> 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