Alternatives to Prozac

I would suggest that reading the bible, prayer, strong faith in the living God...and education would be a good starting point.

I just typed into my yahoo search...

ssri drug alternatives and a lot of information sights popped up.

One other thing that might help...Praise the Lord always, because when you are under the weather He is on top of it!

Hope this helps my prayers are with you.

 

Speaking from my own personal experience dealing with my own depression:

1. I'm not going to freely inform people that I'm depressed. I didn't want to even admit it to myself for a long time. There's a stigma associated with depression, and I didn't want to admit I had it, and even less want to tell others.

2. I wasn't mourning. In fact I didn't know why I felt the way I did. There was no reason that I knew of. I didn't want to share my thoughts with others, or even be around others. Didn't want people prying into my private thoughts.

3. I didn't want to study the Bible (or go to church, for that matter). I just wanted to be alone.

I'm saying these things because that was how I felt at the time. I didn't understand why, but I knew that wasn't the "real" me. I have always loved going to church, and playing key roles in the churches I've been a member of - but not when this depression thing came up.

I was not grieving, or having troubles with my wife, family, church, neighbors, or job. In fact I felt things were going pretty well. But I had this undercurrent of depression that I could not understand or shake. I prayed and tried to continue my efforts at home and at church, but my heart was no longer in them - I experienced little joy as I once had.

There are different kinds of depression... those caused by obvious things like loss of loved ones, job loss, or other factors can be more effectively dealt with in the manner suggested in the OP.

I'm looking forward to hearing some of the success stories people have to share.

 

I recomend 5HTP for depression, lithium orotate is also good. They are all natural and both can be found at most health food stores.

 

Physicians prescribing SSRI drugs like Prozac also usually encourage counseling too.

I have a friend that had been experencing depression (although he would never admit it). He is a father of two young children, in a difficult and demanding job.

I could see he needed help. He looked depressed and was having troubles sleeping and episodes of intense emotions (crying).

I approached his wife first, to see if I might help. She was eager for someone to help him. She described the troubles they were having. Then, knowing that he was having trouble sleeping, I offered to begin exercising with him, since everyone knows, "exercise helps you sleep better". I didn't mention depression.

We jogged for more than a year with the goal of participating in a 5K run. Both of us were not athletic to start with. We taked and jogged and talked and walked; two or three times a week.

He went to a few counseling sessions with a pastor/friend.

He was placed on a SSRI type medication that was adjusted and eventually tapered off over about 6 months or so.

It's been almost 2 years since we last jogged (Physical problems stopped me). We did jog in a 5K run! Neither of us stopped to walk, that and finishing were our goals.

He has moved to a different church now; closer to his home. We rarely keep in touch (typical of us men).

I did receive a call once when he began having similar problems but he was able to work them out.

We both valued the friendship that developed during this time.

I would guess that the companionship, encouragement and support offered during this difficult time was as important or more so than the medication he received.

It sure helped me!

Rob

 

Thirty years ago there was a woman in my at-home
Bible Study class. She was bipolar: top of the
world or in the fetal position, no in between.
She had demons cast out of her - no success.
She had people pray for her hourly - no success.
She had the Elders and Deacons of the church
anoint her will oil - no success.
She found a shrink who found a chemical that
helped her level out.
When she took it, she was more level.
She kept hearing from well minded but ignornat
fellow Christians that God doesn't want her to
be "hooked" on chemicals.
When she was off the chems she was bipolar.
When she was on the chems she was normal.
She died at age 44, i don't know the cause,
wasn't told, didn't ask.

(This was before SSIs)

 

Recently, I went to see the doctor to see if I had Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.

I am not hyper by any means, but I find it hard to stick to one thing through to completion and there are serveral other things that led me to wonder.

My doctor asked me a few questions, then sent me to see a mental health doctor. I sat with him for about 40 minutes while he asked me more questions. I heard I was supposed to take a test on a computer, but I didn't.

