Can you find happyness without medications?

[CelestialHorse]

Heh I plan to go over other threads I made for self help and stuff, but does medication really help or can you find happyness without it? Truthfully I never found a medication yet that have been the best for me(Okay I only have been on 3 different kinds but one stopped working after a few months, the last one lasted 4 years). Part of me is like, why? Medication won't bring me a boyfriend, it won't bring me money, it won't bring me a new home to live in, etc. I know they can help you cope a little bit even my therapist said that but how have that kind of stuff helped you? Did you ever have medication how did it help you, and were you able to go on without it?

Also know how people say it will be okay? Are they just SAYING that or is it really true? Also I will admit I HATE it when I tell my dad I am not happy about something and he says get over it or let it go. I have no idea what that means lol. It makes me mad though XD It's like "Dude, you don't get it".

Part of me wants to get back on medication (I haven't been on for couple of weeks,(I couldn't take it for a few days due to stomach flu and when I tried to get back on when I was totally feeling fine, I felt nausated (that was the 4th medicine but I only been on that for couple of weeks). What i have noticed though, the higher dosage I go up, the worst it won't won't for me. (Does it mean my depression is just mild and not bad I guess?)

 

[Zephyros]

Medication doesn't bring happiness, it can only quiet your mind enough to go looking for it. As someone who spent several years on and off hiding in bed, I can tell you that happiness is a strange concept to even think about when you're too depressed to get out of it.

Medication isn't the answer, but it is an answer, one that can help you on your way to find other answers.

 

[Eco74]

Medication can help stabilise emotions, but they won't bring happiness.
I think that unless there is an established lack of something preventing the happiness-hormones from coming through, medication should only be used as part of the treatment.

Also, getting a boyfriend, a new place to live, a job etc won't bring happiness.
I'm not going to deny that they help if you're unhappy about your situation in life - but anything external isn't going to bring happiness in and make it all feel better on the inside.

However, I do believe that being happy can help bring those other things that will then enhance the happiness.
But if the happiness isn't there to begin with, or atleast some little bit of it that can be cultivated and given room to grow, any of those external factors won't do anything to bring it in and put it into place.
And even if one of those external factors might bring a seed of happiness into your life - that seed won't be able to grow roots unless there's some happiness inside you already that can grow with it.

If medication is the only help you're getting - demand something more.
If you already have a therapist who isn't helping you get better - find a new one, maybe a different type of therapy will work better for you.
Just don't give up - Try to believe that it CAN get better and you just haven't found the path that leads you there yet. But it's there.. Somewhere.. And if you find it, you'll find your inner happiness and can start really taking in the happiness around you.

Because it is there.
Outer factors can bring happiness.
But they can't bring it all on their own and it won't really last unless you have happiness inside of yourself.

 

[ThunderWolf]

Great answer! I've been on medication for most of my life. I can't be happy without it. I'm just too much of a mess without it for that to happen. Having the medication in and of itself does not make me happy. It does allow me to find it within myself though!

I have a bipolar disorder and have spent so much of my lifetime clinically depressed (even on the medication) that when I go for too long without a depressive episode I actually find myself missing the depression as it's familiarity brings about a bizarre sense of comfort.

That being said, I'm able to 1)become depressed, 2)realize that it's true cause is organic and 3)also realize that not only is everything OK but I'm actually happy with my life.

I may not feel happy when I'm depressed, but I am able to objectively realize that I am happy with my life despite the momentary feeling of depression.

Happiness is a state of mind that comes from a particular outlook on life. Living life constantly depressed does not allow us to develop that outlook. Going on medication for it, we're still going to have some bouts with it. But we're also going to be able to have bouts of reasonable emotions in which we can work on ourselves and develop personal outlooks on life that are not clouded by the depression.

I hope this has been more helpful than confusing!

 

[gregory]

Heh I plan to go over other threads I made for self help and stuff, but does medication really help or can you find happyness without it? Truthfully I never found a medication yet that have been the best for me(Okay I only have been on 3 different kinds but one stopped working after a few months, the last one lasted 4 years). Part of me is like, why? Medication won't bring me a boyfriend, it won't bring me money, it won't bring me a new home to live in, etc. I know they can help you cope a little bit even my therapist said that but how have that kind of stuff helped you? Did you ever have medication how did it help you, and were you able to go on without it?

