half the class in med school are on SSRI?

[aaj117]

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Personally, I think you just need to handle it better before running to the pill bottle.

i think this is one of the most ignorant things i've seen posted in a long time. well actually i haven't been on here in a long time, but things like this were the reason i left. you wouldn't say that about someone with diabetics about taking their insulin. why do people feel so comfortable disregarding mental illness? depression is as serious of a disease, and can be completely crippling. why don't you spend a few weeks unable to get out of bed, completely miserable, wanting to kill yourself before you tell people to suck it up or handle it better? if there's something that can help treat such an awful set of symptoms, making someone feel bad about accepting the help that treatment offers is just cruel, and not what i would hope to see in a future doctor.

 

[da8s0859q]

you wouldn't say that about someone with diabetics about taking their insulin.

Well, wait a minute. I don't entirely disagree with what you're saying, but this is one hell of an apples and oranges comparison. Diabetics rely on insulin because they physiologically have to; they can think all they want, but neither those beta cells nor other somatic cells are going to produce or more efficiently use insulin, depending on type of DM. That's physiology.

Dealing with stress and anxiety, well, there's a reason why the general consensus among psychologists/psychiatrists is that best results are obtained with a combination of actual "therapy" and pharmacologic treatment. Speaking for myself, I know that I could be far better at handling what life throws at me sometimes than I actually am, so "dealing" has far more an intrapersonal part than many disease states do.

That said, I agree that depression and anything remotely close to it can be as debilitating, or far more debilitating, than many a more physical ailment.

 

[Old Grunt]

Personally, I think we should just tell everyone to drink a warm glass of "suck it up and drive on" for all ailments whether they be physical or mental.

Actually, I don't. I am glad that psychiatric medicine is making ground in society and I am glad the DOD is starting to recognize it.

Because, taking young men and women and sticking them in combat and then throwing them back in society as if nothing ever happened is the worst form of troop abuse.

Too bad, as indicated by this thread, there will always be physicians who think it's "all in their (the patient's) heads".

 

[NJDIF]

my personal psychiatric med regimen:

 

[MadEvans]

It was about 1/4 of the students a few years ago at UCSF. This study does confirm that medical students are more likely than their non-medical school counterparts to be depressed. It also shows the huge trouble many medical students have admitting the are depressed. Good read.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/353/11/1085

 

[RegularNihilist]

Personally, I think you just need to handle it better before running to the pill bottle.

Great advice! Uh, how?

 

[da8s0859q]

Great advice! Uh, how?

No kidding. I'm all ears.

 

[DRJJ1]

I think it is an admirable quality to find within yourself the motivation, focus, and balance to succeed in med school without becoming addicted to caffeine or other stimulants. There are many students in my class who have weaned themselves off of caffeine even during med school (while the vast majority continue to be enslaved by the addiction).

I honestly believe my academic performance is at a higher level than if I were drinking coffee to get me going every day. As a future radiologist, many have told me I "need to learn how to drink coffee." No, I don't. It's not a necessary evil.

LIPTON TEA ALL U NEED AND CHEAP EASY TO MAKE TOO

 

[UAAWolf]

I know I'm just a pre-med who is applying now...but I do think SSRI's are needed for those who are extremely stressed/depressed and have tried other means.

Sure- you shouldn't use them as a first option, but if therapy doesn't work give them a try.


I've struggled with anxiety and depression since I was a toddler...it's biochemical for me. That being said I've never taken any SSRI's/Benzo's/ETC....but part of me thinks I should give them a shot. Currently I'm in therapy to control my anxiety and depression...but if this doesn't work I WILL try an SSRI😳

 

[fleetgoddess]

Old Grunt I found your posts interesting about throwing military people back into society as the worst abuse.

What about the fact that so many troops are being sent back for multiple tours. This was really not practiced before the last two decades. I mean surely going back multiple times and feeling trapped in the situation confounds things greatly.

Sad to think of these young men/women coming back and being those old men with so many mental health problems at the VA. I wonder if we'll have even more due to the way we've really been abusing the men we have over there.

 

[prophecy2]

No kidding. I'm all ears.

Good mental attitude
Good food
Healthy exercise
and not taking sheeet so seriousley....now that's your "pill" in a bottle...for realz!

 

[Excelsius]

Students who are completely dependent on school for their happiness will be much more susceptible to depression. If you do poorly on an exam, it can completely drag you down the more you dwell on it, but if you have an outside life, such as an SO or a good support system/friends, it would be harder to be depressed. "Work hard play harder" mantra works really well if you can follow through, but I wonder if the very same pill you take to fight off depression also doesn't almost preclude you from having any real fun.

 

[Crelal]

If it's true, then I think the following question has to be brought up. Why is it that this generation is so overwhelmed, depressed, and anxious that it needs help?

Is medical school today so much harder than it was 20 years ago? I find that hard to believe given that many schools have gone to pass/fail or H/P/F. On top of that, the internet, computers, videotaped lectures, LOADS of board review books... have all made information more accessible and more condensed.

The people who are suffering really are suffering, but what about society/medical training has resulted in this change?

There are new discoveries and advances everyday. Fifty years ago they were just discovering the structure of DNA, know we have a full semester course on Genetic Disorders, their location, symptoms, and treatment. And let's not forget the Public Health aspect, which was largely left to 'community workers' prior to a few decades ago.

