Why do so many people take anti-depressants?

Anti-depressants are the new liquor substitutes. People take them for the same reason they go through the drive thru. They want things and they want it NOW! Why work on your problems when there is a magic pill that is promised to make them instantly disappear? Also, as long as you rely on your doctor for the pills, they are guarenteed that you have to keep paying them by coming for useless visits.

Anti-depressants are like all other medicines. The doctor prescribes some and people take them as if the doctor were Jesus. Probably half the people who take them are done no good by them - they just take them because the doctor said so.
I take anti - depressants. I was taking prozac and it screwed me up worse than I was. The doctor said keep on taking them, I said bull **** and stopped, found another doctor who prescribed Effexor. It helped.

I don't know why everyone else takes anti-deppressants but I take them because they give me some sort of normal life, at least I thought they did.

Maybe it's a government conspiracy!

because doctors hand them out like candy. society presents us with this ideal of the perfect person, with a big house, spouse, kids, and a good job. people constantly feel they are failing at this ideal, that they can never achieve this, and they start to feel **** about it. so they go to the doctor and instead of them addressing the issue they hand out pills. and we take them, to try and make us as happy as we are told we should be.

There is much debate as to whether antidepressants even have a significant effect on patients. There seems to be little difference between the effects of a placebo and an antidepressant. It seems that, though this may be true, psychologists are prescribing the medication more and more often, even if it is only the placebo effect that is helping the patients.

So I guess an additional question would be, what is more ethical? Prescribing an antidepressant which can have severe side-effects just to give the placebo effect, or prescribing a placebo and not telling the patient what s/he is really taking?

I tend to agree w/ La Tristesse. The "feel good" pills are heavily pushed by the big pharmaceutical companies. How many people are cosigned to a "lifetime" of anti-depressants for what might be corrected by other means? Who wins? Not the patient, but the pharmaceutical company that pushed the product on the populace.

Better living through chemistry. It is a million times easier to take a pill than the amount of time and effort it takes to work it out through therapy. That is to say if therapy ever even helps. There is only small chance that it will and smaller still that you will happen upon the right therapy.

Again, the reality is nothing like the ideal.

I believe some people really need them. I, for instance, am suicidal when not taking them. However, I do feel they are over prescribed. I knew a guy who lost his son and was dealing with a lot of grief and they prescibed anti-depressants, when grief counseling would have been more appropriate. I agree with most of what others said here. The pharmeceutical companies pushing their drugs and people who feel they are a quick fix. But most anti-depressants take 4-6 weeks to even work, and I feel most people who are started on them wold have their blues resolved by therapy or counseling way before they even start working. In a way I think it has become almost vogue to be on them, "so what are you taking? I'm on paxil". And don't get me started on the kids! People who medicate their "overactive" children-wow. I remember a time when almost all boys were considered overactive. My brother certainly fit the profile when we were kids and he turned out just fine without meds. Boys will be boys, right? But, my mom had the luxury of being a stay at home mom. Now with the economy in the toilet, both parents have to work and who has time to deal with a wound up child? It feels to me like it crushes their spirit. Well, I guess I said quite enough. To sum up, I feel people are looking for a quick fix and doctors are way to willing to oblige.

have you watched the news lately?

Um, excuse me? "Flip out" I don't appreciate the fact (and I'm sure I'm not alone) that you think that people who take anti-depressants will "Flip out" if they aren't medicated.

I take anti-depressants because I suffer from DEPRESSION. Hello!? DEPRESSION IS A MEDICAL CONDITION and it can be absolutely debilitating.

Why don't you use your time to try and educate yourself on mental illness & it's many causes....you obviously have the internet, do some reading on the subject before you go spouting off.

Rather than answer the question, I'd like to comment on vanewb's answer. Studies show that anti-depressants work best on patients who are severely depressed, but have little effect on those with mild to moderate depression.

It looks therefore that a lot of doctors are taking the "easy way out" by prescribing anti-depressants to patients who may not in fact benefit from them. But let's not be too hard on the doctors. It's a lottery whether a particular drug will work on any given patient.

SOCIETY HAS BEEN EVOLVING TOO FAST/ WE CANT KEEP UP MENTALY

It's true, they are prescribed for more than depression -- everything from epilespy to quitting smoking.

But I think most of the problem with this question comes from people thinking "depression" means "sadness." It's not. Sadness is normal. You can get over sadness. Anyone who can comment on "overprescription" with a straight face is pitifully ignorant.

Instead of "Boo hoo, poor me, I felt down today" it's actually "It's been over two weeks. I can't sleep. I can't eat. I can't even think straight. There's stuff I need to do! Why can't I MOVE? Why can't I GET OVER whatever the hell this is?! What the heck is WRONG WITH ME?!"

Some hard facts for you:

1. 50% of all women will have depression at one point in their lives BECAUSE of post-partum depression.

2. PEOPLE WITH DEPRESSION DON'T WANT TO TAKE MEDS! They convince themselves that it won't work, or that they're dangerous, or that they know a "better way." Antidepressants are UNDER-PRESCRIBED. Reading this thread seriously made me want to cry from frustration. People are posting their "common sense" knowledge here to make themselves feel smart, without realizing they're making it even worse by being ignorant. Way to go.

It would have made more sense to ask about ADDADHD. The same number of people will respond without actually knowing anything about it, except that the responses wouldn't kill people.

Because they are depressed, or think they are.

I started anti-depressants after i tried to kill myself, and now i'm over it, thanks to those pills!

Simplicity.

Firstly and most importantly for those who do not understand, depressions is NOT a mental illness. It is a physical illness . Your body is not producing the chemicals
that your brain needs to operate smoothly in the amount needed. Anti depressants provide those chemicals to bring it back into balance. Some people are able to get back up to speed in a short time. Some people's bodies do not ever produce enough so supplements are needed long term. If you have ever been there it isn't pleasant to say the least and it's the stigma from people who don't understand calling it a mental illness that keeps a lot of people from going and asking for help .

anti-depressants and mood stabilizers save a lot of lives. I wish like anything that I didn't have to take these friggin meds. BPD and depression are real illnesses with real physiological causes and effects.

CAUSE PROBABLY THEY ARE DEPRESSED ... DUH