"i recovered from my depression" "oh congr--" "WITHOUT MEDS"

[bionic nipples]

i tried being one of those people who recover without medication
for over 4 years
some people just need to be on medication

[SWINT]

When people think about mental illness, they automatically picture the worst. They picture people who are suffering from the worst of conditions, and so they categorized everyone in that state. And the media doesn't help at all, for example people who have bipolar are pictured as neurotic bitches when bipolar distorter deals more with depression and high elevated happy moods. Irritability happens now and then, yes, but not as people like to put it.

Going back, Depression is either due to the circumstances of a current situation in life, that's causing the depression for more than a month. Like a lost of a loved one. And then there's people who have a Major Depressive Disorder. It's not the same thing. Also, depression is a common misdiagnose for people who are actually bipolar.

another example with bipolar, a mood distorter is actually genetic. If your mom is bipolar you're most likely to develop bipolar as well. My mom is bipolar, so am I, and my little brother is showing signs... and of course it's more obvious with my little brother. He's very young. But once you know you have a condition you learn to deal with it, and work with your psychiatrist for the right medication. It doesn't make us any different from those who need daily medication for blood pressure, epileptics, and their thyroids.

The moment I found out I was dealing with a mood distorter, I experienced less highs and lows because i was aware and avoided triggers.

[Mikki The Fart Bender]

I stay away from medications.
The thing is, I want my depression to be eliminated.
Not for it to be suppressed. It would be a never ending cycle, you know?
I have no idea if I should be envious, happy, or doubt those that say they overcame depression.
Since middle school, and up until now.
There are often times I am able to suppress it myself, but something happens, it resurfaces.
Even this is a never ending cycle. With or without medication.

[foot bath babe 101]

because if you're on the meds, you didn't recover.

like, if you have diabetes and you manage with insulin, you may still be living normally, but you're still a diabetic.


likewise, if you have depression and drugs make you live normally, you haven't recovered from depression. You're just treating it the same way a diabetic(type 1) treats his lack of insulin by injecting himself with insulin.

If you had depression and get over it without any medicine, then you are actually cured.


In other words, if you're taking medication for something, you are not cured of that something. Because if you were cured, you wouldn't need medication for it.

[foot bath babe 101]

Radioactive Applesauce

shy gh0st

why are people so quick to dismiss medication as if recovering from depression /with/ medication isn't just as honorable?

i've met too many people, people with anxiety and unipolar depression specifically, tell me very eagerly that they "don't have to take meds like other people" and i always ask them what that's supposed to mean and they never have an answer.

don't people realize that it's thinking like this that deters people from seeking help for their disorders in the first place? and that saying s**t like that makes people who NEED medication want to stop taking it????

for the longest time i used to be ashamed of having to take meds, and sometimes i still am?? especially when i get an earful of people telling me how "they didnt need any evil doctors over-medicating them".

so, gaia_spoons


why are medications for people with mental illness so stigmatizing?
if they were pills to monitor blood sugar or something else, would it matter as much?
why are people so proud to "beat" mental illnesses without using medication?

Even in this day and age people still see mental illness as something to be ashamed about and just sweep it under the rug and don't talk about it. There has been so much research done on mental illnesses and have a better understanding of them even from 20 years ago but people are still ashamed thinking they are weird and different and they just want to be what society deems as normal. But if it was something that was like diabetes people seem to think that its not as shameful cause it's something you can see in a sense. I also think that people are proud of "beating" the illness without medications cause it might make them feel stronger cause they aren't dependent on medications. I have seen time and time again people who are dependent on meds and they feel so ashamed that they are cause they have no control over it.

um, no, this is not about shame.
it's about how if you're taking a drug for an ailment, then you are not cured of that ailment. This is true for physical disroders as well.
If you are taking drugs for a sickness, you stop taking the drugs once the sickness is gone.

You can deal with depression with drugs.
You cannot be cured of it and still be on drugs. Because if you are cured, or "recovered" you do not need medication.

