I think a key statement is that these drugs can be of help in severe depression. That has been the case with me. There have been side effects, and I am constantly tracking my symptoms and experiences. I recently agreed to an increase in my med (Paxil) because I have been in a severe depression since January. The increase is making a positive difference.

The medication is not the only tool, though. That is something always to remember. I have to do many proactive things to take care of myself...and it's easy to think that the "little pink pills" are doing everything. Nada!

I would love to be able to stop taking this medication, but evidence from eleven years' use -- specific symptoms being significantly reduced when nothing else affected them, even after a decade of psychotherapy -- tells me that I do need this medication. I was very lucky in that the first medication I tried worked. I recall waking up on the 16th day after starting Paxil, and feeling something utterly new --> a certain weight was simply gone.

I have experienced two major depressive episodes since then; both have been accompanied by huge stresses, and my traumas date from birth (and before) so I know that my brain and nervous system have been permanently hard-wired for a "freeze" reaction...

My doctor said to me once, when I told him that I wanted to stop taking Paxil (and he is very prudent about prescribing anything), that I could consider my situation to be like that of a person who has diabetes. "If you told me that you wanted to stop taking insulin in that case, what do you think I would say?"

I think that SSRIs and similar drugs are too easily doled out to people whose chemistry will not be significantly altered in a positive way.

I recall, during the three-month period in 1996 when I had the Paxil Rx in my purse and was agonizing about whether to fill it, that my decision to try the drug was "tipped" by seeing the effects of new medications on people who suffered from schizophrenia. I was working in the developmental services field at the time -- several people I worked with had both developmental handicaps and psychiatric disorders. Two people with schizophrenia had huge, positive changes in symptoms -- changes that lasted. One young man's mother simply cried with relief...and told me that her son (who was in his early 20s) had hugged her recently...for the first time ever.

That was the pivot point on which I turned to the medication. I don't regret the decision. There have been side effects, and I have to keep watch on myself. But a balanced approach, which may include psychotropic medication, can make a real difference when symptoms are more intrinsic (i.e., like my medical traumas as an infant) rather than situational.

I had a friend/colleague who started taking Prozac about three weeks before he killed himself. This was in 1994, when the SSRI drugs were still quite new. The debate was raging even then, and those of us who knew B. wondered if the drug had tipped him over the edge. Of course, we will never know. But it is one thing that I remain mindful of.

I see the choice to try a new medication (SSRI) as a crap-shoot (as in gambling). It's a risk; a venture into the unknown. Anything is possible. It's not an easy choice to make. I weigh the pros and cons regularly and am willing to live with the consequences.

This thread is a great one -- very informative and will no doubt spark lots of conversation. Thanks for starting it

Roo