> > I took Zoloft in high school, and my friends
> >told me I was being weak for using a "crutch".
> >Meanwhile, they were cutting themselves with
> >knives and burning themselves with cigarettes to
> >take their minds off their own pain. Maybe you
> >could "handle" it yourself, but why? Get thee
> >to a pharmacy.
> >
>
> I don't think I've ever really seen it as a "crutch" or a "weakness". The only reason I stop taking my medication is sheer laziness and occaisionally the wish that I *could* handle it on my own, not really because of any percieved weakness, but because it just really SUCKS having to take pills every single day for your whole life.
>
> Seriously, how could anyone really see it as a "crutch"? We're not talking about occaisional depression brought on by stress or other actual depressing things. We're talking about a major and sometimes crippling depression that lasts FOREVER and is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. One that is often easily correctable with medication.
>
> People don't suffer through urinary tract infections today because they see penicillian as a "crutch", do they? So why should someone like me suffer through a lifetime of depression because anti-depressants are seen as a "crutch" by some stupid people? Bah.
>
> -- Dave

Heck, Dave, I take pills every single day and I don't see it as a problem. Every day there are three pills, which I affectionately call "small, medium, and large," next to my breakfast orange juice. Medium and large are to keep my joints moving freely and small makes my stomach act normally. I don't even think about it. In the future, I may have to go on blood pressure pills or who knows what all. But it's no problem to me. I had a brother-in-law whose kidneys failed. His philosophy(sp?) was, "If your eyes need help you wear glasses If your hearing begins to go, you get a hearing aid. If your kidneys don't work you go on dialisus(sp?)." He eventurally went through two transplants without complaining. When he died it was something unrelated, which I can't spell either. I guess I'm saying, if you need medicine to fight depression, take it and don't worry about it.
Howard