He tells me it sounds like I have it, but it's hard to diagnose, so he prescribes Ritalin to me and I'm out the door.

So I try the Ritalin, much to my reluctance, and it didn't help one bit.

So I go into prayer. I ask God to help me out. As I came out of my prayer session, I noticed on TV that there was a show on talking about Obsessive Cumpulsive Disorder (OCD). Several of the symptoms of these people with OCD matched my own. Then a doctor said that usually OCD is misdiagnosed as ADD.

He then said that OCD usually stems from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Bingo.....God answered my prayer. I remembered that I was diagnosed with PTSD while in the Army after witnessing a couple of horrific events. I forgot all about it.

So, I read up on it and found out what medicine is normally prescribed for it. I am reluctant to take medicine and again, I prayed. God told me that we are made of the earth and therefore not perfect. Sometimes these earthly chemicals go out of whack. God gave us the gift of medicine and doctors and we are to use this God given resource if we need it. It's what is is there for.

It now makes sense to me. We aren't perfect because of our sin. We need to accept this and use the gifts God gave us in the form of doctors and the medical community.

As long as I keep God first through prayer, I feel I can take medicine to help me heal my PTSD. With a mix of prayer (faith) and medicine, I know I can beat this.

This works for me!

God is Good!!

Jeff

 

Wonderful testimony, Brother Jeff.

May God's richest blessings come unto Brother Jeff,
his family, and his ministry this very week-end.
May this request be granted that all the glory that
we might give all the more honor and glory unto
our blessed Lord and Savior: Messiah Yeshua. Amen!

ABout 48 years ago they told me: Ed, you aught to
give your salvation testimony. They can't agrue against
that. They can argue the Bible, they can argue
the logic of Salvation, they can argue just to argue,
but they can't argue aginst your personal testimony.

We have just heard a wonderful testimony from
Brother Jeff. It does not behove us now to beat him
up with our misunderstanding of the Holy Scripture.
God has done a wonderful thing in the life of Brother
Jeff and he praises God for it. We aught to also
praise God for the wonderful things God has done
for Brother Jeff. Amen.

I claim all these promises for Brother Jeff
in the Holy Name of Jesus:

Philippians 4:4-7 (HCSB):

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Jeff M and Ed Edwards
Thanks for both your posts. And thank God He has giving common grace to humanity to allow brilliant men to creat medican to help us.
Bobby C

 

Thank you Bro. Ed!

Blessings to you as well

In Christ,

Jeff

 

Insulin did the trick for me. No counseling, no nothing, but was horribly depressed before going on insulin. I had ridiculously high blood-sugar levels and incompetent doctors. When I get a bit out of sorts, time to take the blood sugar. There are beaucoup physical ailments which have a depression component. There are also chemical irregularities in the brain. Dealt with those too counseling others.

 

I highly recommend chocolate.

 

I know a kid on it for the new disorder called ODD.
http://www.mentalhealth.com/dis1/p21-ch05.html
I was AMAZED to hear it. Read the link, it is absolutely ridiculous.
This is a child who is perfectly normal but has had no discipline. He was/is so babied that at 9 mom or gramma was still bathing him. When he would do wrong as he got older they actually called the police on this 9 year old because they didn't know what to do, and refused to spank him.
The alternative?
Discipline, love, a major diet change (kid lives off soda and prepackaged fried foods), less video games and no more tv, (kid also is allowed to watch horror movies) etc. There are a lot of things that can contribute to a mental condition that should be tried before resorting to drugs.

For adults I have no clue but would guess that the same types of things should be looked at. Full physical apart from mental to see if there's a problem, diet change, maybe counseling, exercise, etc..

I'm not totally against medicine for mental problems, but really feel as if it's waaaay overused, especially when it comes to our kids. I am especially appalled that there is even a diagnosis out there called ODD, that could describe any 2 or 3 year old. Now they're drugged for it.

