certainly you should be on if it's the only way to save you from going insane or committing suicide...but if you feel you are ready to fight on your own ....go for it

my system is too sensitive for drugs ..i have
severe allergic reactions to even most
necessary antibiotics and prescription
pain medications ..drugs have never really
been an option for me in dealing with anything
and so i can't stand even the thought of having
them anywhere near my mind : )

the most remarkable thing i ever discovered
for myself personally about depression
still seems very odd to me in a way ..and yet
very true ..what i did was spend months in
near solitude in the mountains studying the
roots of my own use of language ..like i
looked very closely at the relationship between
my thoughts and the words that accompanied
thought ..i realized something ..over every thought
to which i had a negative emotional response,
i was connecting my sense of myself to that
thought, like i drew my sense of self-value from
each thought ..so if it was a thought that i did not
feel matched the kind of image i wanted to have
about myself, i felt depressed or sad or scared
or defensive or any other imaginable negative
emotion ..so i looked close enough and kept
watching and so eventually there is a space
between what arises in the mind as thought or
perception, and what, if anything, i chose to do
in reaction to that thought ..like i realized i did
not need to give the thoughts words at all, let
alone view the thought as having any power
or reason to make for some definition of myself
over which i would feel anything, good or bad
..that ended, for me, the most unworkable
senses of depression that i had experienced
in my life until then

part of what i was doing at the time, this is the part
that seems odd, was studying patricia evans'
book 'the verbally abusive relationship: how to
recognize it and how to respond' ..maybe not so
odd ..i got to the core of the verbally abusive
relationship between me and myself, i guess,
heh : ) ..what's interesting about that book and
some things mentioned here in this thread is
that (not the greatest most intelligent book in
the world or anything, but very interesting) the
book talked in a concrete way about how we
might adopt others' thoughts and feelings
about themselves and about us as our own
feelings and thoughts about ourselves ..verbal
abuse goes much deeper than words ..it's
actually much more accurate to call it
'psychological abuse', and to see how deep it
goes, and what i wanted to do anyway was
understand the psychological roots of human
violence ..well, it really fascinated me how
much All of that very literally plays into the
entire psychological mechanisms through
which human violence of all forms is born
..so i think that is a good question ..how much
of depression is some form of violence?
..all of it maybe? ..awareness of human
violence at an incredibly deep and detailed
level, the residue and conditionings of what
has been experienced in the lifetime of such
violence, only a partial awareness of how
that level, that depth, that psychological
commonality of the human race, has affected
oneself, how one has personally reacted to
that throughout all one's years, how one is
reacting to it now? ..all forms of discontent
may be a form of violence, against oneself
..if we can just see how

well, that worked/works for me anyway ..this
is an astrological reference, but i have pluto
in the 3rd house ..so theoretically it is things
like that that would work for me

just some thoughts, i guess : )

I've found that most people who are depressed have bad chords and bad connections with people. But the true root of the negativity comes from within themselves. By loving yourself and excepting how you are and who you are, you start healing your illments with your own love, by taking a deep look inside yourself and come to terms with your nightmares and the roots of your negativity.. Only after from turning your love inward, you will be able to turn your love outward and that draws more love from others to reinforce your happiness.

It's not about the ability, it's about the lifestyle. Its not about how the world treats us, its about how we treat the world. Some people can't handle changing their lifestyle to a more postivie one, so they take medication to numb the pain. This does not fix what needs to be fixed, it just covers up an iceberg. Medicating it just disconnects ourself from our true self, the soul. Instead of taking that pill, look in the mirror and love what you see, look into your soul and appreciate it. Get up and go outside and connect with nature, that is the best medication for me.

I have always jokingly said"Drugs make me normal", then a psychic friend of mine stated that's what really happens.
They dampen psi ability, also over time will 'rewire' the brain.
Try herbs, holisitic medicine, accupuncture, meditation, try all avenues first.
Medication should be a last resort, use it if you must ,but like in 'A beautiful Mind' is it worth it to reduce or lose your 'gift' for stability?
Only you can answer that question.
Good Luck!

Hey, good question. I am on Wellbutrin and Lexapro at this point - to double-team anxiety and depression, basically. I've found if I'm not constantly on anti-depressants I will have a major depressive episode every 2-3 years, funny enough. I didn't realize the pattern until my psychiatrist pointed it out. I take Lamictal too which is a mood stabilizer and is supposed to prevent the reoccurence.

I agree with you that it does not kill my empath stuff, just makes it easier to focus and ignore it if I need to (like, to get anything done). It's easier to figure out what feelings are mine. I've heard it makes other people feel zombie-like, so I guess it depends on your own chemistry.

I can relate and support your decision, like you've stated you know how you feel and i just want to add that, chemicals in our brains can become depleted of several differant neuro chemicals / neuro transmitters from past traumatic experiences as well as genetics. Better living through chemicals is my mato.

To answer your question: Yes, when I took wellbutrin it did interfere with my empathic abilities. At the time it wasn't a bad thing because I was so depressed, but I did start to miss them after a while. When I'm on a lighter dosage, I still have abilities, but they are not as strong.

I have been taking Lexapro (an SSRI) for, oh, gee, I guess it is over four years now. I have just refilled a prescription, but I am taking myself off of it for a spell to see how things go since the situational depression and rampant anxiety have subsided. It did not affect my empathy, but did enhance my ability to establish boundaries, take life more in stride, develop a more ironic sense of humor, and learn the thngs you can only learn when you learn to relax/collapse/suspend. Four years past a series of boggling traumas does seem, also, like, perhaps, an adequate amount of time to recover, so I am going to see if I am now better off without it from an energy, physical health, and personality points of view. If so, I am begin a new phase of self. If not, well, I just refilled my prescription. LOL!

Hi, I'm on 120mg of Cymbalta and .5mg Klonopin x 4+ each day. It has helped me not feel the average stranger walking by's emotions and has enabled me to focus on my own feelings better. I can still key into people, but now only when I WANT to. I still have the occasional prophetic dream as before medicating so I don't really feel as though I've lost anything. It's just helped me to form a bit of distance which was badly needed between myself and the world. I don't feel like I have to fix or manipulate things for people anymore. I can reserve that for myself and my dearests now.

Good luck to you on your road to meditative relief. Personally, that wont work for me unless I can achieve a state of calm I can only get from using these medications. I have tried many anti-depressants in the past and never had one work like what I use now. I don't plan to stop anytime soon. It's too hard for me to be that open and sensitive all the time. Perhaps it truly is a chemical imbalance for me? I don't know. But, I'm happy with where I'm at and the control it gives me.

Bad stuff, but I guess for temporary needs maybe ok. I don't as my body reacts to chemicals, with any kind of continued use longer then more then once to a few days to a week or so. They play with the chemistry in your brain, they don't fix anything.

Decades ago I had problems, and turned to natural health, I learned to keep my body up with herbs and supplements, to keep it operating as efficient as it can. Plus I am Vegetarian, that helps too, I also take free form amino acids, to boost my brains ability to produce more neurotransmitters to stay level. Most of the new anti depressants help to keep more serotonin and etc in the brain longer, but taking free from amino acids helps to produce more naturally.

Then there is fasting and nutritional healing and cleansing of toxins. I find that toxins and parasites also have a lot to do with our mental states, memory, personality and ability to think and process info and even light and truth. I have seen kids retarded and etc, even psychotic, get the toxins and heavy metals and mercury out of the body and the brain and they change to normal again, if there is a definition for normal or average.