Yes Or No

[fuzzypenguin]

Does medication actually work and help? I feel like most has to be long term, and I just wouldn't want to do that to be happy. I'm not looking to start a heated debate, just some simple answers. You don't even have to say what you're on. I probably won't know much about it either way.

 

[Ed Norton]

It depends on the medication and the person. There's no yes or no answer, personally for me it helps.

 

[anthony]

Like Ed said, there is no correct answer to your question. It depends on the person. They work for some, not for others. Medication is a personal choice based on your circumstances, your beliefs, your values.

 

[Aylion]

Looking to my experience, I say that it does have an effect (so it works), and that effect can be helpful or not. (medication can also make you worse)

I would say that in the long term, medication is more likely to harm than to do good, but in the short term it can help you ride a rough patch.

I used an ssri (prozac) for anxiety and, although it helped, it brought me undesirable side effects, now I wish I had relied more on therapy, time and changes of lifestyle, because they are safer ways of treating anxiety/depression, and probably as effective for most of the people.

I also think that medication is necessary for a small group of people.

 

[Truthful_Whispers]

The only medication on earth that actually cures anything is penicillin. All other meds merely alleviate symptoms.

 

[Gadgie]

Aye! But what about getting "hooked" on medication? I've been taking pain killers for now, and if I stop taking them I start to "rattle" like a junkie?

I have managed to cut it down to four a day, the maximum I was allowed to take was eight within a twenty four period. Yet, some days when the pain gets really bad,I will put it up to six a day.

Then, I've also got my "happy" pills, well that's what I call them, they control my anxiety and mood swings.

 

[anthony]

Your body becoming addicted to something is normal. It is a process to remove oneself from medication, as you may have all the coping skills in the world working for you, but you don't have them working for without medication and the withdrawal effect. That is a true test in and of itself, more often than not. To function without the medication and get your coping skills working correctly.

Many a person often believe what they've learnt was all for nothing when they withdraw from medication. They couldn't be further from the truth. Medication has a withdrawal time frame. Doctors tell you the physical properties answer, such as when the drug has removed from your system. They don't tell you the psychological answer -- being the more important one that you have to overcome, that causes physical symptoms, in order to truly function without the property in your body helping you.

That psychological time frame is often months 3 -6, minimum, in order for you to get a grasp of life without medication and then remember all you've learnt and applied to yourself, then do it in a rapid basis without medication.

I personally took a different path -- I worked out the medication was worse for me right from the get go, thus I implemented all my own strategies without it, so I didn't have to endure withdrawal years after therapy and learning skills. I got off the crap quickly, in the scheme of things. That was my choice, my view, my personal beliefs about medication for psychology. I believe in meds for physical issues that have well proven outcomes, such as blood pressure medication, heart medications, those type things, really do save lives and keep people alive. Psychological medication does not have such a nice track record, with far more misses than hits, far more complications and unproven theories, than proven.

It won't matter who you are though -- it will take time to get off of medication, any of them. Step 1 is it getting out of your system. Step 2 is coming to terms with life without this foreign matter in your body any longer.

 

[joeylittle]

Not looking to get all debate-y; I'll say, for myself, medication is absolutely necessary. But it's trying to handle major depression, not PTSD.

I also believe that any psychotropic medication should be coupled with cognitive therapy. The brain changes according to how it gets used, at least in part. But for many people, medication can make cognition possible.

 

[MysticRose]

I've tried so many types of medication.. anti depressants and anti psychotics, benzodiapines, either alone or combined (of course only when my psychiater told me to), but none of them seem to have worked for me. It either makes things worse; physically or mentally, or it just does not affect me at all.

So I do not have good experience with taking medication. But, as stated before, that's personal. What doesn't work for me, might work out fine for you! You can always try. But be careful, because my psychiater prescribed so many different types of medication in a short time, that it put me in a crisis. Just wanted to share this, because it's not always so harmless as it might seem.

 

[Ronin]

I don't tend to be able to access my coping skills properly when on meds, & develop new.

So long term I tend to do better without meds.

Painkillers being an exception. I need them to function, at least time to time, and need them as a net to fall back on.

Part of all that is physical, part is mental though; I don't handle being inhibited by substances unless it's something I'm doing deliberately, and even there I need to watch my line darned carefully. (Or more like, have others watch out for me while I'm still learning to watch my reasoning about why I'm doing this particular thing, at this time.)