It may seem strange, but at least one common kind of depression can be seen as an anxiety disorder at heart. Or if you prefer, generalised anxiety disorder often manifests as depression (or sometimes cycling as you repeatedly exhaust yourself with worry). This is why SSRIs can be prescribed for depression as well as anxiety (well, that and the willingness to sell drugs to all possible takers of course). Your brain is a mishmash of inhibitory and excitatory connections, and any substance you can take is going to make changes all around. You're still scrambled, just in a new way that gives you a different perspective for a while. The key is to make the most of it while it lasts. If the depression is linked to addictive behaviour, then that means making a leap of faith to a whole new (or long-forgotten) way of dealing with the world. I suppose that means an opiate-containing antidepressant could be viewed as a way of weaning from an opiate dependency.
People self-medicate for depression and anxiety with all sorts of stuff, some of it externally chemical and some not. What's being sought in the brain is a chemical change either way, even if it's just stamp collecting. The real question is whether your behaviour, possibly including a substance, is sustainable and makes you better off in the long term. Without some goal other than just RELIEF, you're not actually going to get better at life, and that's really what you need to do when you have depression and anxiety.
Drug treatments for depression are the first few rungs of the ladder. They might be able to give you something to stand on long enough to work out what the problem is, but they're not for long-term use. This is why drug therapies combined with cognitive-behavioural therapy (like talk groups) works so much better - they're complementary. And the CBT will also make chemical changes happen, because in your brain, chemistry is all there is. :)
There is definitely a connection. After all in many antidepressants there are trace amounts of opiates or at least synthetic opiates.
I just couldn't believe it when I found out my son's prescription meds had a synthetic opiate in it. It just irks me.
Better believe it. Just one large contradiction.
Yeah, now I know.
It may seem strange, but at least one common kind of depression can be seen as an anxiety disorder at heart. Or if you prefer, generalised anxiety disorder often manifests as depression (or sometimes cycling as you repeatedly exhaust yourself with worry). This is why SSRIs can be prescribed for depression as well as anxiety (well, that and the willingness to sell drugs to all possible takers of course). Your brain is a mishmash of inhibitory and excitatory connections, and any substance you can take is going to make changes all around. You're still scrambled, just in a new way that gives you a different perspective for a while. The key is to make the most of it while it lasts. If the depression is linked to addictive behaviour, then that means making a leap of faith to a whole new (or long-forgotten) way of dealing with the world. I suppose that means an opiate-containing antidepressant could be viewed as a way of weaning from an opiate dependency.
People self-medicate for depression and anxiety with all sorts of stuff, some of it externally chemical and some not. What's being sought in the brain is a chemical change either way, even if it's just stamp collecting. The real question is whether your behaviour, possibly including a substance, is sustainable and makes you better off in the long term. Without some goal other than just RELIEF, you're not actually going to get better at life, and that's really what you need to do when you have depression and anxiety.
Drug treatments for depression are the first few rungs of the ladder. They might be able to give you something to stand on long enough to work out what the problem is, but they're not for long-term use. This is why drug therapies combined with cognitive-behavioural therapy (like talk groups) works so much better - they're complementary. And the CBT will also make chemical changes happen, because in your brain, chemistry is all there is. :)