this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Mental Health

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What are your thoughts on psych drugs, such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, mood stabilisers, etc?

Doctors love to prescribe these drugs. But they have very bad side effects, based on what I've read. And they can give you strong withdrawals when you try to come off them. Also, should we really be medicalising emotions and taking drugs to emotionally cope with the world? Maybe we need things like friends, family, social connections, to make the world more enjoyable.

What do you think?

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[–] mitsuki@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I have Bipolar Type 1 and I was diagnosed in 2013 after the worst mania of my life. I've been going to therapy and taking different combinations of mood stabilizers, anti-depressants and anti-psychotics for almost a decade. I've tried tons of them. I'm usually given divalproex as a mood stabilizer but when I get suicidal ideation, I'm given something else. Last year, I was too depressed and I was given an anti-depressant, sertraline, but the problem was that I was losing sleep and going manic after two months of taking it so it was removed. After just three months, I had a relapse and was given it again. Sometimes I get delusional too hence the need for anti-psychotics. Right now, the clozapine I'm taking is being gradually replaced by aripriprazole. Since the dosage has been lessen, I've been having a hard time sleeping. I had to take aripriprazole because even with clozapine, I still began to experience delusion of reference.

It's not easy having this disorder. The past ten years had been rough. If I had a choice, I won't take the medication. It's too expensive especially where I'm from. There'd be times when I would think that they don't really work but when things start to go bad, they're all I have. Without them, I probably won't be around anymore. If one thinks taking psychiatric medication is not for them, then I don't have a problem with that. There are people like me however that won't function properly without them.