Gina

 

Read, read, read -- it helps avoid a lot of misconceptions:

"Consider a criterion met only if the behavior occurs
more frequently than is typically observed in individuals
of comparable age and developmental level"

I recommend not giving a child some pills
until the child's parents/custodains,
social worker(s), medical person(s), and
spiritual advisor agree.
BTW, make sure your spiritiual advisor
is the type who will let you set a leg
were it broken, believes in the
bacterial/viral cause of some illnesses
(rather than demon causes all illnesses
doctrine), believes that the brain is a
physical object to physical laws,
physical illnesses, and physicla cures.

On Thursday i listened for about an hour
maybe an hour and a half to Dennis Swanberg,
Minister of Encouragemetn, a motivational
speaker. He addressed about 600 Senior
Citizens for the Baptist Genereal Convention
of Oklahoma (BGCO) yesterday. He is about
50 and tells of being an undiagnosed ADHD
child in the 1950s. Then the religious
solution was to beat the devil out of the kid.
Must have worked -- he gets paid professionally
now for facial contortions and making silly
sounds.

 

Ed, any child who is allowed to run about undisciplined will show those actions higher than in comparison to the norm.
I've seen counselors spend 15 minutes with a child and diagnose him and perscribe.
The sad thing is that 15 minutes ain't enough. There are parents out there who want their kids drugged to keep them easy to manage or are simply ignorant of what a normal child is like. Then their are the sick ones who want their child diagnosed so they can collect SSI on them and will exaggerate and/or lie to do it.
Why not try natural remedies before giving mind altering drugs to children if a mental condition is a true concern?
Why not have some way to ensure a child doesn't receive such a drastic diagnosis from being seen for 15 minutes?
It's hard to find a kid who gets in trouble in school whose mom won't blame it on some mental condition.
I don't know the solution. The psychologists and counselors and drug companies have a lot of sway and I have no clue how one would go about changing things. Social services can get involved if a child misbehaves and a mom doesn't drug.
Maybe the best solution is to find a way to educate people. The government has spent a lot of time and money in educating people about mental illness in children and drug that can treat them, maybe a group could be formed to educate the public about the dangers of drugging children, how to get a diagnosis you can trust, and all that good stuff.
Gina

 

Hahahahaha! Son at some point has met all those criteria. For his whole life! He doesn't have any 'disorder' I can't cure with 'anger management' therapy.

Spanking doesn't usually work with him. If he gets stubborn you could beat him to death without changing his mind.

However, you take away the things he enjoys...well that gets his attention. Tell him if his attitude doesn't change that he is groounded to the house without being able to play with his friends and the attitude changes. Amazing huh, all with out a psychiatrist.

 

Each case must needs be evaluated and documented, I agree, it is too easy to prescribe, prescribe, prescribe.

When we moved to Glasgow, our youngest son wouldn't go to school, I had to take him each morning, and myself and the Principal (your pal) had to see him to his room. He was about six.

The school recommended we have him see a counsellor through life-skills, we did, they did [prescribe ridlan [sic]] I mean. I refused it. We continued with consistency to require our six year old to 'conform' to societal norms of compulsory education. With much frustration.

Then one weekend we had a visit from grandma and grandpa. Grandpa just happened to ask if we were still having trouble with getting Tyler to go to school, innocent question right? Well, we continued the conversation and to my surprise, I learned that grandpa had told Tyler if he didn't like where we moved to [Glasgow] he could come live with him. And to reinforce this, in Tyler's presence, grandpa renews his vow that if we cannot get him to go to school, he would take him, well this good ol' boy hit the roof, and I am short, so that took some jumping. Anyway, I adamantly laid the law down in presence of all.

Let me tell ya how the story is now, after consistency by mom and dad, changing school districts, the blessing of a national board certified teacher whose presence in the classroom meant she was not only being paid, but actually thought she should engage students according to their interests and recognized in Tyler a love for the outdoors that she has helped other teachers to direct him in all content areas. Tyler is now receipient of the schools social studies proficiency award, he works in the science lab, he has a great relationship with all of his teachers, he is planning to attend WKU's summer camp center for science and ecological research, he has participated in a science field trip to Mammoth Cave of two days and one night investigating the environment of the cave, the animal species present and some effects of local industry to that environment.

