What are the pros and cons of antidepressants and moving on with my life?

Question about your question; How can you be content, yet bored, lonely…mundane. And also have urges to die?
To answer the anitdepressant part;
Cons- They are not a happy pill. There are many, and it may take time to find the one that works for you. There are also side effects, some worse than others.
Pros- You will feel better. Honestly feel like you want to live and DO something instead of wanting to do nothing or just die.
I do not have personal experience, but rather from watching my mother.
Hope this helps.
BTW, I think from listening to you, that you should try some and see how it makes you feel before you rule them out.

Listen to your mom and doctor. They are not trying to hurt you. Just know that wanting to die and thinking of ways to make it happen are not healthy thoughts. Try the antidepressants. You may have to try several and adjust dosage but don’t give up. Once you are in balance you will be glad your mom cared enough to encourage you. Good luck to you.

@MissPoovey I’d rather feel all of those things then have one minute of forced happiness.

I think you should at least give the antidepressants a try. Your feelings will still be your own. And wanting to die is not a personality trait. It’s not just “who someone is.” And I suspect that you are not so much content with your life as you are apathetic about it and that apathy can be the result of depression. What’s the harm in trying, on the advice of your mother and your doctor, a round of antidepressants? It’s something you would have complete control over. Just because you try this doesn’t mean you are locked in for the rest of your life. I think you should listen to your mom and your doctor. If you had an infection and your doctor prescribed antibiotics would you say “I don’t believe in germs?”

I’m not sure… Depends…..

A lot of artist and musicians create some of their best work through their sad and lonely feelings, and out of being depressed you can use that to your benefit if you channel your sadness into something….

Wow that was a run on sentence but u get what I mean :)

I was depressed in highschool, but I admit I did create some good work (I paint and draw) during that period.

@ducky_dnl I think you misunderstand what anti-depressants do. The do not result in “forced happiness.” I love my sadness sometimes too. I understand. Anti-depressants don’t take away your emotions or your ability to feel things, to feel sadness. They’re not “happy pills.” I was already on antidepressants when each of my parents died and I can assure that I felt every bit of that pain, of that grief. And you know; if you like your sadness? I can tell you from experience that real sadness about real things, real grief and and the sadness you feel for the real stuff is so much purer and more real and deeper than depressive sadness, the bored, lonely I want do die kind of sadness that you seem to be experiencing.

I was going to say that as well. Being depressed is not the same as being sad. Being depressed is not real “sadness”, it’s something altogether different. It’s a medical problem. Anti-depressants are supposed fix the medical problem. It’s not about making you happy all the time, it’s about removing depression. People on anti-depressants can definitely still feel true sadness.

@ducky_dnl There is no such thing as forced happiness. Antidepressants will not make you feel happy. They may allow you to feel some happiness though.

I also believe like you that anti-depressants that cover over and mask the feelings you feel may not be the best. However, that is when a person feels sad about something—something that happened or the loss of someone—something big like that. However, the generalized misery that you are describing, that makes you want to die is different. I think if you have your doctor and your mom trying to help you not have the feelings that you want to die, that may be something to pay attention to. Feelings of wanting to die are serious and need to be paid attention to, and it sounds like your mom and doctor are trying to help you through those feelings.

I do feel “real” sadness. I know what it feels like. There are times where I can barely keep walking if something reminds me of my friend. It’s the worst feeling in the world. Like you have no heart. No heartbeat. No nothing. I also believe that my friends passing is causing the depression. Hence no chemical imbalance.

Sent you a PM, ducky.

I take an antidepressant. I realized I had a problem, got help, and now I’m fine.

One more for the “try it camp”, and to add that what you feel now is what’s not normal, only you’ve felt it for so long, that you’ve forgotten what normal is. It’s sort of like packing your backpack full of your books for school. The first day you load it up and pick it up to put it on, it’s really heavy and you can’t believe that you’re going to be able to carry the thing. But as time goes on, you pick up the backpack every day, and you get used to the weight; it’s what your backpack is supposed to feel like. Finally, the end of the school year comes along, and you empty out our backpack to take it to school to clean out your locker. It feels so weird and alien, because it’s not the familiar weight bearing down on you. Somehow along the way, you’ve gotten used to bearing up, and have lost sight of the fact that walking around with 40 lbs. on your back is not good for your spine, can give you all sorts of injuries, etc. All your focus has been how you’re going to make it out the door of home, to school, and back again.

Depression is like carrying that backpack. You may be used to it, but it’s not what you’re supposed to be doing.

Anti-depressants do not cause “forced happiness”, they don’t give you fake emotions and they aren’t a magic happy pill. Depression is not the opposite of happiness. What they do do, is give you hope that you can feel better, and for that, it worked well for me.

I wouldn’t want to argue against your doctor’s advice but the decision is yours. I would ask yourself why you feel sad. Has something gone out of your life that you once had? The pills are a back up, you can start them at any time if needs be but I would take a look at your life. I could be wrong but you sound young. Many people feel this way at some point on their lives.

Anti-depressants work, usually quite subtly.I strongly advise your doing what your mom and especially doctor are advising.

This is your life @ducky_dnl and you only get one, don’t you want to make the best of it? A few years ago I didn’t think I needed anti-depressants either when the doctor put me on them, and then I realised that most people are actually quite happy. You might as well try them out, what have you to loose? When I went on them I had the strength to do some important things that I was too weak to do without them. You could change your life! And you don’t need to be on them forever, just try them, and maybe you’ll have the strength to move away and do something you always wanted to do. Good luck with it, I hope you choose to make some positive changes in your life.

it is absolutely a chemical imbalance m8. you say you want to die why don’t you have the balls to try life? grow up and face it like a man take the dam pills and feel good about it get over this part of your life and do something with it.