Posted by:
Gay Philosopher
(
)
Date: June 12, 2013 10:10PM
Hi Orange,
I think you're very close to the truth.
I doubt that an SSRI fundamentally alters people's personalities. Instead, they alter mood (among other things, such as a craving for carbs) for most people, most of the time, for the better. They seem to usually cause sedation, and to create emotional blunting (i.e. things don't bother you as much). Emotional blunting could be a lifesaver in some cases, such as when dealing with the death of a spouse that you loved deeply.
However, if you take someone who is violent and blunt their emotions, you're likely to see someone who seems like a sociopath, so you have to be careful about using SSRI's. For most of us, though, who have taken them, we're struggling with excessive anxiety or depression, and these most definitely shorten one's life span if left untreated (and make us very miserable along the way), so you have to look at the tradeoffs.
Honestly, from personal experience with a bunch of different SSRI's, they just don't do all that much. They won't turn a normal person into a serial killer any more than caffeine will. Most people don't seem to complain about what SSRI's do when they work the way that they're supposed to (mood elevation and anxiety reduction), but about the side-effects: sexual side-effects, fat gain, constant sleepiness to the point where it feels like you're struggling to stay conscious every waking moment (which, itself, creates anxiety), hives, etc.
It's extremely important to keep in mind that our brain chemistries and metabolisms are different. The way that an SSRI might impact me may be very different from the way that it might impact you. For example, I took Prozac for a few weeks once, but it made me so sleepy all the time (far worse than any other antidepressant) that I couldn't function. I couldn't focus my attention well enough to follow conversations without sometimes asking that a person repeat themselves. It was seriously awful. I vividly remember going to work, having to meet with a lot of different people, being HIGHLY caffeinated (enough to keep a large elephant awake for a week!), and being terribly sleepy. Caffeine made no difference at all. On the other hand, other people that take SSRI's don't seem to experience sleepiness nearly to the degree that I do.
Most of us never appreciate that the way that we feel and think is heavily influenced by our brain's neurochemistry. If something alters the concentration of serotonin or glutamate or any number of other neurotransmitters in our brains, all kind of bad things could happen, including suicidal ideation. You really have to be careful. An SSRI might make a person less inhibited, so that if they're angry to start with, they might become violent after treatment (but that's not very likely; more likely, they'll become less angry).
No one really understands what we even mean by depression. The serotonin hypothesis (that depression is caused by insufficient serotonin between neurons) is false. We know that because there's an anti-depressant drug in Europe that works by *lowering* the availlable serotonin in the brain! Unfortunately, nobody knows how depression really works, and it may be different in different brains. Basically, by manipulating serotonin in the brain, you're carpet bombing the brain, hoping that you'll eventually take out the enemy--never mind the collateral damage along the way.
Again, I want to stress that I don't think that SSRI's are bad. They can be, and have been, lifesavers for countless numbers of people. But even when they work, they help with symptoms. I'm not sure that they "cure" anything. Perhaps others can chime in with their viewpoints.
I'd just like to reassure you a bit. Please don't worry. Go ahead and take the Prozac. Take a low dose for a week. Your body will tell you whether to go up, or down, or stop. Just listen to it. Don't go too fast. Be gentle. Nothing bad will happen, and in a month, you'll think it silly that you ever feared that it would.
The real question is: Which side-effects will you have? Will you get fat? On Prozac, no, in all likelihood. Will you sleep well? I really hope so; that's very important, and probably you will. Orgasms? Forget it. Sleepiness? I really hope that you'll have much better luck than I did. And if you experience some type of side-effect that you can't tolerate, you can easily decrease the dose after four weeks, and either switch to something else such as Lexapro, or stop.
So, don't worry. In the grand scheme of things, Prozac is mild. It could help. It won't hurt. Stick with it for four weeks and then made a determination as to whether you want to keep going or not. Don't allow yourself to be talked out of trying it due to fear-mongering. I fully support trying psychotherapy first (or alongside drug treatment). However, a lot of people need an SSRI to get symptoms under control, to enable psychotherapy to work.
Your enemy isn't Prozac. It's fear. And chances are, you won't need to take it forever. Give it a try. It's really not a big deal. You *will* be okay.
Take Care,
Steve