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How easy to get antidepressants?
So I'm feeling down and am having issues right now which have been going on for a while now and been affecting me a lot. I'm considering going to the doctor's about it but I'm worried they would recommend therapy or counselling. I was wondering if antidepressants are an option, if they decide I have depression, or do they only give these out in extreme cases?
The waiting lists for couseling and therapy are huge so antidepressants tend to be a first line treatment for a lot of doctors. Don't see them as a quick fix though, it takes weeks for them to kick in properly, if they do at all.
Original post by Sabertooth
The waiting lists for couseling and therapy are huge so antidepressants tend to be a first line treatment for a lot of doctors. Don't see them as a quick fix though, it takes weeks for them to kick in properly, if they do at all.
Ok, I know, and they can sometimes give people other problems I've heard, or have side-effects, it's just I had counselling when I was little and hated it, I don't really fancy sitting and discussing my problems with people I don't know, you know
In my experience, they ask you what you would like/think would help the most (the GP can only advise and refer you to the corresponding service, they can't actually TELL you do to anything).
What they do is refer you to a psychiatrist who will assess and determine whether you're depressed and what sort of depression you have (by the way, don't tell the GP you're 'depressed' or they wont take you seriously), then they'll pass you onto whoever.
If you make it clear from the start that you want anti-depressants, and you have been labelled as 'depressed' then it should be fairly easy to get them. They wont push you into therapy or anything you don't want to do.
On a side note, anti-depressants aren't meant for teenagers (I don't know how old you are), and I would advise against using them if you're under 21 tbh. It's a personal choice though, and all I would say is make sure you understand all side effects that come with the medication prescribed.
What they do is refer you to a psychiatrist who will assess and determine whether you're depressed and what sort of depression you have (by the way, don't tell the GP you're 'depressed' or they wont take you seriously), then they'll pass you onto whoever.
If you make it clear from the start that you want anti-depressants, and you have been labelled as 'depressed' then it should be fairly easy to get them. They wont push you into therapy or anything you don't want to do.
On a side note, anti-depressants aren't meant for teenagers (I don't know how old you are), and I would advise against using them if you're under 21 tbh. It's a personal choice though, and all I would say is make sure you understand all side effects that come with the medication prescribed.
Original post by LanasTea
In my experience, they ask you what you would like/think would help the most (the GP can only advise and refer you to the corresponding service, they can't actually TELL you do to anything).
What they do is refer you to a psychiatrist who will assess and determine whether you're depressed and what sort of depression you have (by the way, don't tell the GP you're 'depressed' or they wont take you seriously), then they'll pass you onto whoever.
If you make it clear from the start that you want anti-depressants, and you have been labelled as 'depressed' then it should be fairly easy to get them. They wont push you into therapy or anything you don't want to do.
On a side note, anti-depressants aren't meant for teenagers (I don't know how old you are), and I would advise against using them if you're under 21 tbh. It's a personal choice though, and all I would say is make sure you understand all side effects that come with the medication prescribed.
What they do is refer you to a psychiatrist who will assess and determine whether you're depressed and what sort of depression you have (by the way, don't tell the GP you're 'depressed' or they wont take you seriously), then they'll pass you onto whoever.
If you make it clear from the start that you want anti-depressants, and you have been labelled as 'depressed' then it should be fairly easy to get them. They wont push you into therapy or anything you don't want to do.
On a side note, anti-depressants aren't meant for teenagers (I don't know how old you are), and I would advise against using them if you're under 21 tbh. It's a personal choice though, and all I would say is make sure you understand all side effects that come with the medication prescribed.
Oh that's interesting, how come?
Depends on the doctor, mine decided he'd rather I went off for a talking therapy. I suppose that if you were insistent on it, they could advise other things but ultimately, I always thought it was a personal choice?
Antidepressants are not a quick remedy, counselling is probably your best bet. In my case, they weren't particularly easy to get - I didn't even want to go on them. I went to the doctors for two years before I was referred to a counsellor. (I was at the age where mental health services in my area do not cover you as a child, but neither as an adult; the service just kind of, stopped.) However, my doctor at university recommended I see a counsellor in conjunction with some medication, and I guess the idea of that made me feel more comfortable.
I've been on two different types of medication and the second set have given me awful side effects - the worst being nightmares - normally I have them once a fortnight, ish, but for about 3 months I've been them having them four or five times a week. They are not normal nightmares, they're always about death, they're really vivid, and I keep waking up screaming and crying. Due to having exams though, I could not come off of them.
Please speak to your doctor and see what they recommend. Antidepressants are not the easy way out, which I feel your post comes across as. They may make you feel better for a while, (or in my case with the first set of medication, I felt emotionally flat), but unless you find a way to sort through your issues via counselling or other methods, they are not going to be very effective in the long run.
You also have to realise that they take around 4-8 weeks to begin to have an effect, and in that time you could end up feeling worse.
I've been on two different types of medication and the second set have given me awful side effects - the worst being nightmares - normally I have them once a fortnight, ish, but for about 3 months I've been them having them four or five times a week. They are not normal nightmares, they're always about death, they're really vivid, and I keep waking up screaming and crying. Due to having exams though, I could not come off of them.
Please speak to your doctor and see what they recommend. Antidepressants are not the easy way out, which I feel your post comes across as. They may make you feel better for a while, (or in my case with the first set of medication, I felt emotionally flat), but unless you find a way to sort through your issues via counselling or other methods, they are not going to be very effective in the long run.
