Mental Health SSRIs and mindfulness

[bit_pattern]

Is it worth taking SSRIs and practising mindfulness for depression? Or would it be counter-productive? I'm going to see my GP tomorrow to get a referral to a psychologist who I have a session booked with tomorrow afternoon. I've been trying to stay attentive and it does seem to help marginally by stopping me from spiralling too far down the rabbit hole of negative thoughts but I still feel desperately sad and lonely. I really, really need to get a job and I'm scared of repeating the same old pattern where I won't be able to hold the job down for long because the depression and frustration will get the better of me. Doing regular short meditations have gotten me to the point where I can actually write an application letter, which is an improvement. But I'm thinking at this stage that meditation alone isn't going to get me out of the hole that I'm in. I'm tempted to get a script from my doctor while I still have access to subsidised meds because I'm unemployed. My line of thinking is that a course of SSRIs might give me the kind of circuit breaker I need while I slowly train myself to be more mindful. Does anyone have any experience with combining the two?

 

[Abject]

I don't understand.
I can't see why SSRI's would affect mindfulness, but if they were I'd say the effects they have (be it positive or negative) on you and other things that contribute to your ability/experience of being mindful as opposed to having a direct effect on 'mindfulness'

I don't see how exploring options is counter productive.

 

[Z-girl]

I think that they are two very different options.

I went through depression for 4-5 years and have experience in both SSRIs and mindfulness and meditation. For me, I don't think the SSRIs did much. I went on them with great enthusiasm, thinking that they would cure me and make it all magically better, but they ended up just disappointing me terribly. I felt no different on them, even when my dosage was doubled after a year. I stayed on them anyway, afraid that maybe they were making a difference and it would be a mistake to come off them. When I did eventually come off them, I tapered down over 6 months and still got horrendous withdrawals. My parents spend thousands of euro on them and honestly, I wish I had never been put on them in the first place.

What did eventually cure me was reducing my stress levels. I took a year out of university (I am in med school, so it's high pressure), and within a few months I felt well enough to come off the SSRI. Besides that, I was trying to practice mindfulness, do yoga and was reading a lot about Buddhism. I was taking care of my soul, and changing my way of viewing myself and the world, and that did so much more for me than the SSRI ever did.

I would advise you to try to stay clear of the SSRIs for another little bit if you can. You say that mindfulness and meditation has already helped you a little bit - that's a great sign. Keep that up, and maybe add in some more non-drug-based treatments/activities if you can too. There are a number of things which greatly help depression (not always the easiest to do when you're depressed, but just think of them as treatment) - exercise, diet and socializing all really help. Apart from that, try to find a counsellor or therapist that you can talk to. You won't always find the perfect one on your first try, but if you try a few and find the right person to talk to, then I really think you will start to see a difference within yourself, without having to resort to the SSRIs.

 

[PookiePioneer]

Not a fan of SSRI's, Stimulants helped with my ADD/Depression.

 

[spork]

I did combine both and saw no problem with doing so. If nothing else, they may have complemented each other. It might be hard to tell whether the drugs or the mindfulness is doing more for you, so when the time comes to quit the SSRIs just remember to keep up with the mindfulness and you should be all good.

As was previously stated though, try to just keep up with the mindfulness exclusively if it's helping you out a lot. SSRIs do have a lot of side effects that can be pretty nasty. Basically, do what works for you and keep up with it and keep your doctor up to date and ask what you think their opinion would be.

 

[bit_pattern]

I think that they are two very different options.

I went through depression for 4-5 years and have experience in both SSRIs and mindfulness and meditation. For me, I don't think the SSRIs did much. I went on them with great enthusiasm, thinking that they would cure me and make it all magically better, but they ended up just disappointing me terribly. I felt no different on them, even when my dosage was doubled after a year. I stayed on them anyway, afraid that maybe they were making a difference and it would be a mistake to come off them. When I did eventually come off them, I tapered down over 6 months and still got horrendous withdrawals. My parents spend thousands of euro on them and honestly, I wish I had never been put on them in the first place.

What did eventually cure me was reducing my stress levels. I took a year out of university (I am in med school, so it's high pressure), and within a few months I felt well enough to come off the SSRI. Besides that, I was trying to practice mindfulness, do yoga and was reading a lot about Buddhism. I was taking care of my soul, and changing my way of viewing myself and the world, and that did so much more for me than the SSRI ever did.

