#ssris

[metrocentric]

Wandsworth Roundabout underpass (NW exit), SW18

SSRIs can't cure poverty

#london #ssris #ssri #graffiti #shopping trolley #trolley #underpass #depression #poverty

[hawkeyedflame]

so are we going to talk about how SSRIs, even taken for short periods of time, cause long term sexual dysfunction that can, and for many people does, persist for decades after they stop taking the medication? were we ever going to talk about that? were any of my doctors ever going to warn me that taking this medication could damage my sex life permanently? are we going to talk about this in the context of the frankly alarming number of young people who are put on these medications as teenagers? or the sudden sharp rise in people id'ing as asexual? no?

#the hawk speaks #literally thought i was fucking broken turns out i can trace my loss of sex drive PRECISELY to when i started taking SSRIs #and i haven't taken any in almost 7 years #but guess what! problem remains! #LOVE THAT FOR ME #ssris

[gothhabiba]

hi i just saw some of ur posts on anti-psychiatry and then kept reading more on ur blog about what it is. for the most part i agree with what you've said about how capitalism uses psychiatry to designate people who are bad/abnormal and how it aligns itself w/ misogyny, racism, and so on. with that said i think i have some similar concerns/questions as another asker about what this means for those who do/would suffer even in a non-capitalist society, even if we didn't ascribe a specific label to X symptoms. if we are opposed to psychiatry, what are the options for people today who are suffering and want help? are you opposed to psychopharmaceuticals and therapy? i dont mean to ask this in a confrontational/accusatory way, i'm just new to this and genuinely curious

There are a few different parts to your question & so there are a few different angles to approach it from—

are you opposed to psychopharmaceuticals and therapy?

If this means "are anti-psych writers and activists opposed to individuals seeking treatment that they personally find helpful," then, no—a couple posts in my psychiatry tag do clarify this.

If it means "are there anti-psych critiques of psychopharmaceuticals and therapy," then, yes. Keep in mind that I'm not a neurobiologist or otherwise an expert on medications marketed as treatments for mental illnesses, but:

The evidence for the effectiveness of SSRIs in particular is sort of non-existent—even many psychiatrists who promote the biomedical model of mental illness doubt their efficacy, and refer to the "chemical imbalance" theory that enforces their usage as "an outmoded way of thinking" or "a kind of urban legend—never a theory seriously propounded by well-informed psychiatrists." But promoting SSRIs (and corresponding "serotonin deficiency" theory of depression, despite the fact that no solid evidence links depression to low serotonin) is very profitable for pharmaceutical companies. Despite the fact that direct-to-consumer advertisements are nominally regulated in the U.S., the FDA doesn't challenge these claims.

Other psychotropic drugs, such as "antipsychotics" or "antianxiety" medication, shouldn't really be called e.g. "antipsychotics" as if they specifically targeted the biological source of psychosis. No biological cause of any specific psychiatric diagnosis has been found (p. 851, section 5.1). In fact, rather than "act[ing] against neurochemical substrates of disorders or symptoms," these medications "produc[e] altered, drug induced states"—but despite the fact that they "produce global alterations in brain functioning," they are marketed as if they had "specific efficacy in reducing psychotic symptoms." Reactions to these medications that don't have to do with psychosis or anxiety (blunted affect, akathisia) are dismissed as "side effects," as though they don't arise from the same global alteration in brain function that produces the "desirable" antianxiety/antipsychotic effect. This doesn't mean "psychiatric medication turns you into a zombie so you shouldn't take it"—it means that these medications should be marketed honestly, as things that alter brain function as a whole, rather than marketed as if they target specific symptoms in a way that they cannot do, in accordance with a biomedical model of mental illness the accuracy of which has never been substantiated.

Psychiatrised people also point out that meds are used as a tool for furthering and maintaining psychiatrists' control: meds that patients are hesitant about or do not want are pushed on them, while patients who desire medication are "drug-seeking" or trying to take on the role of clinician or something and will routinely be denied care. Psychiatrised people who refuse medications are "noncompliant" and prone to psychiatric incarceration, re-incarceration, or continued/lengthened incarceration.

