I've decided that the original poster has been replaced with a pod person or replicant
I've come to a similar conclusion, and I wonder, deep down, how much of their vehemence is denial?
There was a time in the past when I thought similar, only I would not have said 'messing with the brain is evil' (or the nearest thing to it), but I found it decidedly icky.
Fast forward through a number of years as a functioning depressive, where I was doing the necessary but no further, and my world grew smaller and smaller. Then everything collapsed and fell apart at the same time, and being-on-the-edge-with-occasional-justified-panic-attacks turned into fullblown anxiety that stopped me from doing _anything_. I mean, I was frightened of my _mail_, and it looked to mess up my life completely. So I went to the doctor, had another breakdown in her office, and got prescribed a dreaded antidepressant.
And for the first time in months I could think about my problems _without_ dissolving in tears. They were just as bad, and I felt just as strongly, but I remained functional. And that helped me to tackle them and helped me to tackle my mental state, and all that. Having experienced what the right antidepressant does - lifting the brain fog, allowing thoughts to run in all possible channels, not just the 'everybody hates me/can't cope/there's nothing I can _do_' ones, I am now very much in favour.
Incidentally, I had a similar experience with my horse, and I think that's what got me to see a doctor. He was suffering from panic attacks a lot, and I added a herbal calmer - which includes Valerian and I forget what else - to his diet, after much the same sort of debate. And I've become a total fan of that particular mixture, because it did not turn him into a happy zombie at all, it allowed the same range of reactions and emotions. What it *did* achieve, however, was to break the spook/panic cycle, giving him the extra second to *think* about a threat that normal horses have. Instead of breaking out in blind panic everytime he was scared, he started to _process_ that information - and that made most of the world far less scary and gave me a chance to say 'it's only a <whatever>, you're safe, which allowed him to develop coping mechanisms.
He's still a very anxious horse, but I haven't needed to supplement his diet in years, and the patters are now his own; but without that helping hand, it would have taken a lot longer.
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Date: 2007-06-23 11:13 am (UTC)I've come to a similar conclusion, and I wonder, deep down, how much of their vehemence is denial?
There was a time in the past when I thought similar, only I would not have said 'messing with the brain is evil' (or the nearest thing to it), but I found it decidedly icky.
Fast forward through a number of years as a functioning depressive, where I was doing the necessary but no further, and my world grew smaller and smaller. Then everything collapsed and fell apart at the same time, and being-on-the-edge-with-occasional-justified-panic-attacks turned into fullblown anxiety that stopped me from doing _anything_. I mean, I was frightened of my _mail_, and it looked to mess up my life completely. So I went to the doctor, had another breakdown in her office, and got prescribed a dreaded antidepressant.
And for the first time in months I could think about my problems _without_ dissolving in tears. They were just as bad, and I felt just as strongly, but I remained functional. And that helped me to tackle them and helped me to tackle my mental state, and all that. Having experienced what the right antidepressant does - lifting the brain fog, allowing thoughts to run in all possible channels, not just the 'everybody hates me/can't cope/there's nothing I can _do_' ones, I am now very much in favour.
Incidentally, I had a similar experience with my horse, and I think that's what got me to see a doctor. He was suffering from panic attacks a lot, and I added a herbal calmer - which includes Valerian and I forget what else - to his diet, after much the same sort of debate. And I've become a total fan of that particular mixture, because it did not turn him into a happy zombie at all, it allowed the same range of reactions and emotions. What it *did* achieve, however, was to break the spook/panic cycle, giving him the extra second to *think* about a threat that normal horses have. Instead of breaking out in blind panic everytime he was scared, he started to _process_ that information - and that made most of the world far less scary and gave me a chance to say 'it's only a <whatever>, you're safe, which allowed him to develop coping mechanisms.
He's still a very anxious horse, but I haven't needed to supplement his diet in years, and the patters are now his own; but without that helping hand, it would have taken a lot longer.