How to cure depression?

[Waratah]

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I've got depression, and have recently started taking antidepressants, and even those don't totally cure it. The key thing is that there is no cure, only treatment.

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Depression can be cured. Long-term antidepressant use does not help, it only keeps people in depression. Antidepressants are (can be) effective short-term.

One of my friends has been depressed for about 20 years now, the last 15 of those years on antidepressants. There's nothing his friends can do for him, because the drugs totally numb his ability to appreciate happiness. A different friend of mine - same drug (Effexor) stopped using it (took him months and months to get off the drug because it's highly addictive), and came out of his depression.

(My bold)Bold bits sounds like you giving medical advice about medical conditions and medicines. It is one of the reasons I said not to listen to you.

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GP's are not well equipped to deal with mental issues - even though people come to them with them all the time. Their area of expertise is physical illness and infection. Personally, if I could change the law, GP's would only be allowed to prescribe antidepressants short term, and their patients would be referred to a psychiatrist for continued treatment (the psychiatrist would then handle the prescription of their medication from that point on).
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What ever you do DO NOT listen to Daniel.

Nice. There's a petition against Effexor you know - that's just the start of its controversy, and I've known a lot of people who have used the drug. Is it helpful? Yes it is in the short term (up to 9 months or so). GP's may be qualified to prescribe antidepressants, but mental ilness is not their area of expertise and they are unable to adequately assess its effectiveness for their patients - this is not an insult against GP's, in fact more than one GP I know agrees with me on this. In my view, patients should be referred to a psychiatrist. I would support legislation that made this mandatory for all long-term antidepressant prescriptions, that way everyone benefits - GP's have less burdens on them, patients will receive better care - and most importantly - their psychiatrist visits would be either bulk-billed (free) or charged in the way GP visits usually are. My friend has been on antidepressants for 15 years, I don't think he's ever seen a psychiatrist in his life. All he sees is a psychologist about twice a year and his GP every time he needs his prescription renewed. How that helps is totally beyond me. I'm the one who sees the effects of his medication - not his GP who sees him once every few months for 5-10 minutes.

(My bold) Do you have any medical qualifications?

Full of shit, I was right. DO NOT take advice from Daniel about medical conditions or medicines.

I don't provide medical advice. My advice to people on antidepressant medication for the treatment of depression is to go to a psychiatrist and let them assess the effectiveness of the medication and take over the treatment. Ask your GP for a referral. Going to a GP is like going to a mechanic when your car has an auto electrical problem.

As I have shown above you do try to provide medical advice. FACT

You yourself are chiefly responsible for your own medical care, GP's can only do so much.

You just make it up as you go. This is what you said(My bold)

"Nice. There's a petition against Effexor you know - that's just the start of its controversy, and I've known a lot of people who have used the drug. Is it helpful? Yes it is in the short term (up to 9 months or so)"

Again, stop taking everything I write out of context.

It was not taken out of context.

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9 months is around as long as I believe a GP should be able to prescribe antidepressants for because they are not psychiatrists. There are numerous different causes of depression, none of which is "cured" with antidepressants.

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I have never seen any evidence that antidepressants are positive for the patient in the long term. Ever.

So what. You really are up yourself.

My friend was already overweight when he was moved onto Effexor (from his previous medication). In the time since he's been on Effexor he has stacked on the weight like nothing else; weight gain is a known side-effect of the drug.

Please don't assume.

There is nothing positive about being morbidly obese; and there's no possibility that he can loose the weight while on the drug.

Bullshit, if he does not eat he will not gain weight.

When he was still in Canberra he used to swim laps in the pool twice a week, and he still gained weight.

So, means nothing.

By the way the drug also has other side effect on him that I'm not prepared to talk about online.

Good the less you say about this topic and your anecdotal evidence the better.

The drug does him absolutely no good.

Is that your professional opinion.

And I would have been fully prepared to tell this to his psychiatrist, if he had one. As he's never seen a psychiatrist in his life (to my knowledge) the only person ultimately responsible for his medical care is his GP. He's been on antidepressants for 15 years or so, like a GP has any idea if it helps him or not - his friends, myself and his other friends, have a much better idea of whether they help him. And they don't.

No wonder he is depressed if there is a whole bunch of people he knows are just like you. Maybe the anti-depressants have been working.(Ah shit just did a Daniel)

The drug prevents him from experiencing happiness, so it's impossible for him to be cured from depression while still on it. And that is an incontrovertible fact.

You and your so called facts.

If I was suffering depression, I would tell my GP I don't want to go on antidepressants and to either try something else or refer me to a psychiatrist. Simple.

Did you ever go to university? The type of papers that you need to supply are not found in newspapers.

Ever heard of doctor shopping?
Ever heard of prescription drug abuse?
Ever heard of prescription drug dependence?

WTF. What has that got to do with what I said. If you do not wish to answer the question, that's okay. The whole point was to highlight your inability to provide links to papers but links to newspaper sites.

My advice: When you fuck up just admit. Be a woman about. Just asking a whole lot of pointless questions make you look like a Daniel.