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Originally Posted by AFEH  That’s not my experience. All pills do is alleviate the symptoms which come back when the pills are no longer taken. Pills don’t get rid of the causes underlying the symptoms. That’s why I never took the things. The causes of depression don’t go away until they are worked through and overcome and that can take some meaningful, life changing work.
Bob |
It all depends on the type of depression that's the issue. If the problem is situational depression, then antidepressants can at best, alleviate symptoms enough to make it easier to function while you process the underlying problems. Kind of like cold medicine--doesn't cure your cold, but it let's you get through your day. This is what you see with things like grief and trauma.
If the problem is clinical depression however, the root cause is an inability of the brain to balance itself chemically and effectively transmit signals between neurons. That requires ongoing medical intervention, more like someone who has allergies and needs antihistamines regularly (just to follow the cold/upper respiratory analogy, lol). Now at the same time, cognitive behavioral therapy is often helpful to improve one's responses to the depression, recognize it, circumvent it, etc. but ultimately, it's an issue of brain chemistry.
