonymous
>>69876
You have no idea of what you're talking about.