Do you think people should feel proud of being happy if they're using antidepressants?

Anti depressants don’t make you happy. They do not simulate happiness. They correct a chemical imbalance that causes depression. The absence of clinical depression does not equal happiness.

So yes. They should be proud. It’s actually harder for them.

You seem to misunderstand what anti-depressants do. They don’t create happiness, they correct the biochemical imbalance in the brain that causes depression. Depression is a pathology, a disease state, not simply the result of a person not trying hard enough to be happy. Anti-drepressants are not happy pills.

I don’t begrudge anyone their happiness and it never occurred to me to think of one’s happiness as something one takes pride in.

I’ve never thought of happiness as being a thing to take pride in. I usually associate pride with an accomplishment like reaching a goal. Happiness is simply an emotion that may result from the attainment of something long sought after.

Some depressed people work very hard to overcome their disease through therapy, exercise, medication, and other means, so yes, I can imagine that in some cases they should take pride in their achievement. To say that taking antidepressants is an unfair shortcut is to misunderstand mental illness.

Just as a person with diabetes has to often take a lot of effort to regulate their disease, a person with depression does, too. It’s more often more than a matter of taking a simple pill that does it. It’s many things: diet, exercise, training the mind to attack negativity with positive thoughts, therapy, meditation, and medication.

I would consider happiness an achievement to celebrate if a person is on antidepressants. Having lived with depressed people for most of my adult life, I would be grateful for anything like happiness that those folks could attain.

Unfortunately the best most antidepressants can do is raise someone to a more or less neutral state where they can maybe overcome enough of their paralysis to work on things. Happiness is pretty much out of the question.

I don’t begrudge anyone real happiness unless it is bought at the expense of the happiness of others, nor do I think they are cheating if they need help to get there. Is a person cheating who achieves it through meditation? religion? artistic expression? Why not therapy and medication?

Sorry folks, definitely didn’t mean to cause any offense (not sure if I did). Here’s my explanation. This question is coming from my own experiences – I am currently on an antidepressant for the first time, and I feel it has very much helped me to become happy. You’re right, that probably is not the usual effect of an antidepressant at all.

I’m currently living in some pretty rough circumstances, so I kind of want to feel proud that I’m managing happiness despite that, but I also feel that it’s not my accomplishment to feel proud of if it’s chemically induced (there’s no question about that – I was absolutely miserable the days before I started it, and starting from about 1 week following I’ve been about bouncing off walls.)

@Mariah : I can’t speak for others, but I didn’t take any offense. Also, I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better. That’s reason to celebrate indeed. Forget about why you’re feeling better. Be glad you are. Celebrate that. Celebrate life. :)

Thank you Jake, very kind and wise words indeed.

@Mariah What you should be proud of is that you were willing to get the help you needed and are now doing better.

I think they should be happy and proud of the fact they are taking antidepressants because, well, they aren’t as depressed anymore. Lucky for them, they feel better about themselves and they can have a more positive outlook on life. The people on antidepressents allow someone to be happy that they have overcome such a horrible sickness.

You are probably happy now because you have learned that the world isn’t a horrible place or whatever you thought previously, but after awhile, you’ll be neutral again, like everybody else and you’ll have to make your own happiness again. At leased that’s how it was for me.

I’ve never seen happiness as something to take pride in, antidepressants or not.

So, if happiness is something to be proud of because you worked so hard to achieve it, then by the same logic, depression is something to be ashamed of because it wouldn’t have happened if you had just done things correctly. Which is total crap, because that’s not how depression works most of the time, and the cases where it is, it’s not at all helpful to think of it in terms of guilt, shame, and blame. So I just disagree with the whole construct. There are many things about mental health I think people can take pride in (or, be ashamed about), but I don’t think that this is one of them.

I take Anti-Depressants and I am proud when I am happy! It is not a short cut as @Dr_C said, they help correct the chemical imbalance.

What you’ve posted is a typical idea about anti-depressants, for people who consider taking them too. Lots of people don’t want to “cheat” at life and so fight taking them even when they need them under the impression they will feel things or start to see things that are falselycreated/seeming rather than acknowledged/recognized as already being true or present.

In answer to your post, yes. Yes people taking anti-depressants should be proud if they are finally able to recognize and feel the good things, the positive and happy things in their lives or ways to get there.

Happiness can come with a learned ability to disconnect from the things that cause pain!

Some people try to be happy and happy with the people they associate with. Some people fail at this endeavor. I was fortunate to be a person that was born a happy person. Some people are not this fortunate and to the extreme, need happiness-induced medication. Cheating? No, this is not cheating. This is what doctors and medication is for.