[foot bath babe 101]

shy gh0st

Radioactive Applesauce

I also think that people are proud of "beating" the illness without medications cause it might make them feel stronger cause they aren't dependent on medications. I have seen time and time again people who are dependent on meds and they feel so ashamed that they are cause they have no control over it.

don't people who "beat" the illness without meds who brag about it understand that there are people who can't function without medication???

i'm dependant on medication myself. and in a lot of ways, yeah, it's a bummer.
and i KNOW it's a bummer. i don't need someone telling me how they beat their demons "without those stupid meds"
it especially gets me mad when they try to teach me "how to live better so you don't need meds anymore"

like girl nah no amount of broccoli i eat is going to stabilize my moods rolleyes

No, people who "brag" about it are doing so so maybe that one person in their previous situation listens to their story and is helped because of it.

[foot bath babe 101]

Radioactive Applesauce

shy gh0st

Radioactive Applesauce

I also think that people are proud of "beating" the illness without medications cause it might make them feel stronger cause they aren't dependent on medications. I have seen time and time again people who are dependent on meds and they feel so ashamed that they are cause they have no control over it.

don't people who "beat" the illness without meds who brag about it understand that there are people who can't function without medication???

i'm dependant on medication myself. and in a lot of ways, yeah, it's a bummer.
and i KNOW it's a bummer. i don't need someone telling me how they beat their demons "without those stupid meds"
it especially gets me mad when they try to teach me "how to live better so you don't need meds anymore"

like girl nah no amount of broccoli i eat is going to stabilize my moods rolleyes

I have heard people brag over and over again and eventually they end up breaking down somewhere down the line. I'm not sure if they even realize that how harmful their statements can be cause pride is clouding their judgement. I do understand how much it sucks being on medications cause I have depression and anxiety but I end up taking myself off my meds for awhile to see if i need them or not and i always end up back on them.

Do you know how harmful comments like yours are to people who had serious mental illness and took charge and actually fixed their situations without drugs?

Do you know how hard it is to actually fix that?

[foot bath babe 101]

shy gh0st

Kuroko with Pitbulls

It's entirely possible to recover from a depression without medication. There are some bogus researchers who will even assert an AD is a placebo. Their claims are not unsupported. While I do not have any on me, you will find studies where a placebo is concluded to be more effective than an AD, although it hasn't been studied for long term treatment. The efficacy for using a placebo to treat depression is actually a problem and many people may be treated with an AD unnecessarily. Cymbalta is the most prescribed AD in America. This medication isn't any more effective than other ADs, it's actually know to have the some of the worst withdrawal symptoms compared other ADs. There is a large sum of money poured into that one drug. ADs are kind medications but they still have serious side effects. I really don't believe people are wrong to be weary of this medication. Honestly, if they can get away with treating their depression without medication, it's probably better for them.

okay but the initial question had nothing to do with whether or not it was possible to recover from depression without anti depressants; this had to do with why people were so quick to add that they don't need medication as if it's a gloating feature.

because if you need meds, you haven't recovered. you're dealing with depression with the help of medication, similarly to how a type 1 diabetic deals with a faulty pancreas by injecting himself with insulin. he's surviving and living normally, but at the end of the day he's still a diabetic. If all of a sudden, a freak of nature happened and his pancreas started working again, or "recovered", and started making insulin normally, then that person would be "recovered" from diabetes.

[foot bath babe 101]

shy gh0st

Kuroko with Pitbulls

if that's their viewpoint tho does it mean they are proud of themselves and unaware of the harmful bullshit they're spouting or are they proud of themselves /and/ judgemental of people who need to take medication?

does it cause some sort of separation between people with mental illnesses that are medicated and those who are not?

how is it bullshit?
why do you hate people who have cured their depression without medications?
are you jealous?

[foot bath babe 101]

Miku-Marmalade

why are medications for people with mental illness so stigmatizing? if they were pills to monitor blood sugar or something else, would it matter as much? why are people so proud to "beat" mental illnesses without using medication?


One word to answer the why, that is ignorance.

