Addendum, July 17, 2008 – I’ve recently been corrected, and informed that addiction is the wrong term in the case of SSRI medication; the medical community prefers physical dependence, but my American Heritage dictionary made no distinction between the two. I won’t quote from the dictionary here — an ample supply of definitions is available on the Internet.

The presence of withdrawal symptoms can indicate either addiction or physical dependence.

Bloggerwithocd writes about what it’s like to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder at http://www.itsmewithocd.blogspot.com.

This one is not meant to encourage suicide, but to alleviate some of the guilt, which contributes to depression and feelings of self-hatred: Suicide Isn’t Always Selfish.

This one I wrote about my father, who killed himself when I was eight years old.
Damned Tears.

I know how you feel when you say no one understands. You could probably tell by some of the writing on this site, that I do understand, and many people who have commented here.

You say you have everything you want, but I’d guess you don’t have everything you need, including what people need emotionally, not just materially.

I have tried meds and psychotherapy, but longer do either. I’m having the best luck so far with meditation. What works for some people doesn’t work for others, however, but I’d encourage you to look into getting a book on meditation from the library, or purchasing one (The first one I purchased was called “Meditation for Dummies.”) You can also find meditation resources online; I’d recommend Jane’s blog at http://intentions.wordpress.com/ as a starting point. Her blog is called “Bipolar Recovery.” Her site has been an inspiration and encouragement to me.

Meditation is not an instant cure, but the immediate effect you could get from it is hope.

If you can’t find the support and understanding you need from your friends and family at the present time, I suppose the next best alternative is online forums or the like. You might find what you need from some of the blogs and sites I’ve linked to on this site.

I’m not a therapist and have no formal education in health care or the mental health field.

Anyhoo. These pharma guys are scum. It pains me to read this stuff though. The good guys are not going to win this for a long time. There is too much money to be milked off people. This will continue and persist for the foreseeable future. The cycle will start anew with each new patent.

I was on the front lines when the first wonder SSRI, Prozac, was suddenly on the lips of every P doc and shrink. I once watched a boy my own age being put on Prozac at a group home for labeled teens in 1992. This kid went into seizures at the breakfast table right next to mine one morning. It was so horrible to watch and to know the Prozac did it to him. That this was the supposed chemical rebalancing.

Witnessing that I knew I would never try SSRIs no matter how bad I felt. That saved me from having my own SSRI war stories on my blog. >.<

Prior to that experience I had been force hospitalized against my will for behavior that was unfortunately but inaccurately assumed to be suicidal. On my first appointment with the Pdoc in charge of case he asked me if I had been on meds before. I said that I had and that it was horrible. Then he tried pushing Prozac on me which I refused.

About four years later I found myself in front of another Pdoc after another forced hospitalization for a genuine and serious suicide attempt. Eerily this guy also tried pushing Prozac on me which I refused yet again.

I remember thinking that was something really wrong going on here. Was there a policy I wasn't aware of that forced Pdocs to push drugs on you? I could see if I asked for a pill but I never asked for one! These Prozac pitches were always unasked for and unsolicited.

From reading these horrible antidepressant addiction stories ten, almost twenty years afterward my skin crawls to think about these doctors pressing and pushing me to try an SSRI.

yes, people do have rights and its not fair to blame the suicide victim for the fact that by them killing themselves, they in turn had emotionally tormented their loved ones. but its just not something to take lightly and to just let people do what they want with their lives. if we can help others overcome the thoughts of suicide (no easy task) by offering love, support, guidance, a listening ear, counseling, crisis intervention, etc..then at least we can say we tried and are willing to be a helpful participant in a positive way. i recently read a statistic that 25,000 people in the U.S. commit suicide each year, thats alarming!!!

its a deep issue for sure, and not that i don’t appreciate your comment, i just think that compassion and understanding can go a long way–and that maybe at the very end, “they” (the suicide victim) was not necessarily “okay with it”…as you put it.

if you are still depressed over the boy you like, that doesn’t understand your feelings—just talk to him and try to be friends and hang out. dont worry too much about feelings, love, romance, dating, ect…just be yourself and try to hang out on a casual basis. after time, if feelings become mutual then great. if not and he’s not interested, thats fine too. above all, just keep your sanity, love and care about the person you are–and sooner or later, when you least expect it someone special will come around. believe me, boys aren’t everything…don’t let them drive you to distraction. confidence is key.

just food for thought…take care

In one of my waking states of semi-consciousness and delusion, I added your link to the Mental Health link section of this site. Have a good day and don’t take any shit from smiley faces who are Mr. Yuk stickers in disguise.

You may find some links on this site that will provide what you’re looking for.