[Raion]

I noticed a few of us have been struggling with our mental health over the nearly 2 years this pandemic has gone on now. It's not quite that much, but it feels like ages. 

I wanted to share a little bit of encouragement to those of you who still are stuck in such a way. 

First off, I'm not a psychiatrist, so I'm not going to suppose everything I have to say is going to apply to your situation.

I've been where a lot of you are. Feeling worthless, meaningless, betrayed or angry, these are things I myself have felt over my lifetime. Through my struggles I always identified something to live for. Sometimes, to be honest, it was stupid "I gotta stay around until the next Zelda game comes out." or "I'm gonna work so I can have the taste of that one dish I have been craving." This was necessary for me at the time, as I was not particularly religious and I spent a significant portion of 15-8 years prior to now isolated and depressed on a regular basis. 

For me, I had to find solace in something. At first, it was some members of my family who were younger and looked up to me as an example. I felt it would be selfish of me to leave them, especially at an age where they wouldn't be able to comprehend me being gone. Later, I turned to religion. I don't share much about my faith anymore, as I've had a lot of atheists and people who decide to judge someone based on historical actions a religion took part in. To me, the arguments I get ring as hollow as those who try to use the crusades as an argument. From my POV, it doesn't matter what you do to create a bond keeping you to this world. As long as its harmless and not self-destructive, there's little I can say negative about it. Pain and suffering are part of being alive, and the idea that you're gonna be able to escape that even in death does not strike me as a plausible argument. 

It's my opinion that medications are an imperfect solution. I am not saying "stop taking your meds." as I believe there are legitimate conditions where you have no choice (e.g. Schizophrenia, Bipolar disorder) even if the solutions are very, very imperfect. But I'm saying, if your condition allows, don't become dependent on them to function. Many of them blunt a lot of emotions, and in my case, made me feel dead. You should always talk to your doctor. But it's my opinion some of the meds out there are overprescribed. Antidepressants, for instance. Make your own conclusions, I'm not a doctor. I took a few off/on for a period of years and they hurt me in the long run more than helped.

Fixing yourself to the world with a goal is what I think is the most effective method. If you have a reason to live, to carry on and try harder, it'll never stop you. 

Finally, I just wanted to say for those of you who are struggling, there's a few people here I know are reasonably sympathetic to just listening, myself included. I have faith that every person here struggling can triumph over their personal daemons if they try.

[shrek]

Good post! Life has been kinda beating me to a pulp lately. Spending more time outside and exercising regularly have made me feel much better.

[vishnu]

Trying to come off anti-depressants, specifically gabipentin, and it's been (to put it in the best light) absolutely brutal. Being depressed wasn't anywhere near as bad as this withdrawal. I mean, when I was suffering depression, it sucked, but these withdrawal symptoms make me want to be dead more than I ever did when I was suffering depression.

[Raion]

Gabapentin is not something I have a lot of experience with. All that I can tell you is that ssri's are medications that I will never let my children be prescribed even if the doctor tries to mandate it.

Such things are not good for children's brain chemistry. I have a variety of depression that's extremely difficult to treat but I have been mostly successful with a lot of work and self improvement.

Unfortunately I've also seen some pretty terrible aspects of humanity and it amazes me how immature people can be when they're 30 40 or even 60 years old. It's the worst of humanity when you start seeing how people are programmed not only by the media they consume but by those around them.

Humans are capable of both great and terrible things. That's what I've come to learn. What needs to happen in society is that we need to get better at sublimating our darkest urges and not taking them out on people.

[Irinikus]

I don't take any form of chronic medication. Am I particularly happy - No, but I keep myself busy and this helps allot.

This hobby of computer collecting serves as one of my methods of escapism and it works very well. (In my experience, the more busy you are, the happier you are .)

The rest of my family are on anti depressants, although they do help them to cope with life a bit better, these drugs affect people in ways in which they don't realise. If you're the only person in the room who's not on them, you definitely notice the difference. (In my experience, they cause people to become more child-like, this may or may not be a bad thing, depending on how you see things.)

Another thing, I live by the principle that I don't live to work, but I work to live. (However, it's of utmost importance that you have goals and dream's, as it's these which keep you alive.)

Another thing that I've found is that you shouldn't rely on others to make you happy, as other's tend to let you down when you least expect it. (It's good to keep a small core of good friends though.)

My an advice is: Try to get off the meds if you can, and not sitting idle will help you allot towards achieving this. (Life's a test, and it's not an easy one, but try as best as possible to face it head on.)

[Shiunbird]

My an advice is: Try to get off the meds if you can, and not sitting idle will help you allot towards achieving this. (Life's a test, and it's not an easy one, but try as best as possible to face it head on.)

My psychiatrist is against meds in general. I took sleeping pills and anxiety pills for a while and he cut me off as soon as he could. Except in cases of chronic hormonal/chemical misbalance in the brain, we are supposed to feel the pain to be able to drive change forward. Otherwise, you may end up in a very long term limbo.

He has been actually extra-officially advising on mushrooms as a way to break the cycle of the kind of persistent depression (I forgot the scientific name of it) that always comes back when you reduce or get off the meds. A friend of mine replaced 15 years of mood stabilisers with a few grams of psilocybin once every 3 months.

But, well, each case is a case and, if you are under professional advice, of course stick to it! I've been seeing him once a week for the last 5-6 years and going through psychoanalysis and I am very pleased with how far I've come.