I am truly happy the medication you are taking is making you “bounce off the walls”. You have had so much unfortunate circumstances, lately, that just “do what it takes to make you happy”

Glad you are feeling much better. jp

But is it happiness one feels when being on medication? To me it seems more like the lifting of much of the fog ( certainly not all of it) that was covering the person in question. There is no real happiness even when on medication, I would call it a mood boost, but not true happiness that comes out of achieving what you have always wanted. No matter how much medication a person takes, if things in his/her life aren’t smooth, there will definitely be no joy. Maybe the pills help with one’s coping mode, but that’s about it.
As for cheating, no way, it’s not a question of cheating one’s way to a more balanced way of thinking. It’s sheer need, an emergency situation that requires immediate treatment otherwise a person could end up in a living-dead or even dead state.
I wish you all the best in fighting against the odds and it seems you are making it! Be sure you WILL reach the state of true happiness at some point soon.

Depression is absolutely NOT the same thing as “not being happy” and anti-depressant meds do not make you happy. They just make the despair tolerable. So if a depressed person has achieved happiness then they’ve achieved it by themselves and yes, I think they absolutely should feel proud about it.

It seems like there are few different definitions of “happiness” being addressed here. @Mariah , listen to @hawaii_jake , he seems to have the right of it (IMHO, anyway). The anti-depressants are not “happiness in a pill”, they are a tool to help you overcome issues. You’ve been through so much, be proud of yourself…

Antidepressants do not lead to happiness. They might lead to occasional pleasant feelings.

Guys, again I apologize for starting this question with a flawed premise. Of course the usual result of antidepressants is not true happiness.

For one reason or another, I am getting very unusual results from my antidepressant…I am happy, whereas I was miserable before I started. I can’t explain it.

Happy is good, enjoy happy.

I think people on antidepressants should be more proud of their happiness than those not. Those people are chemically prone to being not happy, so the fact that they can overcome it, with medicine or not, is something to be proud of. People who are happy naturally shouldn’t be proud, they should thank their lucky stars!

We’re not cheating because we’re on anti-depressants. I also highly recommend you hit up some Ahmed.

Whatever the cause (and I really doubt it’s the anti-depressant… you just feel better now, and that makes you happy), happiness is to be celebrated, savored and enjoyed. I’m glad you’re experiencing it now!

Also, [mod says] This is our Question of the Day!

Antidepressant drug therapy enables those incapacitated by depression to some degree to function in their lives.

When appropriate therapy provides the learning experiences required for a person to take charge of their situation, choices and manner of thinking and reasoning. they can and often do over come depression and learn how to prevent future episodes, often without the need for continuing to take medication.

Depression was once explained to me in this way: depressed people lack the mechanism to be able to separate despair (in the world, in their lives, in the news) from themselves directly. That’s why so many feel hopeless and alone. When you take a drug to fix this, it brings your chemical levels closer to that of a “normal” person who is able to cope better with what the world throws at them.

So taking into account all of this, I would personally say that if you feel proud that you have overcome despair and unending and persistent unhappiness, then you deserve to feel that way, whether or not you needed drugs to get there. Both can be very hard work.

My day-to-day with medication is just holdin’ tight. Imagine doing a crossword puzzle while standing in a line so long you know you’ll never get to the front. That’s me.

If I ever figure out how to be happy, I will positively burst with pride. There will be Supacase guts all over Flutherland.

What’s the opposite of pride? Shame? Should you be ashamed otherwise? I think not. Taking care of yourself is a priority.

@Yeah_k I think the opposite of pride is humility.

@Yeah_k and @Aethelflaed My suggesting that happiness is something to be proud of does not imply that non-happiness is something to be ashamed of. Feeling one emotion towards one thing does not mean you have to feel the opposite emotion about the opposite thing. For instance, just because I like reading doesn’t mean that I hate every activity that isn’t reading. You can feel neutral, pride-wise, about depression.

There is entirely to much misery in the world and how you or I get to happy doesn’t matter, IMHO. Just be happy if you can and just be glad Stimpy doesn’t have you in the Happy Helmet… maybe Ren, I mean @Mariah, isn’t happy enough… happy happy joy joy….

I hope no one thinks I’m not appreciating the fact that I’m happy. I’m so happy about being happy (hmm) and I never meant to imply it “wasn’t enough.” Just trying to do a little self-analysis here.

My question was rhetorical. Shame based thoughts often lead to depression.

In other words, don’t question your happiness. Just be and enjoy life. <3

@Mariah I definitely didn’t get that impression from you. :)