Ive always wondered about it myself. Personally im strongly against them. I know doctors prescribe them and there has been research, but theres no way in hell, popping chemical pills that forcefully manipulate your moods, has zero longterm sideeffects to your mind.
my biggest issue is generally SSRIs (or frankly any psychotropic medication) being prescribed for those under, lets say, the arbitrary age of 21. there do exist certain mental disorders that need medication in order to sustain quality of life (themselves and others around them) such as psychotic disorders or bi-polar I disorder.
i also do have an issue with people at least under the age of 18 smoking weed or drinking heavily- it isn't really just hatred for big pharma or anything.
i've been to one (1) mental health professional in my life. i could have probably easily fit a major depressive or bipolar II (think manic depressive) diagnosis, and not even shoehorning it much. i basically told the fella that i've still got life and career aspirations and i will bluntly refuse any official diagnosis or prescription of SSRI or tricyclic medications. kinda a weird psychiatrist, dude had a couple Roman pila hanging up and a nice set of armor in his office. he was surprisingly fine with my "demands" and understood my perspective. honestly, the guy didn't help me much, and "talk therapy" or whatever you'd call it wasn't his department. but he was a nice man, and certainly didn't harm me.
anyway, was prescribed an anti-epileptic medication sometimes used when SSRIs and similar don't work or are refused. i do forget the name, but it had the same effects that i read about in other anti-sadbrain pills. basically changed my demeanour from depressed, cynical, and kinda tired to depressed, apathetic, and REALLY tired.
i feel as though, in some sense, i simply needed more time, reading, and experience to grow into my own head, so to speak. certainly i've still got depressive tendencies and can correct for those if necessary. i recognize the feeling of what a pseudoscience person would call a depressive episode coming on, and have learned to correct for that. i need to collect my thoughts together, take some time, and write down some of the stuff.
ps: not too difficult to understand why someone would seek out medication for depressive symptoms; when you can't easily pinpoint a cause to work on (like shitty job, poor physical condition, etc) or when the cause seems immutable (shitty family) and they very sincerely wish they just hadn't woken up from their sleep the night before every single day
