[loudtieblahblah]

Some antidepressants work for some people for some time.

Its often that folks have to try a bunch of them, each for 5week to 3 months at a time, with side effects often making them worse rather than better before landing on the "right one"

And even then you end up having to periodically up the dose, then eventually stack it with other drugs to mitigate side effects before eventually it becomes ineffective and you have to start the process all over again.

I don't see why bother when exercise has better results.

Go lift big stone, make sad voice in head quiet.

Go sit in hot room.

Eat good

Get sleep.

[Broken_Hippo]

I don't see why bother when exercise has better results. Go lift big stone, make sad voice in head quiet. Go sit in hot room. Eat good Get sleep.

Grand. So what you are telling me is that you've not experienced the sort of depression that makes some of this impossible, and you've been lucky enough that poverty hasn't kept you from doing some of these things.

And honestly, folks don't periodically up the dose as a matter of course. They do not always become ineffective. Heck, people don't always stay on them for years.

Yes, folks often have to try more than one - but folks also do this with migraine treatments and allergy medications and insulin (to a point). This isn't because the treatments are necessarily bad, but because we don't understand the reason for this difference and are still learning things about the human body.

We shouldn't wait for a perfect cure or a perfect treatment - imperfect relief is still relief. I'd rather have ibuprofen temporarily take care of menstrual pain rather than have to suffer through it until it can be cured or until there is longer lasting/better relief. Same with other things.

And as far as side effects: Since our cures and treatments are imperfect, we have to weigh side effects to the cure. Often, I'd rather not want to kill myself and I'd rather not be depressed, so some side effects are OK. The same with other things, though. I have MS. All the medications have side effects, sometimes serious ones. But they stop disease activity and make it much more likely that I'll be able to lead a full life with use of my limbs and sight. And folks do have to change medications for various reasons, but the drugs still help. I'll take it. Sure, I'd rather not have side effects but like I said, imperfect relief or help is better than none.

[gjulianm]

The problem of depression is that it makes incredibly difficult to do those things, getting exercise, eating better, sleeping well, anything that makes you feel better. That's why people use antidepressants, because they aren't well enough to start doing other things to help themselves.

Your advice ultimately boils down to "just don't be depressed" and that has never worked.

[bearmode]

Doctors literally do recommend exercise as a first port-of-call, but that only works if you're suffering in a fairly minor way.

More serious depression makes getting up and exercising impossible. When I was dealing with it, some days it was a mountainous struggle just to get up and put some food in the microwave. It took all of my energy, for the whole day, to do just a simple task like that. The idea that I could have got up and gone for a run or do something else like that is absolutely laughable.

SSRIs gave me back the energy that depression took from me. Only when I started taking them could I start being sociable again, start going out more, start exercising again.

[Gordonjcp]

> I don't see why bother when exercise has better results.

Except it doesn't.

[Sakos]

Exercise did not help me feel that life was worth living. SSRIs did.