Regarding Health and Well-Being...

[Love'sReject]

On the other hand, at least it means the original few who were taking it don't have to feel stigmatized and can find comfort in the fact that there are more like themselves taking it. I can't imagine being one of the early anti-depressant takers; they must have felt so much shame and the need to be secretive.

[misombra]

there is still shame in it. I used to take my bottle to work so nobody at home knew about it.

[Love'sReject]

I know kids who brag about it now. "OmG, so and so lyke totes broke up w/ me...(brand of anti-depressant), ur my new BFF ♥" And for the rest of us who aren't emo jackasses, it doesn't feel quite like how depression used to be treated with lobotomies or being fired and having stones thrown at you.

[basilandthyme]

There's always been crazy. Depends how you use it. But I agree, we did just fine before the antidepressant pushers came on-scene.

Actually we didn't do 'just fine'. I look back at my ex husband. Knowing what I do now, I'm sure he suffers from depression and that his depressive state contributed to the end of our marriage. But depression wasn't recognised back then and he just plodded on in misery and our marriage was the casualty.

Likewise, I've suffered from depression on and off during my adult years. It got really bad after having my disabled son. If living under a permanent dark cloud and being unable to care for myself or my baby properly is doing 'just fine', then you've got a different definition to me.

Edited to add: my ex also attempted suicide after I left. He really wasn't doing just fine.

[basilandthyme]

I know kids who brag about it now. "OmG, so and so lyke totes broke up w/ me...(brand of anti-depressant), ur my new BFF ♥"

Meanwhile, some other kids brag about being Bi-Polar. I find it really offensive that a moody teenager uses a serious mental illness to describe their behaviour.

[vashti]

Meanwhile, some other kids brag about being Bi-Polar. I find it really offensive that a moody teenager uses a serious mental illness to describe their behaviour.

Psychiatrists are the root. If they didn't diagnose normal teenage angst as a mental illness and throw drugs at them, kids wouldn't do this.

[Love'sReject]

Meanwhile, some other kids brag about being Bi-Polar. I find it really offensive that a moody teenager uses a serious mental illness to describe their behaviour.

It's hip to have diagnosed problems. Some even fabricate problems to have more of these badges. The internet as a resource to mistakenly self-diagnose rather than use it as a guideline for when to know to seek help...gone rampant apparently.

[basilandthyme]

It's hip to have diagnosed problems. Some even fabricate problems to have more of these badges. The internet as a resource to mistakenly self-diagnose rather than use it as a guideline for when to know to seek help...gone rampant apparently.

I thought they were using the term tongue-in-cheek. As a catch all to describe their behaviour.

[basilandthyme]

Psychiatrists are the root. If they didn't diagnose normal teenage angst as a mental illness and throw drugs at them, kids wouldn't do this.

I just thought it was kids playing with terms they've heard adults use. Are you suggesting that when a poster says "my 16yo girlfriend says she's bi-polar" that she may have actually been diagnosed?

[Love'sReject]

I thought they were using the term tongue-in-cheek. As a catch all to describe their behaviour.

*wants to generalize in a way that bashes these not-really-kids children*

[IndiReloaded]

Actually we didn't do 'just fine'. I look back at my ex husband. Knowing what I do now, I'm sure he suffers from depression and that his depressive state contributed to the end of our marriage. But depression wasn't recognised back then and he just plodded on in misery and our marriage was the casualty.

Likewise, I've suffered from depression on and off during my adult years. It got really bad after having my disabled son. If living under a permanent dark cloud and being unable to care for myself or my baby properly is doing 'just fine', then you've got a different definition to me.

Edited to add: my ex also attempted suicide after I left. He really wasn't doing just fine.

We had other, more healthy and less isolating coping mechanisms. Friends, family, church and other social support. That is my point.

Antidepressant medication is way overprescribed. To quote Rene Brown:

The U.S. is the most obese, addicted, over-medicated and politically polarized that it's ever been. One of the problems is that people have more sense of shame and unworthiness than ever; they fear to be vulnerable and they seek perfectionism.

I've lived in Oz also, and I think the rate of obesity is even higher there. Antidepressant meds are a band-aid, not a solution.

[Love'sReject]

Those things still exist now.

[IndiReloaded]

Those things still exist now.

Exist =/= use. It's easier to take a pill than to connect with another person.

[Love'sReject]

Let's not look at earlier times as being so innocent. Nothing has REALLY changed.

[vashti]

I just thought it was kids playing with terms they've heard adults use. Are you suggesting that when a poster says "my 16yo girlfriend says she's bi-polar" that she may have actually been diagnosed?

Very possibly, though so many kids are such drama queens these days, they may just be throwing the term around for attention. All I know is that I see a LOT of psych medication being prescribed. It's alarming.