As for therapy: there are critiques of certain therapies (e.g. CBT, DBT) as unhelpful, status-quo-enforcing, forcing compliance, retraumatising &c. There are also critiques of therapy as representing a capitalist outsourcing of emotional closeness and emotional work away from community systems that people largely don't have in place; therapy as existing within a psychiatric system that constrains how therapists, however well-intentioned, are able to behave (e.g. mandatory reporting laws); psychotherapy forced on psychiatrised people as a matter of state control; therapists as being in a dangerous amount of power over psychiatrised people and being hailed as neutral despite the fact that their emotions and politics can and do get in the way of them being helpful. The wealth divide in terms of access to therapy is also commonly talked about; insurance (in the U.S.) or the NHS (in England) may only pay for pre-formulated group workbook types of therapy such as DBT, while more long-form, free-form, relationship-focused talk therapy may only be accessible to those who can pay 100-something an hour for it.

None of these critiques make it unethical or something for someone to get treatment that they find helpful. It's also worth noting that some of these critiques may be coming from "anti-psych" people who criticise the sources of psychiatric power, and some of them may come from people who think of themselves as advocating for reform of some of the most egregious effects of psychiatric power.

if we are opposed to psychiatry, what are the options for people today who are suffering and want help?

This looks like a few different things at a few different levels. At its most narrow and individual, it involves opting out of and resisting calls for psychiatrisation and involuntary institutionalisation of individuals—not calling the cops on people who are acting strange in public, breaking mandatory reporting laws and guidelines where we think them likely to cause harm. It involves sharing information—information about antipsychiatry critiques of psychiatric institutions, advice about how to manage therapists' and psychiatrists' egos, advice about which psychiatrists to avoid—so that people do not blame themselves if they find their encounters with psychiatry unhelpful or traumatising.

At the most broad, it's the same question as the question of how to build dual power and resist the power of capitalism writ large—building communal structures that present meaningful alternatives to psychiatry as an institution. I think there's much to be learned here from prison abolitionists and from popular movements that seek to protect people from deportation. You might also look into R. D. Laing's Kingsley Hall experiment.

what does this mean for those who would suffer even in a non-capitalist society, even if we didn't ascribe a specific label to X symptoms?

It means that people need access to honest, reliable information about what psychotropic medications do, and the right to chuse whether or not to take these medications without the threat of a psychiatrist pulling a lever that immediately restricts or removes their autonomy. It means that people need to be connected to each other in communities with planned, free resources that ensure that everyone, including severely disabled people whom no one particularly likes as individuals, has access to basic resources. It means that people need to be free to make their own choices regarding their minds and their health, even if other people may view those decisions as disastrous. There is simply no defensible way to revoke people's basic autonomy on the basis of "mental illness" (here I'm not talking about e.g. prison abolitionist rehabilitative justice types of things, which must restrict autonomy to be effective).

Also, I've mostly left the idea of who this would actually be untouched, since my central argument ("psychiatry as it currently exists is part of the biomedical arm of capitalism and the state, and the epistemologies it produces and employs and the power it exerts are thus in the service of capitalism and the state") doesn't really rest on delineating who would and wouldn't suffer from whatever mental differences they have regardless of what society they're in. But it's worth mentioning that the category of "people who are going to suffer (to whatever degree) no matter what" may be narrower than some would think—psychosis, for instance, is sometimes experienced very differently by people in societies that don't stigmatise it. I see people objecting to (their interpretations of) antipsych arguments with things along the lines of "well maybe depression and anxiety are caused by capitalism, but I'm schizophrenic so this doesn't apply to me"—as though hallucinations are perforce more physically "real," more "biological," more "extra-cultural" in nature than something like depression. But the point is that positing a specific neurobiological etiology for any psychiatric diagnosis is unsubstantiated, and that capitalist society affects how every "mental illness" is read and experienced (though no one is arguing that e.g. hallucinations wouldn't always exist in some form).

#psychiatry #long post / #mental illness #antipsych #antipsychiatry #Anonymous #questions #psychotropic drugs #ssris

[daydreamers-sys]

My lexapro feelings, in order:

Huh. I don’t feel anything.

My STOMACH

Sleep? That’s a real thing?

SLEEP. OH GOD I LOVE SLEEP. I WILL NOW SLEEP FOR 13 HOURS.

*wakes up laughing because a dream was funny*

I must. EAT. Everything I fucking see.