There's a saying that floats around that goes reads "ignorance is bliss"


The people who are so proud to "beat" mental illness without medication made the choice to not use medication therapy. One may use yoga.
One may have a superior sense of community who deals with the symptoms of the mental illness to the point of extreme forgiveness.
Another may not have the luxury to even be able to use psychotropic drugs because the side effects are harmful to his or her life.


I beg to differ if the stories are proud or they are really enthusiastic about overcoming whatever illness they had. Yes, some come across as assholes.

The beauty of it is for every person who overcomes the illness, medication therapy or not, the possibility of personal growth is dramatically increased.

The stigma exists. Undeniably, discrimination against mental illness still occurs. As with racism, sexism, etcetera.

Another consideration is many don't think of the possibility of a person with a mental illness as high functioning(in other words symptoms are well managed )

I won't personally tell a single person "you shouldn't take medication " but I would suggest to read and know exactly what pill you're popping AND discuss it regularly with your psychiatrist. It's teamwork.



(Yet again, I wrote too much… sweatdrop )

if you take pills for blood sugar than your blood sugar disorder isn't cured; it's treated with meds.

[shy gh0st]

foot bath babe 101

shy gh0st

Kuroko with Pitbulls

if that's their viewpoint tho does it mean they are proud of themselves and unaware of the harmful bullshit they're spouting or are they proud of themselves /and/ judgemental of people who need to take medication?

does it cause some sort of separation between people with mental illnesses that are medicated and those who are not?

how is it bullshit?
why do you hate people who have cured their depression without medications?
are you jealous?

obviously you've never had a mental illness before lol
you seem to be a troll so honestly i'm not going to waste much more time on this
tho i'll give you credit -- you did make me mad for a second there

[foot bath babe 101]

shy gh0st

foot bath babe 101

shy gh0st

Kuroko with Pitbulls

if that's their viewpoint tho does it mean they are proud of themselves and unaware of the harmful bullshit they're spouting or are they proud of themselves /and/ judgemental of people who need to take medication?

does it cause some sort of separation between people with mental illnesses that are medicated and those who are not?

how is it bullshit?
why do you hate people who have cured their depression without medications?
are you jealous?

obviously you've never had a mental illness before lol
you seem to be a troll so honestly i'm not going to waste much more time on this
tho i'll give you credit -- you did make me mad for a second there

See, people like you are so hurtful.
You just assume I've never been on the other side without knowing anything about me. You people are so quick to shun people like that. You want to talk about stigma? Seems like you're pretty stigmatizing to people who have overcome mental illness. I don't know if it's some sort of jealousy, or if non-mentally ill people are not good enough for your clique.

Like isn't that the ultimate goal? To get to a state where you can live a normal life drug-free?

The people aren't hating people who take SSRIs to get through the day. The people are happy that they reached their goal of living drug-free.

We're just saying you're not actually cured if you're taking SSRIs, similar to the people taking the blood sugar medication aren't cured of metabolic disease, or else they wouldn't be taking the blood sugar medication.


anyway, mental illness is a combination of physical disorders and environmental stress. A cancer patient can take morphine to deal with pain, but it won't fix the cancer. A person with depression can take an anti-depressant to mask the symptoms of depression(like morphine masks the pain of cancer), but your physical disorder is still going untreated.
You know your body better than anyone else.
If you are depressed without any life cause(such as everyone you know dropping dead in a short period of time; being unemployed and not affording rent. . .etc. . .), that is a physical problem.
SSRIs take away the pain; they don't target the underlying cause


tl;dr Mentall illness is debilitating, so when people who have suffered from serious mental illness for a long time bring themselves to a state where they can function without medication, that is a very big accomplishment, and because it is such an accomplishment, these people are extremely proud of themselves.

They don't hate those of you still on medications; but actually hope that you two will one day achieve the same success as they did.

It's like: I conquered mental illness and now live medication-free. If I can do it, you can do it
It's not meant to be an insult to those of you on medications. It's meant to be a type of encouragement to those still on them. Like, I was where you were once, and now look where I am. You can do it too.

