Antidepressant Poll

[glatt]

Originally Posted by anonymous

I am surprised by how many people take antidepressants. I thought it was less common. I am curious.

Me too. And part of my ignorance is if the Cellar is actually representative of the population in general, or if we are somehow self selecting. Do more (or less) people who need antidepressants come here because there is something about this community that is welcoming. Maybe the Cellar just allows us to be more open than irl, and antidepressant use the same "out there" as "in here?"

I think this poll question is as much a question about the community built here as it is a question of how widespread antidepressant use is in the world.

[Lamplighter]

Originally Posted by glatt

Me too. And part of my ignorance is if the Cellar is actually representative of the population in general, or if we are somehow self selecting. Do more (or less) people who need antidepressants come here because there is something about this community that is welcoming. Maybe the Cellar just allows us to be more open than irl, and antidepressant use the same "out there" as "in here?"

I think this poll question is as much a question about the community built here as it is a question of how widespread antidepressant use is in the world.

Yes, I agree.

Right now the poll numbers are small and evenly split, but in reading the posts in the "round up" thread,
I have the impression there is more "self medication" being exposed by Dwellars.

Years back, I created custom databases and so had access to personal data of group members.
In one (public) group of summer school kids, there was a high rate of medications for ADD, etc.
In a separate (religious) group there was almost none.

It struck me that one organization was being used by the public as respite care and/or baby sitting,
while the reglious group was there for reasons of faith and instruction.

Being something of a control freak, myself, it was while doing the software programming that
I realized that I chose to do that kind of work because it gave me a lot of control over my own life.

[Griff]

I used to self-medicate. I feel like my emotional state is better since I stopped, its like I was feeding my moods rather than adjusting them. When I was self-medicating, I learned that I could handle social situations, so there was value in that, but for me now I think I need a clear head.