Our Chemical Romance

Kohadre wrote: Suggesting that individuals with mental health issues stop taking prescribed and potentially life saving medical treatments is really a horrible thing to do, and that's as simple and as nice as I can put it - if that is in actuality what you are suggesting when you say

Take anti-depressants if you feel so inclined, but take them in the awareness that no-one really knows for sure whether they work or not. If you feel worse (or no different), stop taking them.

These medications have proven beneficial effects through not only scientific studies, but practical application over decades of treatment to those suffering within the mental health community. And please don't ask for some stupid web page showing bar graphs or fancy test cases, if you want those you can locate them yourself with a simple search

As far as for the last bit of that sentence,

If you feel better, I see that as a good thing regardless of whether it is due to medicine or the placebo effect...

When many people stop taking medicinal treatment for mental health problems, they cannot tell that they are getting sick because the disorder screws with their brain and impairs their ability to think logically and rationally. Someone like myself may go psychotic and think they are communicating with aliens through YouTube videos, and be able to justify the entire thing using deluded logic that makes perfect sense to them. They have no comprehension at that point just how sick and removed from reality they truly are because suggestions like the above encourage them to "find their own cure" so to speak.

Hi Kohadre

I'm sorry if I worded my reply in a manner that was confusing or unclear.

Let me clarify my stance. I fully support the recommendation and useage of medication for conditions such as depression. Personally I lean towards the suspicion that serotonin and genetic factors do play a part (and thus could be treated with medication) - but I know that my own personal experiences have probably rendered me slightly biased, and that there is no irrefutable scientific proof to prove either stance as of yet.

As the author of the article correctly pointed out (although also manages to avoid applying to his own arguments), serotonin levels in the living brain cannot currently be measured. We can only guess at or infer serotonin levels in the brain based on levels found in other areas of the body.

Therefore whilst I believe that medication should be offered to those who are struggling (and that it is dangerous and irresponsible to categorically tell people "going to the doctor and/or taking medicine will not help you"), I simply advise awareness when taking it - awareness that it does not work in every case, or that if it does work, we may one day discover that it's due to the placebo affect. I think it's more likely that we wont discover that, but if we do, which we can't rule out, people who have come to rely on medication and have never even considered that idea may find it pretty difficult to deal with. It would seem to make sense to at least acknowledge it as a possibility, is all I'm trying to say. When I said "if you feel better, I see that as a good thing" - I meant if you feel better as a result of taking medication, rather than from stopping taking medication.

Apologies again.