[shy gh0st]

foot bath babe 101

ok tell that to an extremely paranoid schizophrenic.
or tell that to someone like me me, who has bipolar disorder.
tell that to someone who has delusions.
"you don't need meds!
just do some yoga!
it'll be all better!" lol

you missed my original point.
if people can get over their mental illnesses without meds, good for them.

but when people are SO QUICK to mention that they recovered ~*~WITHOUT THOSE STUPID MEDS SMH~*~
it's just bullshit lmao.
like, wow, thanks, it's not like other people need those or anything
it's not like other people already struggle with taking their medications

when people act as if they're "totally not crazy" because they're "not on those scary happy pills"
that's when i get angry.

recovery =/= cured.

for me, recovery means stabilized. recovery means functioning.
my meds help me function and keep me stable.
am i "cured"? no
but have i recovered? yes.
don't pull that whole "LIVE DRUG FREE IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO RECOVER!!!" bullshit on me

also lmao "you're so hurtful" -- for what?
for being fed up of people telling me that i just need to ~*~think positively~*~ to get better?
for being annoyed with people asking me if i "really need to take those pills"?
for being pissed at people like you invalidating my recovery?
i'm the worst, lmaoooo.

why is it any less of an accomplishment to get there with medication? why is someone else lesser if they needed to take medication to overcome their symptoms?

just because someone else can do it doesnt mean everyone can do it.
don't compare others to your own standards.

"if i can run this marathon, you can too, person with multiple disabilities!"

******** that noise.

and ******** the whole "we're just saying you're not cured if you need meds" -- ******** you. who ******** gives you the right to undermine our recovery? who the ******** are you to remind us "you're still crazy tho lol"

******** off honestly lol

[Miku-Marmalade]

foot bath babe 101

Miku-Marmalade

why are medications for people with mental illness so stigmatizing? if they were pills to monitor blood sugar or something else, would it matter as much? why are people so proud to "beat" mental illnesses without using medication?


One word to answer the why, that is ignorance.

There's a saying that floats around that goes reads "ignorance is bliss"


The people who are so proud to "beat" mental illness without medication made the choice to not use medication therapy. One may use yoga.
One may have a superior sense of community who deals with the symptoms of the mental illness to the point of extreme forgiveness.
Another may not have the luxury to even be able to use psychotropic drugs because the side effects are harmful to his or her life.


I beg to differ if the stories are proud or they are really enthusiastic about overcoming whatever illness they had. Yes, some come across as assholes.

The beauty of it is for every person who overcomes the illness, medication therapy or not, the possibility of personal growth is dramatically increased.

The stigma exists. Undeniably, discrimination against mental illness still occurs. As with racism, sexism, etcetera.

Another consideration is many don't think of the possibility of a person with a mental illness as high functioning(in other words symptoms are well managed )

I won't personally tell a single person "you shouldn't take medication " but I would suggest to read and know exactly what pill you're popping AND discuss it regularly with your psychiatrist. It's teamwork.



(Yet again, I wrote too much… sweatdrop )

if you take pills for blood sugar than your blood sugar disorder isn't cured; it's treated with meds.

Honestly, my first response is such garbage. stressed


To the OP topic: Overcoming depression is something people who suffer strive for. Medication is a treatment plan. For many, especially those who lack support from family and friends, going to a psychiatrist for help is a common route. As for my thoughts about the topic, as a individual who has the diagnosis of bipolar(mood swing disorder, mania and depression), factors such as environment, life choices(such as employment and/or school), people(family and friends) ecterera play a huge role in recovery. Some find that going without meds is a milestone for them due diet chances. And some find that the psychotropic drug works for them and those without are crazy.

In the end, finding what works for the person who suffers is the most important element. Unfortunately, it often requires quite a lot of trial and error.


On the side note: Psychotropic medication are known for having a great deal of side effects. That's usually where the arrogance perception may occur. "I DID IT WITHOUT MEDS"
As with anything people say or do, take with a grain of salt or do your research to make certain and uncertainties.