There are ways to tap this energy of youth, ways to tap this energy do not include prescription drugs to stifle it.

Anyone disagreeing with me, that's ok, I made this same speech to a class of future teachers at Western, many whose children are under the prescriptive care of a doctor; there ain't much you guys can or possibly would say that I have not already heard. Still, I remain a believer in the need of educators to work with our youth to tap their energy and funnel it into productive endeavors rather than to seek to depress it and pretend it is a hideous monster that prevents the student from becoming an active engaged accomplished learner. The best most practical alternative to any prescriptive medication of this nature, imho.

Just a little sample of my educational philosophy.

I recommend reading Jesse Stuart's The Thread that Runs So True

Bro Dallas

 

I believe that the Bible alone has the answers. I would encourage a person to read and study God's Word. I would encourage them to focus on Christ rather than their feelings. I led a study once on Phil 4 and later today or tomorrow I will share my focus of that study and how it helped me.

I am a person who has had success with this. I used to suffer from what many call "anxiety" and "panic attacks." Since applying Phil 4 to my life I have overcome these feelings of panic, attack, anxiety and fear. I have changed my focus in life from whats wrong with me to what is right with Christ. I daily study and try to learn just what it means to "walk in the Spirit." That truth alone will set you free from ALOT of bad things! I will explain this more in depth later, for now my time is limited.

For now I will offer some resources from Christians who expose the truth about Psychology and who teach the Biblical alternative to depression and other such "mental" illnesses.

People to People Ministries offers a variety of teaching materials on depression and other subjects regarding our freedom in Christ. He also has radio ministry talk show you can listen to via the internet. I have listened to his audio tape series on depression and it was really encouraging and truthful. He offers practicle advice from God's Word. He also has the series on Video and has written a book as well. His site also offers some information.

People To People Ministries
Victory Over Depression Book
Victory Over Depression Video Series
Victory Over Depression Audio Series

I am not real familiar with this ministry but I recently heard them speak on "Search the Scriptures Daily." The second link is to that radio show. The last three weeks has been on Psychology Vs the Bible.

<a href="http://www.silcom.com/~phbobgan/" target="_blank">
PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries</a>

Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Broadcast

The Berean Call Offers a Wide variety of materials on many heretical teachings in the church. You will find many articles in thier newsletters as well as books and other materials on Psychology.

The Berean Call
The Berean Call Psychology Section of their Online Store

I hope this helps for now. I have to run!

~Lorelei

 

Frogman, I've been the recipient of some of that 'grandfatherly' help.

The last day of my son's kindergarten year, at the year end party, Son calls another little boy an ugly name. He was lucky the principal wasn't there or he'd have gotten the paddling he deserved.

When we got home grandpa's reaction, in front of son, was 'Well, he probably was an ______(insert ugly name', laughing the whole time.

I have since decided that if Dad and Papa are going to teach him to talk that way and think it is cute, then they can deal with the fallout. If the school calls I direct them to T(dad and husband).

I haven't had another episode since then at school. We won't talk about home. Let me add that my kids all know that I don't use such language and I won't tolerate them using it in my presence. I also let them know that if they use it at a friends house and their mother complains that my solution will be to not let them play with that friend again.

They hate my solutions.

 

As much as I defended "Prozac" in the last thread I will say that most cases of "depression" really are not true biochemical problems. The first line for the believer should always involve prayer and strengthening through the scriptures - particularly, I think, some of the Psalms. Phil ch. 4 is good as well.

Many cases of "depression" are related to some difficult circumstances and can be at least partially mastered by dealing with life's matters in an appropriate Christian way.

We must still recognize that there are some individuals who have an actual problem biochemically - although I'll agree that they are the minority. These are the ones who will likely need prescription medication.