Over-generalising about depression

In dealing with clients struggling with depression over the years and also having my own struggles, I remain humbled by the fact that as a therapist, I cannot make generalisations as to how I will help this or that client.

My problem with over-generalising came with my own experience with psychotropic medications that were supposed to fix me up but from which I got the most nasty side-effects. I wasn't supposed to get these side-effects or so it seemed. No one else apparently did or it seemed to be suggested got them like I did. The doctor had generalised that since many patients did get relief that if I didn't get relief there almost had to be something wrong with me!! Something was wrong with me but it was surprising to find that other patients also had similar problems with medications as well.

I used to find that the common SSRIs (Prozac, Zoloft, Aropax [awful], Cipramil) would wind me up so much that my whole being was constantly agitated. A wikipedia article describes this terrible state as akathisia (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akathisia.)

Actually, it was only receiving help from a psychiatrist, who himself had depression and treated himself with medication, that started me on a path of having more self-confidence in my experience. He knew that patients did not always respond well to medications and that further, some of them had horrendous side-effects with some patients. (See http://xrl.in/2vm.) However, this doctor gave me hope even though he was not the one who finally helped me more definitively. He moved interstate and I had to find another specialist

Yet, even with the new specialist, I had to fight against being given the usual dose of a known 'benign' medication. Fortunately, providentially, I started off on a very low dosage and am still on this medication to this day although on a much higher dosage.


Another issue that sometimes patients have to fight with experts about are the generics that are 'just the same' as the original brands. Well not everyone finds it so. With other categories of medications that may be so but with psychotropic medications it is very unwise to change if one is doing reasonably well on a particular brand. Differences in responses to different generics can also be felt even though pharmacists will tell you that it cannot happen.