I would advise you to try to stay clear of the SSRIs for another little bit if you can. You say that mindfulness and meditation has already helped you a little bit - that's a great sign. Keep that up, and maybe add in some more non-drug-based treatments/activities if you can too. There are a number of things which greatly help depression (not always the easiest to do when you're depressed, but just think of them as treatment) - exercise, diet and socializing all really help. Apart from that, try to find a counsellor or therapist that you can talk to. You won't always find the perfect one on your first try, but if you try a few and find the right person to talk to, then I really think you will start to see a difference within yourself, without having to resort to the SSRIs.

Thanks. I think this was probably the answer I was looking for.

 

[Z-girl]

@bit_pattern, do you mind me asking - how did you get on the other day?

 

[bit_pattern]

@bit_pattern, do you mind me asking - how did you get on the other day?

With the psychologist? OK, I guess, the first session was just about her building up a background on me. Haven't started any work yet, she only works Mondays and Saturdays and this Monday is a public holiday so can't see her again until the following Monday. I felt pretty good that day but then I did something stupid; started drinking and tried contacting a girl who has had to cut of contact with me, she didn't reply and that triggered me pretty badly, I couldn't sleep and ended up messaging her telling her that I was suicidally depressed, she ended up calling me and ripping me to shreds and is now changing her number. Since then I've been trying anything I can to stabilise, trying to be mindful, eating food recommended by my acupuncturist, eating fish oil, trying not to drink - been planning to exercise but just can't get motivated enough for that one. Pretty much anything to avoid taking meds really, even though my research suggests a lot of the "alternative" stuff that I'm trying has no real evidence base to it but I figure, fuck it, eating healthy is going to be a good thing regardless and getting more omega-3 isn't going to any harm and might do some good. Going in for another acupuncture session on Tuesday, I'd been booked for last Tuesday but after not sleeping all night I had to knock myself out with antihistamines and missed the appointment (plus some volunteer work I'd committed to but couldn't bring myself to face)

 

[bit_pattern]

Oh I'm going to try and book into some beginner yoga classes too, I think it will help with being mindful. The meditations work when they work, if that makes sense, but some days I really struggle to focus enough to make it work.

 

[herbavore]

I'm a very big believer in the omega-3's. I think everything you are trying to do to improve your health is fantastic, Bit. I think if you stick with the physical changes you are making for a couple months you will be amazed at the mental results just from those!

 

[blueheaven]

I did combine both and saw no problem with doing so. If nothing else, they may have complemented each other. It might be hard to tell whether the drugs or the mindfulness is doing more for you, so when the time comes to quit the SSRIs just remember to keep up with the mindfulness and you should be all good.

As was previously stated though, try to just keep up with the mindfulness exclusively if it's helping you out a lot. SSRIs do have a lot of side effects that can be pretty nasty. Basically, do what works for you and keep up with it and keep your doctor up to date and ask what you think their opinion would be.

This. They can help you together, or perhaps one or the other could help you alone, but they sure aren't mutually exclusive. SSRIs have always made me worse, not better. Dialectical behavior therapy (the "mindfulness" therapy) helped a good bit with the anxiety but not at all with the depression. Nothing helps that so far but time - it just comes and goes. But there's nothing to say you can't try more than one approach, and CBT/DBT have helped a lot of people. SSRIs have helped a lot of people too - I just don't happen to be one of them (they make me apathetic and incapable of emotion of any sort). And any kind of "holistic" approach that doesn't treat you just as a bundle of brain chemicals is very good - so for that reason, I think DBT and some similar types of therapy are better than many other options - they approach the whole person. Echoing the yoga comment also for the same reason. Good luck.

 

[spork]

^It's interesting to me to read how DBT has helped with your anxiety but not with your depression. For me, it was more the other way around. It just goes to show how people are all individuals and should be treated as such when they seek treatment. There's not an SSRI that's going to help everyone or a combo of anything that just magically works for all. It's a lot about trial and error until the patient finds out what works best for them.

DBT is an excellent type of therapy though and I do think that I'd recommend it to just about anyone.