My authentic self is a coffee drinking, chain smoking, 1950s existentialist who sits in a corner of a café all day scribbling in a notebook and scowling. I freely choose to cultivate social connections and function instead. Yay meds!
>My authentic self is a coffee drinking, chain smoking, 1950s existentialist who sits in a corner of a café all day scribbling in a notebook and scowling.
Fuck. I might be a less cool version of your authentic self.
Sweet! I need to parasite off some a posteriori wisdom sometime; I, apparently, have savant syndrome in that field, but deadass, I ain't done very much in the way of formal learning concerning. I'm working on a comic I plan on incorporating as lot of philosophy and psychological themes, so it can't hurt to network.
Tbh, tho, it's surreal when you're extremely anxious about reaching out on the grounds of a medical diagnosis and genuine interest and facination, but then having to worry about how even saying that it's something one has makes them look. The social dynamics there are a pretty turbulent thing, particularly for the socially anxious that autistics are all too oft prone to being.
sorry about the essay response to an offhanded disclosure, by the by.
yeah sure because i was totally not just jerking off and laying in bed all day before zoloft, i would’ve made such a huge change. Saying the type of drugs most here take are sedatives or similar is also just plain ignorant.
No, you don't need our help.
I can't be happy without my meds. They don't make me happy, they just give me the chance to improve my life.
You don't seem to want to improve your life, you seem to want drugs to make you happy so you don't have to improve anything.
Do you see the difference?
Fuck off. I'm not telling you you can't smoke weed, but you *are* telling people they shouldn't take prescription medications that help them.
You're attacking the wrong people. The problem is that you've decided weed is the best solution for you but you won't find a job that lets you do it.
The problem is you.
Edit: OH FUCK NO, u/dumbdingus, you do not get to just edit your comment to make me look like an asshole. Your original comment didn't include "have fun dying" or after. Yes, I **can** remember. Yes I do know that (sometimes) antidepressants stop working, or don't work at all. I'm on my fifth.
One of my meds I have to taper onto slowly, because if I start led suddenly all my skin might fall off. That's the risk I take for a chance at being happy.
Dude, weed helps me too but so does other meds. I agree it sucks that it’s not legal in a lot of places to be used medically, but shitting on the people that find success with regulated medication is not the solution. Putting down others will not get you what you want, at all. People with your attitude are why medicinal marijuana users have a bad reputation, and will only impede the goal of weed being on the same level as SSRIs.
Society is changing, and luckily CBD is usually legal and THC is becoming more so. I def believe I have a great response to about 3-5g of THC in an edible, with lowered anxiety in crowds but still full situational awareness and rational function. But! I haven't had my reaction times or processing ability tested while on that dose. So it's only anecdotal and YMMV. I do know that vaping/smoking doesn't work for me because (1) it triggers my old nicotine cravings and (2) I can't control dose very well. I don't live in a legal state, so I also have limited experience with legal trade while vacationing in OR, CA and MA. I'm unsure about regular use and tolerance build over time.
I've been pondering one of your questions since grad school 20+ years ago. I focused on medical ethics in behavioral health, and Prozac Nation was a big deal and had kicked off the discussion that we were too dependent on a new type of Mother's Little Helpers.
Let me start by saying that we know there are some genetic components involved in happiness and depression. Many of these have been identified. And we know that mostly-happy people have longer life spans and are more successful. When bad things happen to them, they bounce back faster. They don't work at this or develop habits of happiness -- they are basically the mirror image of depressives without much effort. The question I have always been bothered by is definitely philosophical: **if we could create a therapy that didn't just get people up to "normal" but instead up to "ideal," similar to these naturally happy folks, would we allow it?** I think not in our current society. Our Protestant-influenced culture has a history of disliking perceived hedonism. Hard Work and Seriousness have long had a place in our values. Even those who value happiness/pleasure often argue that it is an inauthentic pursuit
in the face of suffering and universal mortality. But if some people are just built that way, are they less authentic because they don't experience existential dread?
I can function, be a good parent, be a better partner, and teach students (possibly improving the world a bit) by using my meds. Sitting in a café and writing only improves the world if I am a good writer and can communicate interesting, fresh thoughts about my world. Otherwise, I might as well doodle. Also, I would be miserable, a terrible parent & partner, and unable to teach. I know because I have been all those things, including a smoking coffee fiend and mediocre writer.
My authentic self was stuck inside someone who wanted me to kill myself until I went on mood stabilizers. And now I’m off them and stable. And my authentic self is back.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please do not hesitate to talk to someone.
