Are anti-depressants cheating?

I don't know why, or if i'm the only person who feels this way, but i feel like when i take my anti depressants, i'm not actually getting rid of my problem, like i'm cheating.
I've been depressed for a couple years, and my parents found out i'd been doing self-harm, and other things, and so they took me to a themrapist who reccomended them. But, once i forgotto take it, and i was right back to the person i was before. It just made me feel that the pills are making me into a different person. It's not like antibiotics, their not actually erasing the problem. Does anybody else feel this way? Or does anyone think, that someday if i don't take them, i could maybe miracuasly not be lonely and suicidal?

It all depends on the person, everyone is different, especially depending on the problem. My friend, one day out of nowhere, began having seizures. They still have not figured out, 4 years later, what is causing them, so she can no longer drive and she has a strict medication regimen. Does she hate it? Yep, but she does it because without it life is way worse. Getting help isn't cheating.

I don't believe in medical solutions for psychological problems so I'm gonna go against it.
It has been said that antidepressiants do cause more harm if you forget to take them so I say go find some psychological help instead of the meds, they only trick your body into thinking it isn't depressed but they don't make it go away, so get a psychologist to help you and try to get emotional help from your friends and family.

I'm a psych major actually and yes anti-depressants changes the biochemical imbalances caused by "depression" but depression is more like a symptom of what is really wrong. So while anti-depressants can be effective, it only treats the symptoms and the most effective thing for depression would most likely be the combination of the drugs and therapy. However, the drugs have side effects and it's not good to stay on them for long, and since addiction is possible, getting off of them can be hard. And once off of them, it can take a while for the effects wear off.

Honestly, at times in my life I have felt like anti-depressants were 'cheating'. You see, Im diagnosed bipolar, but I currently take no medication for it, and instead self medicate through meditation sessions. At the end of the day, sometimes you need that metaphorical crutch to get by - doesn't make you any less of a person. What makes you strong is your ability to recognize there's an issue and take the steps to try and make it better.

At the same time, I will say that anti-depressants never worked for me, and actually intensified my bipolar. Same can be said with mood stabilizers, as well as other forms of 'medication' (said in parenthesis to hint at something else).

Its a matter of what works best for you. Its not cheating to take care of your mind :)

Anti-depressants help you with the problems you cant help yourself with... it's not cheating and there are many people out there that take them.....

I don't take anti depressants. I never have and i never will. I did, however, go through the self harm stuff and the depression. Did the drug and alcohol phase too. Actually coming on this website, and reading the things that people said to justify their cutting, made me realize that I was only doing it for attention.

Anti depressants were never suggested for me because they can actually make things worse for teenagers. I made the decision to go to therapy, and just having a neuteral person to talk to made me better.

Another thing about Anti depressants is I wonder what will happen in the long run? My mom has been on them for almost 19 years, and now that she's 55 she's got dimensia. It could be a million things but I can't help but wonder if she was just being treated for the wrong things this whole time.

People that don't need Anti depressants don't actually realize its not cheating. The same goes for most doctors that prescribe it, not all.

I however was once prescribed it.

Doctors thought i had a bad problem, but
you would start to think when your mom gives you
LSD every week.

I guess some people, like my mother, uses it to cover up her feelings about some traumatic things that happened 16 years ago. This past February was the first time I've ever heard her talk about it, and that was through therapy.

Rather than dealing with these issues that bother her, she "cheats" and gets away with just covering them up, while every other person in the world who has not been prescribed the magic pill has to go on dealing with their troubles.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's not fair to consider it as "cheating" as long as you have a way to actually deal with the issues.

Sorry if this contradicts what I said in my earlier post, I wasn't thinking to answer the question "is it cheating" that time.

Ive been depressed since i was 13, didnt start taking medication till i was 17..nobody knew what was wrong with me as i never talked to anyone about my problems, tried 3different types of anti depressants and they didnt work, even with up'd doses.then i started a 1 that was slated for its suicidal tendancies! but it worked - then i platoed(sp) so my dose was up'd again and was fine for over a year, then i woke up 1 day and didnt take them..never had any since - and im relativly stable. i spent 2 years with a good shrink and wasted 1 year before her seeing a sh!te shrink. i have issues like everyone else. rls, ocd, add, and yes i cut to get away from it all. but it helps to have people around you who have been where you have, then you can see for yourself that it will all be ok.

the point is, though you think its cheating - its not, its not there to have all the time, its just there until you sort out your problems, i think thats why it worked for me anyway - because i was talking everything out to my shrink, i got reffered for reasons im not going to get into, but im all better...i'll admit i get blue sometimes, but who dosent living in this world.

take the meds and see a shrink, write a heck of alot of poetry and get publishe - you will be buzzing!

peace & love
IBE
xxx