There is a lot of new information, an increase in the acceptance of mental health disorders, and individuals seeking help.

Med school is a totally different environment, and as much as you can try, you have no clue what it is actually like until you are in the thick of it. As students, we should be aware of this when we see our classmates struggling, and try to be self aware to know when we need assistance.

 

[da8s0859q]

Good mental attitude
Good food
Healthy exercise
and not taking sheeet so seriousley....now that's your "pill" in a bottle...for realz!

Well, I think the argument is that the first and last are sometimes a little easier said than done. Numbers 2 and 3 probably help, but still.

 

[da8s0859q]

Med school is a totally different environment, and as much as you can try, you have no clue what it is actually like until you are in the thick of it.

Would +rep you if SDN had a rep system. Have said this to people repeatedly over the last several months -- and I'm only a lowly M1.

 

[ThinkTooMuch]

5-HTP is safe, natural, legal and effective. Try it before anything else.

 

[FractureFixer]

reading all this I wonder: what would happpen if someone in medical school who is normal takes LEXAPRo? woudl they become better student or since they are normal and it increases serotonin activity would they go crazy?

 

[Old Grunt]

Old Grunt I found your posts interesting about throwing military people back into society as the worst abuse.

What about the fact that so many troops are being sent back for multiple tours. This was really not practiced before the last two decades. I mean surely going back multiple times and feeling trapped in the situation confounds things greatly.

Sad to think of these young men/women coming back and being those old men with so many mental health problems at the VA. I wonder if we'll have even more due to the way we've really been abusing the men we have over there.

There is some nuance here that is missed by the general public. One reason Viet Nam veterans had such a high incidence of PTSD (which was undiagnosed at the time) was due to the "one in, one out" policy in which a single soldier would be taken from the world, thrown into a unit where he didn't know anyone in the middle of Viet Nam, and then singularly plucked out of that unit and thrown back into the world.

After Viet Nam a lot of studies where done that showed how bad that policy was. That resulted in a change in policies in which entire units trained together, deployed together, and re-deployed (returned home together). This allowed the soldiers to act as "lay psychologists" for each other and talk out the things they had been through. That has been combined with attempts by the DOD to address this problem (under Gates, not Rumsfled).

As for the multiple tours, I am not a fan of that (especially when a large percentage of the Army has never deployed), however, it's a bit misleading. Soldiers in World War II had one tour, it was just several years long. Depending on when you went over to Europe or the Pacific, you were in combat for one to four years.

After World War II, it was found that 12 months of direct combat was about as much as any man could take at a time and that gave birth to the "one year tour" mentality.

Personally, my own opinion is that the tactics drive combat stress. IEDs are an extremely effective psychological weapon. If you play IED roulette for a year, that's really wears on the psyche.

At any rate, sorry for the thread jack.

 

[Bart Clarridge]

Students who are completely dependent on school for their happiness will be much more susceptible to depression. If you do poorly on an exam, it can completely drag you down the more you dwell on it, but if you have an outside life, such as an SO or a good support system/friends, it would be harder to be depressed. "Work hard play harder" mantra works really well if you can follow through, but I wonder if the very same pill you take to fight off depression also doesn't almost preclude you from having any real fun.

50% of medical students? Just image how many residents must be on them. There are huge problems with medical education and medical school is relatively minor harassment compared with most residencies. Good thing you can only work 80 hours 🙄

Twenty years ago the knowledge base was smaller. Ask some of the guys. And if yuo go back to the 60's and 70's there is no comparison.

As for your point about work hard play hard, Excelsius, it's always been interesting to me that they want well-rounded people when you apply to medical school, but only on the interview day appearance. After that, it's time to become a tool. If people don't believe me now, wait till residency.

Of course you are right, people need to live and have hobbies. Unless they become addicted to teh internets or something, the time spent away from studying is more than made up for by subsequent increased efficiency.

 

[Excelsius]

...
As for your point about work hard play hard, Excelsius, it's always been interesting to me that they want well-rounded people when you apply to medical school, but only on the interview day appearance. After that, it's time to become a tool. If people don't believe me now, wait till residency.

...

Think of it this way: if you're a "tool" before you even get into medschool, then you'll be an uber-tool by the time you're done. On the other hand, if you're not a tool at entrance, then you might only become a sub-tool when you're done. It's like they know they are going to damage the goods, so they want to start with the freshest meat possible.

 

[Sauce1]

Some of the posts in this thread baffle me. As someone who has been on a low dose SSRI for 2 years, I can tell you it made a huge difference in my life. I even tried to come off of it once and decided to stay on it because of the huge difference in my mood. I have accepted that I may be on it for a while and thats alright because it serves a useful purpose in my life and is a safe medication. The whole purpose of medicine is to help people feel better (usually with medications or procedures) and SSRI accomplish that goal for some.

Also the insulin comment is a good analogy. Many people that are depressed is a combination of physiology and stressors. These patients usually have lower neurotransmitter levels or some other biological reason that there mood is affected and in combination with stressors can cause depression and or anxiety.

And to claim that they take SSRI to get an advantage is ridiculuous. They take them to feel better and live a normal live. It does not give an advantage at all.

 

[ar2388]

for whoever said that the dropout rate should be higher years ago because mental conditions had stigma, etc etc should think about the fact that only 50% of the population even had a chance of getting in (the men i mean)... macho men added to a society that stigmatized mental issues and im not surprised the drop out wasnt higher...