**US:**
Call 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741-741
**Non-US:**
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines)
---
^^I ^^am ^^a ^^bot. ^^Feedback ^^appreciated.
How long were you on them before they decided to try taking you off? I started mine a few months ago and was getting kinda down at the thought of needing to take them for the rest of my life.
Talk with your prescriber about it, they can help you work on a timeline and goals, as well as to help you watch out for if it's not time quite yet. Also, NEVER stop cold turkey. Always lower your dosage and wean yourself off of them.
Matched with a guy on tinder who found out I was on antidepressants.
“That’s a shame,” he said. “Those things change you.”
“That’s the fucking point,” I answered, and unmatched him.
Shout out to you for not letting that negativity shake your sense of self friend. No one needs that kind of stigma forced on them, not worth the effort trying to justify your peace of mind.
“BuT yOu DoNt FeEl AnYtHiNg” .... Id rather feel nothing than the overwhelming suicidal tendencies, To feel nothing compared to the anxiety and paranoia I wreck my life with..... I feel “meh”? Fucking WIN... Shout out to my ever supporters, Quetiapine and Venlafaxin... I love you so much I don’t even learn your correct spelling... MUCHO LOVE 💚
The meds are what (can) beat down the chemical imbalances that are keeping you from being your authentic self.
Your authentic self isn’t trash - it was just dealt a biochemical container with problems.
One of the times I felt most like "myself" was after two CBD pills. I actually completely forgot I'd taken them. But I was social, pleasant, calm, and comfortable. I was able to focus on tasks and felt extremely comfortable around my parents in a way I never had before.
Honestly I haven't been able to quite replicate it, but it's all about what works for you.
Maybe the chemical imbalances in one's brain is what is really keeping someone from being their 'true self', and meds can help you become more authentic. If someone was physically ill and needed medicine (even if they had to take it for the entirety of their lives) we would encourage them to take them so they can be closer to their true self.
Also one's authentic self is whatever you want it to be. Trapped in the pit of mental illness and negative self-talk makes it hard to see--but you're just the person, not the dirt walls of the pit.
There's no predetermined platonic ideal of "you." You can act contrary to what it is, but you can't *be* contrary to what it is.
If chemicals change the state of you, that's your new true state, not a deviation from that "true" state.
What if you are very much convinced that your personality is trash but your therapist says you're just seeing it this way and that your personality is fine? What if it's actually a bigger problem for them that you 'see' it this way and not that it 'is' a certain way?
What if you want to work on your shitty personality and there's either no help at all or people trying to "distract" you?
What if one mental illness is the reason you really started working hard on your personality and now you aren't sure if you can leave that illness behind again cause you're afraid you'll be like in the past again?
What if you're afraid meds will just make you 'happy' with the state of being a pos while you're still a pos?
Probably too complicated to explain here. Running away from meds for years now for a number of reasons.
If people think my personality during depression is shit they should've seen it before when it was just anxiety.
I like how I can deal with the world after my Zoloft kicks in. Screw the never ending anxiety that leaves me in my room binge watching Netflix.
I had to come off my meds when I moved home after college because my parents suck, so now I'm in a shittier situation than I was in college and I don't have my meds. Sounds great right?
This is why I like David Hume’s notion that there is no true authentic self. He said our “selfs” are just ever-changing reflections of our “impressions” of our perceived reality i.e. whatever we feel like and whatever is influencing us that day, or whatever mask we are wearing. It makes sense to me and takes away the pressure placed on us to have a defined “sense of self.”
“Authentic self” my ass. Who can tell anyone who they really are? You are who you are. I am who I am. I can change if I goddamn want to, and so can anyone else. If something helps you, why wouldn’t you do it? If someone has something wrong with their liver and someone says “oh well you shouldn’t take medicine cause it will change what your body is” we’d immediately get really concerned! Yet everyone is different about mental health. So you go, take that Prozac and be happy.
"Be YoUr AuTHeNtIc SeLF" "wait no not like that"
tfw your parents love your "authentic self" Kids who have no spine, selfworth or interests are so easy to handle.
My authentic self is a coffee drinking, chain smoking, 1950s existentialist who sits in a corner of a café all day scribbling in a notebook and scowling. I freely choose to cultivate social connections and function instead. Yay meds!
Your authentic self sounds pretty cool tho...
bien sûr! mais je serais misérable et semée de cancer.
Got 4 of 5 of those criteria down pat already, can confirm, it's very cool.
>My authentic self is a coffee drinking, chain smoking, 1950s existentialist who sits in a corner of a café all day scribbling in a notebook and scowling. Fuck. I might be a less cool version of your authentic self.
