Published on 12, July, 2020
I read this and thought i would share it for your thoughts.....
The obvious answer to my question is no.
However, I didn’t always feel that way. In my 20s, I saturated myself in healthism and orthorexia. I thought I could control and optimize my body and mind simply by addressing my diet, getting enough exercise, and going to therapy.
I incorrectly thought that if someone needed psychiatric medication, it meant they weren’t doing the internal and external work. I assumed they were just treating the symptoms instead of the root cause.
This was further reinforced by a brief stint of anti-depressants I took in college. After a fire that consumed all of my physical items, I entered a deep state of depression. My doctor suggested Prozac, which I took. It didn’t help. It even worsened some of my symptoms.
Worsening symptoms is something doctors watch out for when they prescribe psychiatric medication. I incorrectly thought that if one psychiatric medication negatively impacted me, then all the rest were garbage as well. I didn’t know that certain medications can impact you differently depending on how your body responds to it.
I later took SSRI’s again after my mom died. I entered another deep state of depression. The medication I took that time helped (Zoloft), but I felt like a zombie. It was sooooo weird to barely think anything at all. In some ways it was very calming, and in other ways it was alarming. I didn’t want to Zzombie my way through life, so after three months I weened myself off
I also started therapy at that time, thinking that would be enough. It wasn’t.
Look, I’m a therapist, I clearly believe in the power of therapy. However, it cannot resolve everything.
Some things are just outside of our control.
I didn’t believe that until I learned I am autistic. I realized how different my brain is than a neurotypical brain, and that it’s ok to not measure myself by neurotypical standards. I will always think more and feel more than the average person.
It's definitely not taking the easy way out.
If it works for you then absolutely go for it! It's like when a cancer patient has chemo, they aren't taking the easy route - quite the opposite actually! - it's just to give them a chance at a happier and better life.
I tried medication but unfortunately it wasn't a success story for me, mostly I think because of the side effects.
I think I'm hyper sensitive to medication side effects because every time I have anything it makes me sick as a pig! Some foods are the same so I'm very careful with what I eat.
I was on a meditation to help with my mental health a few years ago and that one oddly didn't make me sick but it did "zombify" me. Lol. I used to be asleep most of the time and when I was about and walking I was slow like a zombie and very little made sense - I was in a total daze all the time.
That in itself has been a good reminder not to try the suicide route again. I never want to be zombified like that ever again I had no idea what I was doing lol.