thomsbrain
Lifer
no, actually it's not. i read the research, and st. john's wort has not been shown to be more effective than a placebo. SSRI's, on the other hand, have been shown to more effective than placebos.
SSRI's can be effective for a number of problems, including depression. the "worst" side effect you are likely to have is "sexual dysfunction." which basically means it may be a little tougher to keep it up or orgasm. i took an SSRI for a while once and personally found that my feeling generally better more than offset any effect the drug may have had on my sex drive. i wanted sex more than ever, and i had no performance issues. others aren't so lucky... you'll just have to try them and see how you do.
basically, take a little look at yourself first. first off: have you been depressed for more than two weeks? if so, you need to see someone. if not, wait it out and see if you feel better in a bit, cause you're just having the blues and it's not really "depression" yet. next, if you've been feeling bad for more than two weeks, you might want to think about your life and see if there are any specific things that you can attribute to making you sad. if there are, you will probably be best served by seeing a psychologist, who will work with you with your issues and help you learn about yourself and how to make yourself feel better. if you can't think of anything that's making you feel bad, see a psychiatrist, who is a little like a psychologist, but he can prescribe drugs, and almost certainly will. Psychiatrists mostly try to solve things with pills, so if your problem is a physical chemical imbalance, then pills are the right solution. don't be afraid to try them... after all, you hate your life (and maybe yourself) as it is, so why fear change?
i took them for a year... i feel like they helped me get over a little hump. after a year or so, i felt like i had developed enough of my own coping mechanisms to handle my depression on my own, and still remain functional. you CAN tell the difference between yourself on the drug and your "real" self, and i prefered myself clean. so basically they helped me... up to a point.
as mentioned, religious people really do tend to be happier. there is no cause/effect established between those things, though. it could easily be attributed to a number of other things that religious people tend to be (stupid? 😉 ). that and the guaranteed social support that comes from being in any organization like that. but the correlation is there, regardless.
opticalmace is somewhat correct about detachment. unfortunately, it's not that simple. suffice to say that if you are not capable of feeling strong emotion, it is a PROBLEM and a hindrence to "enlightenment." worry about nirvana and ego-death and all that tasty stuff after you've got your sh!t sorted out. 😉
edit: one last thing about SSRI's. there are incorrect rumors that SSRI's cause increased risk of suicide. again, SSRI's are CORRELATED with increased risk of suicide. but it has also been found that ANY person who is on the "upswing" from a bout of depression is at increased risk for suicide. basically, it's when you feel stronger than you finally have the "strengh" to kill yourself. SSRI's haven't been found to be any worse than normal people on the upswing.