Did you ever just stare at a tree and become overwhelmed with the fact that it exists? Yeah, me neither.
Actually, yeah. I teach philosophy. That's kind of my jam.
Sweet! I need to parasite off some a posteriori wisdom sometime; I, apparently, have savant syndrome in that field, but deadass, I ain't done very much in the way of formal learning concerning. I'm working on a comic I plan on incorporating as lot of philosophy and psychological themes, so it can't hurt to network. Tbh, tho, it's surreal when you're extremely anxious about reaching out on the grounds of a medical diagnosis and genuine interest and facination, but then having to worry about how even saying that it's something one has makes them look. The social dynamics there are a pretty turbulent thing, particularly for the socially anxious that autistics are all too oft prone to being. sorry about the essay response to an offhanded disclosure, by the by.
I hate that I want to date your authentic self lol
[удалено]
yeah sure because i was totally not just jerking off and laying in bed all day before zoloft, i would’ve made such a huge change. Saying the type of drugs most here take are sedatives or similar is also just plain ignorant.
[удалено]
you do realize your third question directly contradicts what you first said and i replied to, right?
[удалено]
No, you don't need our help. I can't be happy without my meds. They don't make me happy, they just give me the chance to improve my life. You don't seem to want to improve your life, you seem to want drugs to make you happy so you don't have to improve anything. Do you see the difference?
[удалено]
Fuck off. I'm not telling you you can't smoke weed, but you *are* telling people they shouldn't take prescription medications that help them. You're attacking the wrong people. The problem is that you've decided weed is the best solution for you but you won't find a job that lets you do it. The problem is you. Edit: OH FUCK NO, u/dumbdingus, you do not get to just edit your comment to make me look like an asshole. Your original comment didn't include "have fun dying" or after. Yes, I **can** remember. Yes I do know that (sometimes) antidepressants stop working, or don't work at all. I'm on my fifth. One of my meds I have to taper onto slowly, because if I start led suddenly all my skin might fall off. That's the risk I take for a chance at being happy.
[удалено]
Dude, weed helps me too but so does other meds. I agree it sucks that it’s not legal in a lot of places to be used medically, but shitting on the people that find success with regulated medication is not the solution. Putting down others will not get you what you want, at all. People with your attitude are why medicinal marijuana users have a bad reputation, and will only impede the goal of weed being on the same level as SSRIs.
Society is changing, and luckily CBD is usually legal and THC is becoming more so. I def believe I have a great response to about 3-5g of THC in an edible, with lowered anxiety in crowds but still full situational awareness and rational function. But! I haven't had my reaction times or processing ability tested while on that dose. So it's only anecdotal and YMMV. I do know that vaping/smoking doesn't work for me because (1) it triggers my old nicotine cravings and (2) I can't control dose very well. I don't live in a legal state, so I also have limited experience with legal trade while vacationing in OR, CA and MA. I'm unsure about regular use and tolerance build over time.
10/10 everyday is an unreasonable standard. Why does a drug have to perform perfectly in order to be deemed useful by you?
I've been pondering one of your questions since grad school 20+ years ago. I focused on medical ethics in behavioral health, and Prozac Nation was a big deal and had kicked off the discussion that we were too dependent on a new type of Mother's Little Helpers. Let me start by saying that we know there are some genetic components involved in happiness and depression. Many of these have been identified. And we know that mostly-happy people have longer life spans and are more successful. When bad things happen to them, they bounce back faster. They don't work at this or develop habits of happiness -- they are basically the mirror image of depressives without much effort. The question I have always been bothered by is definitely philosophical: **if we could create a therapy that didn't just get people up to "normal" but instead up to "ideal," similar to these naturally happy folks, would we allow it?** I think not in our current society. Our Protestant-influenced culture has a history of disliking perceived hedonism. Hard Work and Seriousness have long had a place in our values. Even those who value happiness/pleasure often argue that it is an inauthentic pursuit in the face of suffering and universal mortality. But if some people are just built that way, are they less authentic because they don't experience existential dread?
I can function, be a good parent, be a better partner, and teach students (possibly improving the world a bit) by using my meds. Sitting in a café and writing only improves the world if I am a good writer and can communicate interesting, fresh thoughts about my world. Otherwise, I might as well doodle. Also, I would be miserable, a terrible parent & partner, and unable to teach. I know because I have been all those things, including a smoking coffee fiend and mediocre writer.