You also have to realise that they take around 4-8 weeks to begin to have an effect, and in that time you could end up feeling worse.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by siani-chan
I've been on two different types of medication and the second set have given me awful side effects - the worst being nightmares - normally I have them once a fortnight, ish, but for about 3 months I've been them having them four or five times a week. They are not normal nightmares, they're always about death, they're really vivid, and I keep waking up screaming and crying. Due to having exams though, I could not come off of them..
How long you been on them? I got nightmares on mirtazapine but they wore off after a few weeks. Might be a case of you need to keep taking them and eventually they'll wear off?
Original post by Sabertooth
How long you been on them? I got nightmares on mirtazapine but they wore off after a few weeks. Might be a case of you need to keep taking them and eventually they'll wear off?
I've been on them since the beginning of December ish. My doctor told me (after I reported the nightmares) that it's a common side effect with citalopram and that it usually wears off, but I'm still getting nightmares, without fail, 4 to 5 times a week.
It usually improves when I feel better during the day, but due to exams I haven't been feeling that great. I wondered if things would improve so I'm going to stay on them for a while and see, but I'll give it about a month and then if not I will see what my doctor says. 
I kind of wished I'd stayed on fluoxetine sometimes, but then I remember how horrible the emotional flatlining was. I would be miserable and never know why, and when I wasn't miserable I felt empty.
Most doctors will prescribe them straight away - others are a bit more reticent and ask you to come back if you're not feeling any better in a few weeks (sorry doc, I've spent the best part of a decade feeling like this and it's taken me this long to finally realise I need help, a few more weeks won't magically make me stop being depressed).
Go to your GP, tell him how you're feeling. He'll ask you to fill in some questionnaires - basically they tot up your points to find out if you're mildly, moderately or severely depressed. It's somewhat arbitrary. I think if you're moderate or severe they'll definitely give you ADs, if you want to go on them - they will ask you what course of treatment you'd like to take, whether you want to go on ADs and whether you're interested in counselling or CBT.
ADs really aren't a magic fix though. Some of them will make you feel worse. Some of them will have no effect. It'll probably be several months before you find one that has the slightest improvement for you, if you do. Sorry. Negative AD experience showing itself here, but it's better to go into it being aware that they won't fix everything, because hoping ADs will make you feel a lot better sets you up for a fall when they don't.
Go to your GP, tell him how you're feeling. He'll ask you to fill in some questionnaires - basically they tot up your points to find out if you're mildly, moderately or severely depressed. It's somewhat arbitrary. I think if you're moderate or severe they'll definitely give you ADs, if you want to go on them - they will ask you what course of treatment you'd like to take, whether you want to go on ADs and whether you're interested in counselling or CBT.
ADs really aren't a magic fix though. Some of them will make you feel worse. Some of them will have no effect. It'll probably be several months before you find one that has the slightest improvement for you, if you do. Sorry. Negative AD experience showing itself here, but it's better to go into it being aware that they won't fix everything, because hoping ADs will make you feel a lot better sets you up for a fall when they don't.
Original post by ormaybeitsjustnarcissism
Oh that's interesting, how come?
I was about 16 at the time, and when I told the doctor I was depressed, he said I was 'just unhappy and probably didn't realise what depression actually is'.
I expect doctors get plenty of teenagers going up to them about this sort of thing, so his reaction didn't surprise me really.
Mines organic depression, just the way my brain and physiology is. Have had a little bit of CBT in the past and some of it was informative and helpful.
I'm on citalopram again, the lowest possible dose, went back to the doctors a month ago and was re-prescribed it. Just to make sure the doctor did prescribe, I mentioned that I had considered numerous occasions buying anti-depressants online. Which I did and would have been very stupid of me, hence my going back to the GP to get anti-depressants prescribed in the correct way.
Anti-Depressants certainly help me alot but if it's your social circumstances and social triggers at the root of your depression, then you need to be sorting these out, rather than going on ADs. Although sometimes it helps people to go on medication to then be able to sort out their social/work circumstances and then eventually come off the medication at some point in the future. Bear in mind that being on anti-depressants, citalopram anyway, is at least for a course of 6 months...that's what my GP has said.
I'm on citalopram again, the lowest possible dose, went back to the doctors a month ago and was re-prescribed it. Just to make sure the doctor did prescribe, I mentioned that I had considered numerous occasions buying anti-depressants online. Which I did and would have been very stupid of me, hence my going back to the GP to get anti-depressants prescribed in the correct way.
Anti-Depressants certainly help me alot but if it's your social circumstances and social triggers at the root of your depression, then you need to be sorting these out, rather than going on ADs. Although sometimes it helps people to go on medication to then be able to sort out their social/work circumstances and then eventually come off the medication at some point in the future. Bear in mind that being on anti-depressants, citalopram anyway, is at least for a course of 6 months...that's what my GP has said.
Very easy, indeed. I was given them straight away when the doctor diagnosed me with clinical depression and it just seems to be the immediate response for almost any GP that you visit with concerns about depression. They are by no means a quick fix. They need to be coupled with an extreme and genuine desire to rid yourself of a depressed state of mind.
To get some anti deppressants, you need to visit your doctor.tell them how you are feeling. They will give you anti deppressants depending on how depressed you are. If not, then counseling isn't so bad. They just help you out. Anti deppressants take at most two weeks to kick in. Good luck!
Original post by Amy kinsella
Anti deppressants take at most two weeks to kick in. Good luck!
Where did you get that from? It's generally accepted that they can take up to 8 weeks.
Please don't bump old threads.
(edited 9 years ago)
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