Chocolate. Meat. Chocolate. Meat. Bread. BREAD!!!!!

Oh holy fUCK that was a scary dream

If everyone doesn’t shut up RIGHT NOW I am GOING to start pulling numbers for who dies next

WHY is it so QUIET. I am so UNDER STIMULATED, someone DO SOMETHING. *10 seconds later* OKAY STOP

It’s bedtime :) *two hours later* oh-KAY, it’s bedtime!! :)

#lexapro #antidepressants #ssris #ssri

[maybe-an-aspd-angel]

#aspd thoughts #aspd feels #aspd things #actually aspd #aspd traits #psychology #life quote #quotes #mental health #quoteoftheday #depressing shit #tw depressing thoughts #depression #sociopath #bipolar #ssris

[donthugmeimscared]

I've been tapering off Prozac for the past few months (originally from 60mg then down to 40mg, now currently on 20mg). I've been pretty happy with the results thus far~

I reached the point where they weren't doing anything good for my brain anymore at that high of a dosage (like completely decimating my libido). I've worked a lot on myself and have successfully adjusted to living on my own/far away from my previous toxic and abusive environment for a little over five years now.

Feels good, man.

#thoughts #antidepressants #prozac #medication #antidepressant #SSRI #SSRIs #fluoxetine

[spaceydreem]

#polls #lexapro #ssri #ssris #mental health #i had a bad experience #lucaspeaks

[twinkdrama]

i have an idea. you can totally hate it. its not gonna hurt my feelings im on lexapro

#lexapro #boo bitch #netflix #ssris #mental illness #mine #100

[ex-foster]

#foster kids #foster care #Trauma #Ptsd #Complex trauma #cptsd #mental health #Pathologizing foster kids #Over medicalization of foster kids #SSRIs #Psychotropic medication

[sicksadtumble]

Can we ever have a conversation about consent in psychiatry and medical care in general? Can we talk about it?

Like you guys know what informed consent is, right? Why is that ignored when it comes to treating mental health problems?

Why are psychiatrists allowed to prescribe medications without telling the patient what they do or what the side effects are?

Why can't I talk to a therapist without my physical safety being threatened?

Why are doctors and psychiatrists allowed to coerce disabled and/or ill patients to take medication by refusing to treat/diagnose their problem until they take a psychiatric medication? Like I had doctors tell me, they won't run tests on me until I take an antidepressant.

I've directly asked psychiatrists to give me a full list of possible side effects, and they just told me "Oh it can cause nausea and maybe headaches" and then I go home, Google it, and find out I can't take it because it impairs cognitive function, causes brain damage, it's unsafe to take while driving, causes hair loss, raid heart rate, and possibly seizures.

Why doesn't anyone talk about this? And when we do bring it up, we're immediately shut down.

#vent #abliesm #medical trauma #psychiatry #chronic pain #mental health #antidepressants #ssri #ssris

[wikipediapictures]

Antidepressant

#antidepressant #medications #medication #meds #pills #medicine #antidepressants #ssri #ssris #fluoxetine #20mg #prozac #name brand drugs #depression #psychiatry #pharmacology #pharma #wikipedia #wikipedia pictures #pharmacore #pharmcore

[roses-edge]

Your ssri post hit so close to home for me. I feel like I was pumped with meds instead of anyone asking why I was so angry and having outbursts in the first place. On top of that the only thing i got out of those meds is struggling with sexual function ha (sorry if tmi)

Its insane how many people are out there with this issue. It's something I'm reluctant to bring up IRL. Some people are awkward and ignore it or assume I'm mental, others have told me to "Just get off of them!!" As if that's easy.

Idk if its the same for you, but I'm afraid of who I would be off of them. And OMG, the sexual disfunction is real, I can edge and edge, and still nothing. It's about a 50/50 chance for me orgasming. Even worse, I looked it up apparently when getting off of SSRIs, a condition where you lose sexual function altogether and can't orgasm at all can occur.

So it's like. Do I want to put myself through realistically a year (or more- I'm on 2 diff. SSRIs all high doses) of withdrawl, being sick all the time and not knowing what moods I'll experience/who I will even be, and face possible impotency for life... or just. Keep this up forever. I don't know if I'm ready to make this decision yet.