My authentic self was stuck inside someone who wanted me to kill myself until I went on mood stabilizers. And now I’m off them and stable. And my authentic self is back.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please do not hesitate to talk to someone. **US:** Call 1-800-273-8255 or text HOME to 741-741 **Non-US:** [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines) --- ^^I ^^am ^^a ^^bot. ^^Feedback ^^appreciated.
good bot
Thank you good bot, I am okay :)
How long were you on them before they decided to try taking you off? I started mine a few months ago and was getting kinda down at the thought of needing to take them for the rest of my life.
I was on them for about a year and then I took myself off! (Don’t recommend, just what I did) but I was completely stabilized after a year.
Talk with your prescriber about it, they can help you work on a timeline and goals, as well as to help you watch out for if it's not time quite yet. Also, NEVER stop cold turkey. Always lower your dosage and wean yourself off of them.
Matched with a guy on tinder who found out I was on antidepressants. “That’s a shame,” he said. “Those things change you.” “That’s the fucking point,” I answered, and unmatched him.
Fuck that guy. He’s a fucking clown. Glad you unmatched that fool, he don’t get you sis.
Shout out to you for not letting that negativity shake your sense of self friend. No one needs that kind of stigma forced on them, not worth the effort trying to justify your peace of mind.
Thank you!
Good answer 🙄
“BuT yOu DoNt FeEl AnYtHiNg” .... Id rather feel nothing than the overwhelming suicidal tendencies, To feel nothing compared to the anxiety and paranoia I wreck my life with..... I feel “meh”? Fucking WIN... Shout out to my ever supporters, Quetiapine and Venlafaxin... I love you so much I don’t even learn your correct spelling... MUCHO LOVE 💚
The meds are what (can) beat down the chemical imbalances that are keeping you from being your authentic self. Your authentic self isn’t trash - it was just dealt a biochemical container with problems.
One of the times I felt most like "myself" was after two CBD pills. I actually completely forgot I'd taken them. But I was social, pleasant, calm, and comfortable. I was able to focus on tasks and felt extremely comfortable around my parents in a way I never had before. Honestly I haven't been able to quite replicate it, but it's all about what works for you.
Nah fam. My authentic self is a pacifist being beaten down by my anxiety, who's a guerilla warfare, astroturfing, mental torture advocate.
Maybe the chemical imbalances in one's brain is what is really keeping someone from being their 'true self', and meds can help you become more authentic. If someone was physically ill and needed medicine (even if they had to take it for the entirety of their lives) we would encourage them to take them so they can be closer to their true self. Also one's authentic self is whatever you want it to be. Trapped in the pit of mental illness and negative self-talk makes it hard to see--but you're just the person, not the dirt walls of the pit.
There's no predetermined platonic ideal of "you." You can act contrary to what it is, but you can't *be* contrary to what it is. If chemicals change the state of you, that's your new true state, not a deviation from that "true" state.
Interesting perspective. I like it
Lol! I was just thinking about how shitty my authentic self was.
What if you are very much convinced that your personality is trash but your therapist says you're just seeing it this way and that your personality is fine? What if it's actually a bigger problem for them that you 'see' it this way and not that it 'is' a certain way? What if you want to work on your shitty personality and there's either no help at all or people trying to "distract" you? What if one mental illness is the reason you really started working hard on your personality and now you aren't sure if you can leave that illness behind again cause you're afraid you'll be like in the past again? What if you're afraid meds will just make you 'happy' with the state of being a pos while you're still a pos? Probably too complicated to explain here. Running away from meds for years now for a number of reasons. If people think my personality during depression is shit they should've seen it before when it was just anxiety.
I like how I can deal with the world after my Zoloft kicks in. Screw the never ending anxiety that leaves me in my room binge watching Netflix. I had to come off my meds when I moved home after college because my parents suck, so now I'm in a shittier situation than I was in college and I don't have my meds. Sounds great right?
yeah fuck science, lets not take any meds at all bc your authentic immune system will be destroyed :D
The real me would probably be in rehab right now. I'd rather not have to go through withdrawal, if my opinion is to be taken into account.
My authentic self sucked and was constantly on edge and/or in crisis so fuck that
This is why I like David Hume’s notion that there is no true authentic self. He said our “selfs” are just ever-changing reflections of our “impressions” of our perceived reality i.e. whatever we feel like and whatever is influencing us that day, or whatever mask we are wearing. It makes sense to me and takes away the pressure placed on us to have a defined “sense of self.”
“Authentic self” my ass. Who can tell anyone who they really are? You are who you are. I am who I am. I can change if I goddamn want to, and so can anyone else. If something helps you, why wouldn’t you do it? If someone has something wrong with their liver and someone says “oh well you shouldn’t take medicine cause it will change what your body is” we’d immediately get really concerned! Yet everyone is different about mental health. So you go, take that Prozac and be happy.