Are anti depressants addictive in all cases.

[Cazza40]

I want to get off this roller coaster of emotions but scared of taking them

[Suzie40]

Not at all. I have started and stopped different anti depressants lots of times

[hypercat54 in reply to Suzie40]

Hi Suzie hope you are ok as not seen you for a while. x

[Suzie40 in reply to hypercat54]

Hello! I haven’t been feeling too well lately, so haven’t felt able to post. Thanks for your reply though, it has prompted me to log on and have a read. How are you? X

[hypercat54]

Hi my experience of ad's is that they can be addictive but nothing like the ones they used to give out 40 odd years ago. These ones now are much safer and easier to eventually get off. I doubt you will have been given very strong powerful drugs so don't be afraid to take them. They should help to even out your mood a bit and once you start feeling a bit better you will find it easier to cope and to maybe have some counselling too. x

[Cazza40 in reply to hypercat54]

I already do counselling I have been since last year. It's helping but I have good days and bad days. I do feel there is change as i don't feel angry.

[fauxartist]

no...I don't think so....benzo's are.....but I haven't felt that with my SSRI...

[bluebearski]

Hi Cazzo40,

I haven't found SSRI anti-Ds addictive either, have switched to a different one when the other wasn't working so well. They've helped my mood stay stable and enabled me get out of bed in the morning, during and without therapy. In fact, I don't think that therapy would have been as effective for me if I hadn't been taking them.

If/when you want to stop taking anti-Ds, you definitely need to do it gradually and under your doctor's supervision. I've noticed that my mood plummets if I forget to take them or I run out.

Therapy can be an emotional rollercoaster, it brings up lots of difficult stuff doesn't it, and the therapist is there to be support you with it. It might be worth talking to your therapist about the emotional rollercoaster that you're experiencing...I know that it's helped me doing that. Your therapist can then perhaps adjust the speed, way they structure your session or the approach that they are taking with your therapy, so that it is challenging but not so overwhelming for you. For example, for me, I found pure CBT, self guided and online impossible to engage with and unproductive; through experience, I found that I needed it blended with interpersonal therapy and to be face-to-face to be effective. My therapist structures our sessions so I can talk about my feelings, emotions, events of the week that have affected me etc before we get into/it's usually linked into our work together...it's more productive that way. It's also worth talking to them about anti-Ds to reassure you that they're not addictive.

Bit of a long one, hope it's helps a smidgen and that you're ok. 🙂

[Cazza40]

Thanks that does help.

[gardengnome]

There will be symptoms if someone stops taking SSRIs abruptly, it is a physical reaction to a sudden chemical change.... But unless it's an emergency the doc would never recommend suddenly stopping any psch meds, that would be done over a period of weeks normally.

If you are wary of side effects, there is the option of requesting a lower than recommend does for the first month , to let your body get used to the new chemical balance.

[Cazza40]

I just wanted to go back to this thread two months on and life couldn't be more different. I never took the anti depressants. I found that a combination of vitamins and exercise has changed my life. My mood swings have gone I seem to be am to cope with things. I'm still single but I am hopefully things will changed. Last year things were looking seriously bad even toxic. This year I think I have got me back