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I used the rubberband method when tried to stop cutting, i think its the most effective thing to do smile

i know this is just your opinion so i shouldn't even care, but i think you should know that prescription medicine really saves a lot of people. my mom has anxiety so severe that without her medicine, she can't eat, sleep, or even function normally. she sweats buckets and shakes nonstop to the point where she can't even get out of bed. with her medicine, she's completely normal.
i have yet to find the right meds/combination of things to help my depression, but i also know a lot of adults who have been helped by antidepressants and are now living normal, happy lives. i know it seems really crazy because of how your parents are, but one example can't represent a whole.
and really, the only time meds will change someone's personality is by improving their mood or if they're on meds for more serious issues. depression meds just give you happystuff and make you feel better (if they work), but yeah, if you take meds for schizophrenia and they don't match up with you, you could act differently. in that case, though, your doctor wouldn't let you stay on those meds. this happened to me, actually--i went on abilify as an add-on depression treatment, but because it's supposed to be for schizophrenics really, it made me way too mellow.
my best friend has also had terrible ADHD and tourette's his entire life and has been unable to just live a normal life. finally, this summer, he tried a newly-released med and it's completely saved him... he's so happy now, and he's still the same old person, just without impulse problems.
i don't mean to disrespect your opinion; i completely understand what you mean and i stopped taking meds for a year because of that, but some people can really be helped by them.

oh, this is kind of out-of-the-blue, but apparently it's been established that regular exercise can be just as helpful to mood as effective antidepressants. biggrin and i believe it!
to any of you who haven't tried this... seriously, just jog for 30 minutes a day (more & other stuff if you want--the more you do, the better it is) and after a few days you should really feel a lot better. i've felt more from a few days of exercise than i ever have from meds.

... My ex yelled at me before that "My therapist said exercise the key to happiness, it's helped me blah blah blah"... I despise exercise really... Mostly because I have always been chubby all my life, people making fun of me in gym class, helping me get to where I am today...