Had it; the time I had it AND realised that I needed to put in some work MYSELF or on-off meds was going to be a lifetime thing (we are talking lifelong depressive episodes here, rather than a "permanent condition" like bipolar !) was the time I finally got through the crap.
The meds gave me the space to look at what I needed to do MYSELF to head off the bad patches. I have not had to take meds since: I see it coming and take evasive action with the strategies I learned through listening to how I could change my behaviour in the face of it all.

Also know how people say it will be okay? Are they just SAYING that or is it really true? Also I will admit I HATE it when I tell my dad I am not happy about something and he says get over it or let it go. I have no idea what that means lol. It makes me mad though XD It's like "Dude, you don't get it".

He may well get it. You may just not want to hear it. You HAVE to learn to let it go. If you don't know what it means - sign up with a decent CBT therapist, who will explain it to you - or get yourself a good CBT workbook. But - I do mean work. It takes bloody hard work. You have to put in the time or nothing will change for you..

Part of me wants to get back on medication (I haven't been on for couple of weeks,(I couldn't take it for a few days due to stomach flu and when I tried to get back on when I was totally feeling fine, I felt nausated (that was the 4th medicine but I only been on that for couple of weeks). What i have noticed though, the higher dosage I go up, the worst it won't won't for me. (Does it mean my depression is just mild and not bad I guess?)

It means that you need to agree the correct dosage with your doctor, not try and figure it out yourself. Some meds worked for me, others didn't. No-one here can tell you how bad your depression is. If it even is, and you don't have a doctor who is prescribing rather than suggesting the therapy that would help YOU get over it for YOURSELF. There are a few like that.

 

[Anna]

Anti depressants made me feel like an unhappy person in a happy body. I was much more able to function, but it didn't change what was making me unhappy. Only talking to others, time and a lot of hard work has done that. I wouldn't take them again. I don't believe that there was anything medically, chemically, biologically or otherwise causing my unhappiness. It was entirely life experience related. Anti depressants just masked the problem, but what I needed to do was to deal with it head on. However, I do know several people for whom anti depressants have literally saved their lives and who's suffering is entirely due to an illness and nothing whatsoever due to trauma, etc.

 

[CelestialHorse]

Yeah :/ Heh I do have that mild depression that is worst for 2 years or lasts that long, but mostly it's situational. I am going to start a new med Sunday when I get it . It just sucks though over the Christmas holiday, I started a new one and it's a sample where you gradually go up a dose. I got the stomach flu, that messed things up and it was hard to keep it in my body, then when I felt better decently (Yeah I was still eating crackers, those little lunch to go tuna things, soup). and I felt nauseated :/ 1.Either my stomach was just not in the mood or 2.It just isn't the right med for me so I am trying a different one. Honestly I am feeling stuck and don't know where to start so I am hoping medication can pull my head up above the water enough that I can get my footing. Heh some people say I do have it in me to feel better, I don't think I do but sometime s I just wanna scream for my inner demons to leave me alone.

 

[Annabelle]

My experience, for what it's worth:

I need the meds to stabilise me enough to pursue happiness, peace, pleasure, love . . . to live life instead of just manage to exist.

I have been on a couple of psych meds for a very long time; my life has been SO MUCH better with the meds than it ever was without.

 

[CelestialHorse]

Glad to hear Heh there are times when I used to think maybe I can go without meds but um, as of lately I am going crazy like I want to get out of my depression but something pulls me back. >.> So hopefully the new med will work It's good to find the right medicine eh? Just a pain when one starts to not to work but it's good there are tons out there so you will find one 2 weeks for it to start working? Dang Unless it sorta varies person to person. (I kinda hope sooner, I do have a smaller body, maybe that's why higher doses starts to break me). I'm a light weight XD

 

[Eowyn]

PERFECT answers!!

I have had several treatments. Nothing worked better for me than being strict with my nutrition and doing sports. And I really mean it. I'm a PERFECTLY NORMAL happy cat.

Go rock, CelestialHorse. And say hi to your Dad, he is right in what he tells you.