So many Aspies here are depressed. With the coming of the fall, cooler weather & diminishing light it seems to be reaching epidemic proportions. Every day, another member shows up feeling defeated. I know that many of us have mild to severe Seasonal Affective Disorder & while it may contribute to the depression epidemic, it isn't the root cause.
Many of the most severely affected have serious relationship/financial/health issues. Others seem terribly lonely because they want friends but can't seem to find any or they want a romantic relationship but can't find the right person. Since my arrival in July, I've seen several Aspies get divorced, go through a break-up or are in 'on the brink of separating' relationships.
What the hell is going on? Now, we all know that being an Aspie in NT Land is challenging BUT we've been at it our entire lives, whether we knew the term or not. Many depressed Aspies here are taking anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds, sleep aids & pills to boost the anti-depressant's effects. I'm supportive of conventional medicine to an extent: it has saved lives & provided great relief from many troublesome ailments.
However, when it comes to anti-anxiety/anti-depressant type meds, I'm sceptical. I know that they have helped many depressed people but I know they've done great harm as well. Many young people who take them develop a strong compulsion to commit suicide. In an Aspie youth, who is already prone to compulsive behaviours & so-called obsessions, this is especially problematic. Add to that the fact that these medications have never been tested on our differently wired Aspie brains is even more frightening. Sometimes the paranoid part of me wonders whether it all isn't one big experiment!
Since there are so many patients with mental illnesses, Aspies & NTs alike, the systems of most developed countries are overwhelmed by the amt of people needing assistance. THAT is where pills come in handy: talk to a patient quickly, maybe run a test or two & then write a prescription! The focus is on symptom management. How is that supposed to work if none of the underlying problems do not get addressed clinically as well?
I don't just mean talk therapy either: for many Aspies, this would be ineffective since many of us are virtually emotionless. In my case, feelings are more sensory input type things than fully fledged emotions. I feel cold, tired, hot, annoyed, hungry, mildly amused but not the complex deep all-encompassing feelings other people seem to be beset with. At the other extreme are the hypersensitive Aspies some of whom shut their emotions out due to inability to cope with or even process their intensity or those who are hypersensitive & over-emote. The emotions or behaviours the Dr sees must be interpreted through the context of that person's temperament & tendencies. Put simply, our 'baselines' for normal emotional expression are NOT what these Drs learned about in shrink school.
I fear that many Aspies with depression are not truly clinically depressed in a medical sense but more overwhelmed by a combination of relational issues & financial ones. Relieve these problems & many of the depressive symptoms will likely lift. Making that happen would prove costly & time consuming so throwing pills at them is easier.
Reading through the threads, there are many people here who drink waay to much & are combining pills & booze: another no-no. Further messing with the brain's chemistry, many Aspies here at least, are living off of sugar/carb/salt/fat diets. Comfort food & cheap junk food consumption seems rampant. I enjoy junk food now & then as much as the next self-respecting Aspie, but it doesn't encompass my daily diet.
The more I think about this, the more I think that we're going to have to help ourselves through all this & compel ourselves to make lifestyle-type changes. This is a pedantic & plodding process requiring much honesty, much discipline & a lot of courage. Failing that, the depressed Aspie will continue to get stuffed with pills that were never designed for or tested on his/her unique brain structure & as logic would predict, getting negligible results.
Many of the most severely affected have serious relationship/financial/health issues. Others seem terribly lonely because they want friends but can't seem to find any or they want a romantic relationship but can't find the right person. Since my arrival in July, I've seen several Aspies get divorced, go through a break-up or are in 'on the brink of separating' relationships.
What the hell is going on? Now, we all know that being an Aspie in NT Land is challenging BUT we've been at it our entire lives, whether we knew the term or not. Many depressed Aspies here are taking anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds, sleep aids & pills to boost the anti-depressant's effects. I'm supportive of conventional medicine to an extent: it has saved lives & provided great relief from many troublesome ailments.
However, when it comes to anti-anxiety/anti-depressant type meds, I'm sceptical. I know that they have helped many depressed people but I know they've done great harm as well. Many young people who take them develop a strong compulsion to commit suicide. In an Aspie youth, who is already prone to compulsive behaviours & so-called obsessions, this is especially problematic. Add to that the fact that these medications have never been tested on our differently wired Aspie brains is even more frightening. Sometimes the paranoid part of me wonders whether it all isn't one big experiment!
Since there are so many patients with mental illnesses, Aspies & NTs alike, the systems of most developed countries are overwhelmed by the amt of people needing assistance. THAT is where pills come in handy: talk to a patient quickly, maybe run a test or two & then write a prescription! The focus is on symptom management. How is that supposed to work if none of the underlying problems do not get addressed clinically as well?
I don't just mean talk therapy either: for many Aspies, this would be ineffective since many of us are virtually emotionless. In my case, feelings are more sensory input type things than fully fledged emotions. I feel cold, tired, hot, annoyed, hungry, mildly amused but not the complex deep all-encompassing feelings other people seem to be beset with. At the other extreme are the hypersensitive Aspies some of whom shut their emotions out due to inability to cope with or even process their intensity or those who are hypersensitive & over-emote. The emotions or behaviours the Dr sees must be interpreted through the context of that person's temperament & tendencies. Put simply, our 'baselines' for normal emotional expression are NOT what these Drs learned about in shrink school.
I fear that many Aspies with depression are not truly clinically depressed in a medical sense but more overwhelmed by a combination of relational issues & financial ones. Relieve these problems & many of the depressive symptoms will likely lift. Making that happen would prove costly & time consuming so throwing pills at them is easier.
Reading through the threads, there are many people here who drink waay to much & are combining pills & booze: another no-no. Further messing with the brain's chemistry, many Aspies here at least, are living off of sugar/carb/salt/fat diets. Comfort food & cheap junk food consumption seems rampant. I enjoy junk food now & then as much as the next self-respecting Aspie, but it doesn't encompass my daily diet.
The more I think about this, the more I think that we're going to have to help ourselves through all this & compel ourselves to make lifestyle-type changes. This is a pedantic & plodding process requiring much honesty, much discipline & a lot of courage. Failing that, the depressed Aspie will continue to get stuffed with pills that were never designed for or tested on his/her unique brain structure & as logic would predict, getting negligible results.