Sorry I made this about myself lmao if you'd like to share more of your experience, I'm all ears!!!

#ty for the ask!! #NEVER too TMI dont worry #ssris #radblr #radical feminism

[weirdpersonifiedpills]

🌟💊-Welcome!-💊🌟

Heyo, I’m Mouthy (@mouthydraws), welcome to my funny pill blog! I’m an autistic artist with a special interest in pharmacology, specially psychiatric medications, more specifically antidepressants, even more specifically SSRIs. A lot of the stuff I post here will be older until I’m able to catch up, but that hopefully won’t take too long!

New blog for my medication personifications? First post obviously has to be the SSRI lineup from 2022, here come the white-tailed deer ready to fight for your mental health!

From left to right: Zelmid (zimelidine), Luvox (fluvoxamine), Prozac (fluoxetine), Zoloft (sertraline), Paxil (paroxetine), Celexa (citalopram), and Lexapro (escitalopram)

SSRIs (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) are a class of antidepressants used to treat a variety of mental illnesses, most notably anxiety disorders and depression. They’re my absolute favorite class and the reason I’m currently in college for pharmacology. Prozac’s history in particular is my favorite to read about, so expect plenty of him and his history lol.

F.A.Q.

What are personified pills?

Personified pills are, as the name suggests, personifications of medications. Each aspect of the character, from their design to their personality, is carefully chosen based on historical, chemical, and pharmacological aspects of the actual medication. I enjoy drawing the characters in scenes that reference the real-life history of said drug.

Are these your OCs?

Yes. While I don’t own the idea of personifying medications, the designs and characters themselves do belong to me. You’re welcome to design your own personifications, or use mine with credit!

Why are they animals/furries?

Each class of drugs is a different animal species, I think it adds a lot to the characters, and specific animals are chosen in the same way every other aspect of the characters are chosen. Having the characters be animals also allows for clear distinctions between drug classes. I don’t enjoy drawing humans, but even if I did, I’d still keep them as animals.

Do you have a personification for *insert medication here*

All of my personifications are on my Toyhouse (@mouthydraws) under the ‘Medications’ folder. It can take some background knowledge on the class of the drug/possible subclasses or categories to find some of them, so I’ll also be uploading all of them here and using tags to make them easier to locate. If you have a specific medication you want to see, feel free to let me know!

Will you personify illegal drugs?

Given that most illegal drugs either didn’t start out as illegal or are only illegal in certain forms/circumstances, yes. I’ve started on the opioid personifications, and diacetylmorphine (her0in) is definitely going to be a part of that, as well as ADHD medications, which means m3thamphetamine hydrochloride (crystal m3th) is also on the horizon.

Are real people/names included in character lore?

No, I try to keep real people out of the personified pill lore, as it is fiction that’s simply based on actual events. A lot of the history behind these medications can be upsetting, and I do my best to treat these events with the respect they deserve. I’ll talk a lot about drug companies (Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Novartis, AstraZeneca, etc. etc.) but I won’t mention anyone specific lore-wise. I enjoy talking about drug history OUTSIDE of these characters, and will probably do that here too (with appropriate tags of course).

My inbox is always open, but I’m more active on Instagram and Twitter (@mouthydraws). I post a lot of WIPs and general pharmacology ramblings on my Instagram stories, so if you’re interested come check it out! I’m always looking for more pharmacology mutuals!!

#SSRI #ssris #Zelmid #Luvox #Prozac #Zoloft #Paxil #Celexa #Lexapro #zimelidine #fluvoxamine #fluoxetine #sertraline #paroxetine #citalopram #escitalopram #faq #faq post #welcome to my blog #weird personified pills

[thelordfool]

this is for everyone who cant eat grapefruit bc of their meds. ily grapefruit why u do this to me

#my art #grapefruit #ssri #ssris #doodle

[daydreamers-sys]

God I keep having the weirdest fucking dreams ever since starting Lexapro but I don’t think “everyone is a grinch and there’s deep physiological lore with grinches” was on my Lexapro dream bingo card

#lexapro #escitalopram #ssris #ssri dreams #antidepressants #lexapro dreams

[amouramaryllis]

someone tell me take my meds... I've convinced myself they dull my sparkle

#ssris #upd8 #lament #languish