Does medication work on the long term?

Some say medication is used only to surpress feelings, to pack it down into your archive instead of healing it. My cousin needed a month to find the type of antidepressant that worked for her. After taking these for another whole month, all while also using meds to protect her stomach, she became addicted to them. She had to slowly break down her usage to zero and this took another whole month. After quitting her depression simply showed up again.

My doctor adviced me to take medication. Concidering my depression, does medication actually help for the long term? Or might sticking to therapy only be the best solution after all? Any experiences?

Some say medication is used only to surpress feelings, to pack it down into your archive instead of healing it. My cousin needed a month to find the type of antidepressant that worked for her. After taking these for another whole month, all while also using meds to protect her stomach, she became addicted to them. She had to slowly break down her usage to zero and this took another whole month. After quitting her depression simply showed up again.

 

My doctor adviced me to take medication. Concidering my depression, does medication actually help for the long term? Or might sticking to therapy only be the best solution after all? Any experiences?

My husband had been on SSRI’s for the best part of 20 years.He will be on them for life. He has therapy on and off and is far far far more stable on medication. He is doing awesome.

There are different kinds of depression.

There is situational depression. This is, for example, if someone is going through a divorce or a particularly tough time. Sometimes in these circumstances medication is prescribed to help them get over the hump. They can then go off anti-depressants later (you almost always have to stop slowly due to the nature of the meds) and go on to live lives free of depression.

There is also chronic depression. This is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Meds are prescribed to re-balance things. It’s not unlike diabetes, for example, though. Insulin doesn’t “cure” diabetes. It manages it and balances things. You have to keep taking your meds to stay in balance. If you stop, the depression will come back.

I think statistically, a combination of both meds and therapy provides the best results.

... but you have to keep taking your meds (unless it’s situational and your doctor agrees)

Some say medication is used only to surpress feelings, to pack it down into your archive instead of healing it. My cousin needed a month to find the type of antidepressant that worked for her. After taking these for another whole month, all while also using meds to protect her stomach, she became addicted to them. She had to slowly break down her usage to zero and this took another whole month. After quitting her depression simply showed up again.

 

My doctor adviced me to take medication. Concidering my depression, does medication actually help for the long term? Or might sticking to therapy only be the best solution after all? Any experiences?

Medication on it's own will not solve the problem... and the intent of such drugs isn't to suppress feelings as much as it is to help you manage them. There are some heavy duty meds out there that do suppress feelings but they aren't meant for long term use.

Often depression and anxiety are a result of trying to suppress or resist uncomfortable / painful feelings... we are feeling beings and when we avoid dealing with feelings or try to suppress them they will eventually overwhelm us either by making us depressed, anxious, or both. This isn't to say it isn't a real illness or shouldn't be treated with medication or even that we can control it... some of us (myself included) were never taught how to appropriately manage or deal with feelings, so it's a daily struggle trying to understand what is happening.

Should we choose to medicate, we also need to learn how to deal appropriately with the feelings and thoughts we have been suppressing or we end up back where we were.

Thanks for these replies!

some of us (myself included) were never taught how to appropriately manage or deal with feelings, so it's a daily struggle trying to understand what is happening.

This seems like me. I just don't get it most, or actually all of the time. Now I'm the type of person who tries to avoid medication or chemicals at all costs. Is there a natural solution like therapy to learn about these emotions and how to deal with it? I just don't feel like putting toxic meds in my body...

DBT is a therapy like a class that teaches coping skills, it works for depression, anxiety, intended for borderline personality disorder. Teaches mindfulness skills, emotion regulation, distress tollerance, self soothing, and a few other skills.

It's really helped me, but meds have helped greatly too.