I have also seen the effects on a number of people, and everything is fine. People react differently to all sorts of things.
You certainly have the right to decide for yourself not to take medications. Personally, the only thing that keeps me going day to day is the hope that I won't feel this way forever. I'd rather be run over by a truck tomorrow than spend the rest of my life this way.
I'd rather people who feel like I do get good, balanced information. Hysterical talk about "chemo-lobotomies" helps no one.
You are entitled to your opinion.
Personally, the only thing that keeps me going day to day is the hope that I won't feel this way forever. I'd rather be run over by a truck tomorrow than spend the rest of my life this way.
Having suffered episodes of moderately severe depression for nearly twenty years I know how that feels. But logic may be the one thing that suffers most in a person who is depressed. I finally went to a friend who I trusted for his implicit honesty, intelligence and superb training in Chinese medicine hoping he had some advice or treatment that would help. He simply said "There's no reason to be depressed." and brusquely left the room. I thought he was being a jerk. It took me two years to understand why he had said that.
When I did understand it my depression lifted in 30 seconds. It physically felt like a heavy blanket lifting up off of me. That was six years ago and I haven't been depressed since. Sometimes I feel it coming on. The pattern of thoughts begins but I recognize them and stop it. I know without doubt that I will never be depressed again. He did the only thing he could do. It was the most compassionate thing anyone has ever done for me.
Those two years of contemplating what he had said were pretty painful but worth it. Nothing, nothing, nothing (and I do mean nothing) will ever knock me down again. Not for long. Not the way it used to. Depression is a choice and I will never choose it again.
I smoke. I've quit a few times too. Smoking is also a choice. At present I choose to smoke. Taking responsibility for all our thoughts and feelings is all it takes to end all kinds of suffering.
Anyone who tells you that it will be easy is a liar. We spend 20, 30 or 40 years making a mess of our minds and then expect someone else to straighten it out with a few months of painless talk or a pill. It just won't happen. That tangle of knots will take time, effort, pain and a personal commitment to take complete responsibility for ones own experiences. Do you want to be of any use to the people in your life? Do you want to repay all the people who have loved you and helped you with self indulgence? If all you care about is yourself and your own comfort then go ahead, step out in front of a truck. Make all the people who love you but can't fix what is yours to fix suffer.
There's nothing to be depressed about.