Depression and Medication

“I actually used to think the best thing that could happen to me, I would just die, it would be great to just get hit by a car because it would put me out of my misery, I thought living was the worst thing,” says Karen Gormandy. 47 year old Karen has been battling depression since she was a teenager. As she felt her life spiraling out of control, Karen turned to anti-depressants to help her cope. She says the medication gave her a renewed sense of hope. In fact, she felt so confident with her state of mind that she stopped taking her medicine.

"I was like, oh, my life is going terrific now, who needs a pill? I just took it upon myself, I’m just ducky, I even stopped talk therapy too, I just stopped everything," says Karen. Suddenly Karen’s world came crashing down. She says she hit rock bottom, the depression became unbearable.

According to recent data published by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 40 percent of patients report stopping their medication without the advice of their physician because they personally believed they were no longer experiencing symptoms, despite 91 percent of them saying it is important to take their anti-depressant medication as prescribed.

"Patients have a tendency to stop medication on their own, and these are the types of medications that really require a doctor/patient interaction to determine the correct timing of the discontinuation. Because, when these drugs are discontinued prematurely all you do is plant the seeds for future episodes," says Dr. Steven Lamm of NYU/Bellevue Hospital.

Whether it’s due to inadequate patient-physician communication, lack of patient awareness about treatment goals, or simply the symptoms of the disease, such as pessimism and fatigue, the apparent gap in disease awareness suggests patients may not have the information and support needed to ensure treatment success.

"It requires a better working relationship with your doctor, this is a chemical disorder, there may be very powerful genetic factors. Don’t view yourself as a failure because you have depression, what the real tragedy is when you don’t get treated because you’re robbing yourself of an opportunity to have a really improved quality of life," says Dr. Lamm.

Karen learned first hand how staying on medication gave her, her life back. "Don’t be so scared about asking for help, because the thing about depression is you feel so hopeless, exhausted, tired, it’s not something that you can just do on your own," says Karen.

Some tell-tale signs of depression include a persistent sad or anxious mood. Feelings of hopelessness, helplessness is also common. Insomnia, oversleeping or difficulty concentrating…and physical symptoms like constant headaches and chronic pain that doesn’t respond to treatment.