Long term depression and its treatment is more like a full season of Game of Thrones, your mind frantically trying to organize and prioritize rapid images of throat slitting, disembowelments, fucking, and bare penises into some semblance of order. It is chaos, and it needs a much longer management plan. Here's the problem, though:
Comstock/Stockbyte/Getty Images
Clearly, not enough fucking.
Recent studies have found that prolonged use of antidepressants actually promotes depression. There is some science behind it that I don't understand because I'm an idiot, but don't feel bad if you don't either, because the researchers themselves aren't quite sure what causes it. So, at least in this instance, we can all say that we're basically as smart as scientists. And I'm going to.
Anyway, it's something you have to take into consideration when talking to your doctor. If you've had problems with depression most of your life, I think it's pretty safe to assume that you'll be a likely candidate for long term treatment, so you're not exactly going into the conversation blind. It's easy for us to think that because this person is a doctor, she knows everything there is to know about the medication, but that just isn't true. There is a ridiculous amount of meds out there, all with a billion side effects -- it's impossible to have them all memorized. Even with the help of a computer, there will be some things that will be overlooked. Some of these studies are so recent that the doctor may not have heard of them yet.
Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images
980 Comments