Prozak america - a question

[donsu]

we keep asking america to wake up and see what has and is happening to our country. we keep asking where is the outrage?

put these questions together with the fact that massive amounts of americans live on Prozak and the like pharms.

are these americans so laid back they can't get upset or involved with anything of consequence?

I don't use these pharms so don't know just how laid back they make a person.

[QC]

1. Well, I've been taking SSRIs for years

and I can assure you that, despite all the bullshit about how they make people passive and apathetic, it's not the case.

For someone who is clinically depressed, *not* taking the meds means being passive and apathetic, to say nothing of sad and often even suicidal.

Besides, voting participation rates were well into the toilet long before Prozac came along.

If you're looking for a reason for the average American's lack of interest in politics, you might want to look elsewhere.

[htuttle]

2. That's a good question

I also don't have any experience with these drugs, and have wondered the same thing.

They'd have to make you VERY laid back to make you not care about what's going on, however. After all, I consume copious amounts of an herb, and I'm STILL mad as hell!

[otohara]

3. Emotions What Emotions

That was my experience on up-takes. It dawned on me when I went to a movies and normally I cry at the tear jerkers. It was as if my emotions were dried up,

Then there were those dreams, where I was repeatedly killing my ex-husband, who I have not seen in 20+ years. Stabbing him over and over - just like OJ.

[enough]

4. My experience --

Contrary to the popular notion, these drugs do not make you numb and unfeeling. Just the opposite.

I took paxil for three years. I learned how to feel again, how to care about things again, how to have the energy and the passion to do something about the things I care about. It was if I had become numb (depressed) and the drug reminded me of my real self. I learned how to live again.

After three years I very gradually took myself off it. I have heard and seen that there can be very bad reactions to a sudden cold-turkey withdrawal.

I have been off it for more than a year now and I still feel very good, lots of energy and LOTS OF OUTRAGE.

[cherryperry]

5. Respectfully disagree . . .

Please read #1 and #4. When people are clinically depressed, it's pretty much the only way to function. Necessary medicines would NOT make people passive but rather simply able to live.

I AM concerned that if someone takes them for no good reason, however, your premise could indeed be correct. I'm hoping that isn't happening - am I being naive?

[maha]

6. Don't blame Prozak.

I've taken SSRIs for years, also. Now I'm on 100 mg a day of Zoloft. And I'm working very hard to expose Bush for what he is.

SSRIs don't make me more "laid back." In fact, they help me focus. But then, I'm a chronic depressive, so the drugs correct a chemical imbalance in my brain.

Please don't blame the SSRI drugs for social ills. Too many depressives don't take them because they think there's something "immoral" about them.

[RedSock]

7. laidback? bullshit

i've been on either prozac or paxil for about 6 years and it did just the opposite -- it got me up and feeling good and able to deal with people.

all this talk about it zoning you out or wiping your emotions out is 101% bullshit.

and it's very dangerous for people who could benefit from the drug to read. so stop saying that. :>)

[silverlib]

8. Time and place

This is an incredible treatment for endogenous depression. It is also over prescribed and should never be used for anything but this. I have a fourteen year-old child on Prozac and I think it may save her life. Endogenous depression runs on one side of her family with murder, drug addictions and suicide, and her therapist feels very strongly that her depression is not issue related, but genetic. Unfortunately, it is prescribed for things other than endogenous depression and that is the scary part. I was prescribed Prozac for change of life symptoms and it did nothing for me. Some people like me are just "high strung and passionate." There is a BIG differnce.

[Nikia]

9. I tried taking them for anxiety

Perhaps I did not take them long enough to see the good effects. Paxil made me lose my desre for sex and food. I felt apathetic for hours after taking it although this time decreased as I took it or perhaps the contrast in feeling was not as great. My husband said that I slept rather poorly as far as moving around a lot and talking in my sleep. Zoloft just made my anxiety worse. Those were my experiences but they do make some people better. They probably do work better for depressed people.