Max Leung
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2000
- Messages
- 4,611
I would recommend trying the meds too, based on the advice of your doctor.
Some things I've learned about Prozac and similar drugs, based on accounts by scientists and individuals that need them:
Prozac does not make you happy. Rather, it "resets" your happiness level to a more neutral point aka "the happiness set point". Some people have a lower happiness set point (leading to depression) while others have a high happiness set point (those freaky always-happy people aka 50's sitcoms). Prozac attempts to raise your happiness set point to the same level as the average person. It cannot make you extremely happy because your brain will not have enough serotonin receptors to make this happen, provided the depression is caused by a lack of serotonin production. Overdosing on Prozac won't turn you into a blubbering laughing idiot, although it would make you feel sick I'm sure!
Prozac can take a while to have an effect. Usually a month I think, perhaps as soon as two weeks (which is why I am somewhat skeptical of that article linked above that blamed Sertraline for a man's murder of his family). A possible reason for this long effect is that the brain may actually be re-linking with the unused serotonin receptors that were neglected for so long.
People who take Prozac, and reported a positive effect, noticed that they felt "normal". Not happy, not depressed, not crippled in any way. Normal. Their mind clears, their motivation returns, and they feel "somewhat happy", which is the average response of non-depressed individuals in a study done recently on happiness. The implication is that the average human being, given a stable environment, is given a "somewhat happy" outlook on life. So, once you have a clear mind and a somewhat happy outlook, you have plenty of brain power left over to deal with the everyday vagaries of life. Nothing more, nothing less.
Some people who take Prozac for a while and later stop taking it, find that their happiness set point starts to drop (and in bipolar cases, gets flung everywhere). Interestingly, once the prozac started having an effect, people would insist that they are fine and no longer need the drug anymore, and then drop it. But unfortunately they found that they had to keep taking it otherwise things start flying out of control. Even meditation won't help these people. No amount of therapy would return them to their Prozacked happiness set point in these cases.
(for a great read on the science of happiness, try to find a copy of "The Science of Happiness" by Stephen Braun -- it contains the most recent findings on depression, anti-depressant drugs, and what science tells us about being happy)
Some things I've learned about Prozac and similar drugs, based on accounts by scientists and individuals that need them:
Prozac does not make you happy. Rather, it "resets" your happiness level to a more neutral point aka "the happiness set point". Some people have a lower happiness set point (leading to depression) while others have a high happiness set point (those freaky always-happy people aka 50's sitcoms). Prozac attempts to raise your happiness set point to the same level as the average person. It cannot make you extremely happy because your brain will not have enough serotonin receptors to make this happen, provided the depression is caused by a lack of serotonin production. Overdosing on Prozac won't turn you into a blubbering laughing idiot, although it would make you feel sick I'm sure!
Prozac can take a while to have an effect. Usually a month I think, perhaps as soon as two weeks (which is why I am somewhat skeptical of that article linked above that blamed Sertraline for a man's murder of his family). A possible reason for this long effect is that the brain may actually be re-linking with the unused serotonin receptors that were neglected for so long.
People who take Prozac, and reported a positive effect, noticed that they felt "normal". Not happy, not depressed, not crippled in any way. Normal. Their mind clears, their motivation returns, and they feel "somewhat happy", which is the average response of non-depressed individuals in a study done recently on happiness. The implication is that the average human being, given a stable environment, is given a "somewhat happy" outlook on life. So, once you have a clear mind and a somewhat happy outlook, you have plenty of brain power left over to deal with the everyday vagaries of life. Nothing more, nothing less.
Some people who take Prozac for a while and later stop taking it, find that their happiness set point starts to drop (and in bipolar cases, gets flung everywhere). Interestingly, once the prozac started having an effect, people would insist that they are fine and no longer need the drug anymore, and then drop it. But unfortunately they found that they had to keep taking it otherwise things start flying out of control. Even meditation won't help these people. No amount of therapy would return them to their Prozacked happiness set point in these cases.
(for a great read on the science of happiness, try to find a copy of "The Science of Happiness" by Stephen Braun -- it contains the most recent findings on depression, anti-depressant drugs, and what science tells us about being happy)