[foot bath babe 101]

shy gh0st

foot bath babe 101

ok tell that to an extremely paranoid schizophrenic.
or tell that to someone like me me, who has bipolar disorder.
tell that to someone who has delusions.
"you don't need meds!
just do some yoga!
it'll be all better!" lol

you missed my original point.
if people can get over their mental illnesses without meds, good for them.

but when people are SO QUICK to mention that they recovered ~*~WITHOUT THOSE STUPID MEDS SMH~*~
it's just bullshit lmao.
like, wow, thanks, it's not like other people need those or anything
it's not like other people already struggle with taking their medications

when people act as if they're "totally not crazy" because they're "not on those scary happy pills"
that's when i get angry.

recovery =/= cured.

for me, recovery means stabilized. recovery means functioning.
my meds help me function and keep me stable.
am i "cured"? no
but have i recovered? yes.
don't pull that whole "LIVE DRUG FREE IT'S THE ONLY WAY TO RECOVER!!!" bullshit on me

also lmao "you're so hurtful" -- for what?
for being fed up of people telling me that i just need to ~*~think positively~*~ to get better?
for being annoyed with people asking me if i "really need to take those pills"?
for being pissed at people like you invalidating my recovery?
i'm the worst, lmaoooo.

why is it any less of an accomplishment to get there with medication? why is someone else lesser if they needed to take medication to overcome their symptoms?

just because someone else can do it doesnt mean everyone can do it.
don't compare others to your own standards.

"if i can run this marathon, you can too, person with multiple disabilities!"

******** that noise.

and ******** the whole "we're just saying you're not cured if you need meds" -- ******** you. who ******** gives you the right to undermine our recovery? who the ******** are you to remind us "you're still crazy tho lol"

******** off honestly lol

you didn't recover if you're still on meds.
If you are a paranoid schizophrenic who functions on meds, you didn't recover from schizophrenia. You are dealing with it with the help of medications.
If you are recovered, you wouldn't be on drugs.
Do you know what recovery is? If you are taking pills for a disorder, you still have the disorder. You don't take drugs for something you don't have.

I think you don't know what the meaning of "recovered" is. When you "recover" from any illness, it means the illness is now gone and that you now have no need for drugs.

You're not cured if you need drugs. You don't know what the meaning of cured is.
That's like saying I cured your type 1 diabetes with an insulin injector. That's stupid to say that. They're not cured, because one missed insulin injection = death.
For someone who needs pills to manage mental illness, one miss dosed can equal a serious relapse. And for that reasons, you are not cured. You are managing your depression.
There is a difference between having an illness managed than being recovered from an illness.


For a diabetic type 1, normal protocol is to monitor blood sugar, and inject with insulin.
For someone with a serious mental illness, it is normal protocol to take pills to manage.

For the type 1 diabetic, unless his pancreas magically starts working again, he is managing an illness, not cured of an illness.
The same is true for mental illness, especially since schizophrenia, like diabetes, is a PHYSICAL disorder; it just happens to manifest mostly mentally.

If tomorrow I find out that schizophrenia is caused by a missing protein, and I inject the schizophrenic with the protein and fix his physical condition, then he is now cured.
If he takes pills to keep his mental symptoms in line, then he is managing a disorder.


also, you're the one invalidating people's recoveries.

tl;dr I don't know why other people recovering from a mental illness to a state where they don't need drugs offends you so much. So they got better. That's not meant to be an insult to you. If you are functioning well on medication, then I don't get how it should matter.
Like I said, mental illness is physical illness. Some people find out the cause of their mental illness, and that is how they recover. For a lot of cases of depression and anxiety, the cause is dietary, and when these people realize it, they can change their diet, and be recovered drug-free.

For other disorders, like schizophrenia, cause is not known yet, so until these people find the actual physical cause, they use medications to function. it doesn't mean you're lesser of a person, it just means you have not found the cause of your disorder, or your disorder isn't as easily fixed as the other ones.

There's no need to hate people who did fix their mental illness to where they no longer need medications.