"Antidepressant Use among Latter-day Saints" from FAIR


Hemidakota
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My husband was on anti-depressants, but first the Doctor thought I needed them, which I needed to try for a few months to prove to him that they were not what I needed. It was one of the hardest times of my life. My husband could tell that they really helped him, but they also hindered his ability to solve problems which he needs to do in his work, so he has sort of trained himself to deal with depression by imagining what it was like on the SSRI's.

There were other things I was going to put in my other post:

3. Lack of sleep causes or worsens depression

4. I imagine, too, that living at higher elevations may not fit in with how we were "evolved" to live. Mormons came here relatively recently and mostly from countries of low elevation--England, Denmark, etc.

Also, the point my Doctor was making was not that we are overusing the medications, but that those in other states may be vastly underusing them.

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I'd like to point out that antidepressants are often prescribed for other illnesses besides depression. For instance, Chronic Pain, Migraine, Fibromyalgia which is a form of chronic pain, ... and there are others. For the life of my I've never understood how an antidepressant was suppose to help physical pain. After 20 years of reading research I've decided that people complain less about physical pain while taking antidepressants. After six years of trying to control pain with antidepressants I told my doctor "no more" and that is when he told me that he had noticed in his practice that people with chronic pain do not do well long term on antidepressants. wow!!! I was then depressed. LOL

Just my two cents. LOL

applepansy

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Many things can be concluded from the anti-depressant study and nothing can be assumed. Doctors could be more prone to prescribing. The people could genuinely be more depressed. We don't have a breakdown of non-mormon vs. mormon so we can't speculate there.

I will say, however, that my perception of unhappiness in the LDS church is based on personal experience, not studies or statistics. I grew up in Arizona and have lived in Georgia, Texas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, California and Utah. It seemed like there were a lot of unhappy people at church no matter which state I lived in. I knew more unhappy Mormons in Utah simply because I knew more Mormons in Utah.

This issue was actually one of the reasons I left the church. I was unhappy and many around me were unhappy as we were tying our hardest to live faithful lives. I speculated about the reasons for so much unhappiness. I thought the push to marry at such young ages was part of the problem because I saw how unhappy so many people ended up after marrying someone they had only known a few months and didn't have anything in common with other than initial physical attraction and the desire to be married in the temple. The stress of higher standards and expectations and the constant guilt and feelings of inadequacy were high on the list.

Realistically, living up to the church's standards is hard. Even if someone is able to live well enough to keep a temple recommend, the weight of all the lesser infractions can quickly collect on a person's heart and mind. There is no doubt that Mormon culture sets us up for a lot of disappointment. That is the nature of an idealistic society. The church is well aware of this phenomema. I have read and heard many talks meant to encourage and uplift. I'm sure it is a delicate balance for church leaders who must preach repentance and avoid discouragement at the same time.

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. --Luke 12:48

God will feel after you and he will wrench your very heart strings and if you cannot stand it you will not be fit for the kingdom of God. --Joseph Smith

All that being said, I have thought more about the issue while I have been away from the church. I have been forced to reconcile my testimony of the church's truth with how much misery I and others have experienced while trying to live by its principles. The most important insight I've gained outside of the church is how unhappy the general population is! They are unhappy for many different reasons and many of the same. Non-members have plenty of family and relationship issues. They have substance abuse issues, unwanted pregancy and std issues. They also struggle with guilt and feelings of inadequacy, just for different reasons.

There are also a lot of people in and out of the church who are genuinely happy. For the most part, I am happy right now. I'm still not very active and I'm definitely not living all the principles, but I am at peace. Mostly, I have let go of a lot of my expectations and idealism. I live and love very simply now. I don't worry about the details. I just live with integrity and live by my heart and I am happier now than I was when I was active. My goal is to someday figure out how to retain this peace while I am fully active.

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I, too, have felt high expectations as I have "tried" to be active, most specifically on my mission, with which for years I have struggled with feeling like a failure at.

I believe that the expectations are too high for us to possibly succeed at, in order for us to be humble and to come unto christ. Ether 12:24 comes to mind. We are given weaknesses that we may be humble and come unto Him.

Yes, life becomes simple....any other way and I wouldn't be able to handle it.

I do feel that the LDS people, as a whole, miss the whole point of not judging each other in their weaknesses. We love to appear as if we are "making it." I have struggled with what I perceive as such a lack of tolerance and love in the state I grew up in. I do want to acknowledge the many people I have found here who are kind to me and my husband.....it seems to be the parable of the wheat amongst the tares.

I don't know why I was lead back to living amongst such a high concentration of LDS people. My personal theory is for me to learn to rely on God rather than on the arm of flesh.

I do know that God lives, and that he speaks to me in love, through the LDS church. I know that the priesthood authority is real, and that the covenants I have made are authentic. That is what keeps me here.

Why are so many of us struggling with depression? I don't know. I do know that I have a lot of reasons, both physical and psychological to do so, that I'm working on. As I alluded to in my prior post, an important concept I have been learning lately is that there are no victims, and the pursuit of my happiness is my responsibility. God has never rescued me from what life has presented to me, as harsh and difficult as that presentation is.

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Guest DeborahC

Personally, I feel expectations to perform are ridiculously high for everyone these days, not just Church members.

I long for the days of slow enjoyment of life.

Today, we're always in a rush to get somewhere, do something, watch something, talk to someone, and we do it at the risk of enjoying our families, and this beautiful earth God's given us to live on.

How often do people today take time to watch the sunset or lay on their backs and watch the stars or clouds?

We're too caught up in the vicious cycle of working to pay for things we really do not need, but which we feel give us social status. It's crazy to me!

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Guest Godless
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Although Utah does have the highest rate of antidepressant use in the United States , there is no evidence that this is because of stress from the LDS lifestyle and culture. Credible research has shown that LDS women are actually more likely to identify themselves as "happy" than non-Mormon women."

It's been my experience that many women, LDS and non-, will lie in a heartbeat about their happiness.

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We're too caught up in the vicious cycle of working to pay for things we really do not need, but which we feel give us social status. It's crazy to me!

--DeborahC

well said! So, essentially, if the Church "causes" us to be too stressed out and depressed, it is because it unwittingly causes us to be more prideful.

Actually I have long thought there is a vast difference between the gospel and the social aspects of Mormonism.

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Did you know that we're (SLC) second in nation for skin cancer? Why?

Well, it's a couple of things. First, we're up above some of the air (UT, SLC, altitude, like 4500 feet). Second, we tend to fair skin and blue eyes (guilty).

So, depression. I think some of it is genetic (like skin and eyes). I look back at my parent's autobiographies and even before and I can see it back many generations. Wasn't diagnosed, because recognition of depression and bi-polar syndrome (my case) wasn't even recognized until just lately (relatively). I'm bi-polar but it couldn't be diagnosed because it wasn't a diagnosis until I was in my 20s or 30s.

And, in my experience at least, the church didn't have a proper handle on it. My parents thought that my condition was "lack or loss of testimony." Had some strange effects once I was on effective medication. But what saddens me to this day is that my father refused to recognize or admit his condition because he thought it would lead to his being considered inferior in the church. Had to live his whole life without even considering effective treatment.

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