Customer Reviews

Is It Me or My Meds?: Living with Antidepressants

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really enjoyed this book.

The book comprises 50 interviews with people who have taken medications for depression or bipolar (manic depression) together with the observations of the author, a long-term patient with depression and anxiety.

The book opens with the author's discussion of his own unsuccessful attempts to get off anti-depressants. Much of the book suggests that patients are ambivalent about taking meds for depression and in many cases are eager to live a life free of prescription drugs. Although he does concede that while there were many people who resisted medication there were some who welcomed it with relief.

Doctors encourage patients to take medications likening the drugs to treatments for diabetes or headaches. However there is one criticial difference. These are mind altering substances. Dr Karp discusses the wholistic impacts of taking meds, taking into account improvements in mood but also the side effects of meds which may include nausea, weight gain, loss of libido and a drugged feeling.

Also as the author points out many of these drugs are relatively new. While they have been tested and found safe this is only within the parameters of their testing. If a drug has only been around for 10 years there is no way to know what it's long term effect may be ...

In my experience with doctors they are all reading from the same script. Chin up try harder push through. you're not really tired and drugged out feeling you're just not trying hard enough. It was wonderful to read a book that sympathetically portrayed all aspects of anti depressants.

Dr Karp likens the relationship with meds to a marriage. I thought he took this analogy too far. I agree that many people go on meds not realising it may be a lifetime proposition but the whole engagement and marriage scenario was stretched.

This is a great read for anyone taking medication for anxiety, bipolar or depression. For caregivers, relatives and support people dealing with a loved one with depression and anxiety it offers insights into the struggles that many people experience with meds.

I definitely recommend this book. It would be 5 star except for two things. The book isn't especially objective - the interviewees are at the extreme end of the spectrum and may not be representative as a while. My second concern is that the ambivalence of patients to take meds may encourage some people to quit their anti-depressants. I would definitely like doctors, psychologists and other health professionals to read this book and gain a better understanding of the confusion that many patients experience.

I am very glad I bought this book.

I was not looking for a scientific-type book with lists of studies and their results. I was mostly satisfied. There were still too many studies involved for my taste, but I suppose they are necessary to lend credence.

Rather, I was looking for a book to help me understand myself, kind of like psychotherapy. I found the book to be very helpful. It talks about individual case studies. I could pull little pieces of wisdom from different people's experiences, where they applied to me.

The book was thought provoking.

It didn't give me an answer to my questions - i.e. what is me and what is my meds. (It sounds corny but) what it gave me was more important. I walked away with a sense of peace. Whether or not I'm acting as me or as my meds, the positives of taking medication outweigh the negatives (for me). I will accept whoever I am right now as "me," and I will live happily with me as best I can.

I'm thinking of reading it again. I also liked the author's tone. He was very accepting and understanding. He sees that different people have different (or even similar!) situations and need different solutions.

This book was recommended on a blog. I found it most helpful in working through the question of whether to use meds, or not to use meds for depression/anxiety. I got a bit bored 3/4 of the way through and never finished. Bottom line, I found meds are okay to take when you need them, even if it's for a short time to get you through periods of depression and anxiety. Meds may be needed long-term. The meds help you look at yourself and your world more clearly so that you are able to "get over" the period of anxiety/depression more easily

"Is It Me or My Meds?" is a short book with a lot of wisdom. It is constructed out of interviews with 50 people who take anti-depressants to treat severe depression. Much of the book is written in their voice. We hear them complain about autocratic doctors, the kind who are quick to write prescriptions but oblivious to the human context of disease. We hear them relive the pain of social isolation that follows a diagnosis of mental illness. We hear how they experiment with different drugs and dosages in a frustrating effort to find a drug mix that "works" for them. And, in the end, we hear that most of them eventually achieve a measure of inner peace -- saved, if not cured -- by dint of hard work, courage, therapy, and pills. It may sound like "Is It Me or My Meds?" is a downbeat book, but it isn't. On the contrary: as the father of a 19-year old who recently started taking prozac and klonopin to treat OCD, I can attest that the book helped me to wrap my mind around the whole idea of anti-depressants.

Thank you, Professor Karp!

I took off one star because the interviewees never emerge as real persons. Identified by age, gender, and occupation, they make their appearances as sufferers and pill consumers, not multi-dimensional people. Adding biographic details would have doubled the book's length but deepened its message, immersing the reader in the human meaning of depression. Nevertheless, I recommend the book to the friends and relatives of anyone taking anti-depressants.

The author does well in explaining his belief that this kind of qualitative research has value. He explains how he found the interview candidates, and how he let their stories guide his analysis and extrapolation of themes about the experience of taking psychotropic medications. His themes and the accordant experiences relayed seem very honest and accurate to me. I definitely recommend this book as one that gives the reader insight into what it is like to begin and continue taking such medications.