anti-depressant medication ?
Q.Having been away for awhile, and missing the main part of a thread, in regards to this particular post, but it did make me think of an important issue, which is, that no doctor's ever seem to check for depression being the underlying cause of drug addiction, if they are fortunate enough to get an addict in their office, in the very first stages of addiction. Apparently, many user's suffer from manic-depression, and because they are not diagnosed for it, and therefore not treated for it, a lot of them end up turning to drugs in the first place, as an unconscious form of self-medication.Unfortunately, for a number of these people, one has to speculate whether or not they would have ever formed an addiction in the first place, had they been properly diagnosed and treated.
A.This is an interesting point and it isn't even limited to depression. A neuralogist (sp?) I once went to commented that my predeliction for stimulants very likely indicated ADD. However, when i mentioned this to a psychiatrist he just brushed it aside and basically told me i should go get electroshock treatment to "break" me of "addictive" behaviors...(needless to say put him through the mental equivalent of a paper shredder)...Doctors and the nation in general seem to ignore the fact that illicit drug use often fulfills a need medication that a person is not getting. Which is not to say that this is always the case...but... People talk about drugs being an escape and that user need to face their problems rather than trying to run from them. But what do they know! If i'm depressed and I face my depression then that doesn't make it go away. If i've been hurt and disillusioned by life and I face those feelings then it doesn't make them go away and it doesn't make them better. Life still sucks. Drugs on the other hand don't really solve any problems, they just enable us to cope with them. Society is big on therapy and for some people it may be good, but I know what my problems are and I don't need anyone to help me figure them out. I just need some chemical and emotional help (neither of which i can get from a shrink...I can get those from drugs and friends). Society's reaction to people who really need drugs is "let them eat cake."...well they can go to hell as far as i'm concerned. Absolutely. That's why it's so bad when you get off of them. Not only is all the depression still around, but you're not even used to having mega-emotions anymore, and the one single way you found to cope with those emotion--dope--isn't there. It sucks buffalo dick. I don't even give a damn about being happy anymore; I would be content not to be enraged. But when I think about taking an anti-depressant, I come too close to asking, well, why not take the best anti-depressant of all in that case? Certainly glad to hear that you did not stick with that guy! I am not a shrink, but if youspeak to any knowledgeable recovering addict whm has had some good therapy, or even someone familiar with the NA or AA ways, they will tellyou that this thought on self-medicating is proven. If you are interested in knowing more about it in regards to yourself, find any therapist working with recoering addicts and Im sure you could be tested, if you are that interested. You mention that life straight is not really worth living, where as in fact, that could be an illness talking. If in fact someone was diaganosed with manic depression, who knows, perhaps on the right meds, they may feel completely differently about life in general, and therefore their drug use.Unfortunately by then, as addicts, they would also have to learn how to kive straight, if that is what they want, but maybe it may be easier if their medication has them balanced out more. Maybe for you it may be worth looking into. I doknow for some though, it can be used as a crutch for their addiction, as if to take any blame off of themselves and their lack of responsibility, which could also be a problem, but if truly interested, some should look into it. It could change their whole lives if it pertains to them. I hear what you are saying about not needing any therapy as you know what your problems are, and to me, you sound as if you have been very badly hurt by someone, or something, and Im not really sure if you can help yourself. But in fact, unless you have had years in school for phsycology, chances are, even the problems that you are aware of, may need some help formo someone whom really knows what they are doing...Im not one for therapy, unless the doctor REALLY is good, and so many of them ARE NOT. Friends can only help you so much, and sure they can offer you support, they can be ther for you when you need them, but they cant really help you, for they are too close to you, and tend to "enable" your addiction and addictive behaviour, even when they do not mean to hurt you by doing it, but it is too hard for them not to, for so many reasons.....I could go on and on, with this subject, which I can't, but I am just glad you got away from that nut of a doctor.....
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