I completely believe that somatic therapy can be helpful. I have over the last few months been taking an SSRI to help with genralized anxiety. There has been a small effect in my mood/thinking, but for me the largest change that I noticed was actually in my body. I no longer get tension headaches, I don't have horrible gastro problems, my skin has cleared up. I went from being the most ticklish person I knew to being barely ticklish at all.
I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.
> I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.
Depression isn’t just a “mood” disorder. Everything you described (headaches, digestion, hormonal effects, alertness to touch) is controlled by your nervous system and modulated or controlled by your brain.
It doesn’t make sense to separate them and try to draw an arrow of causality because they’re one in the same.
Medical science has known this for a very long time, which is why standard depression inventories include questions about things like gastrointestinal problems.
Interestingly enough, many SSRI-treated patients don’t notice their mood improvements very much because the changes are gradual over many months. Usually if you interview their family members they’ll say the change is more dramatic than the patient self-rates.
Oh I completely agree that they are connected. I just noticed before starting that I would regularly feel the effects of stress in my body and that would put my in a defensive, exhausted, irritated mood. It is hard to have a good time when gas makes it hard to walk straight.
The thing that made me start the drugs was actually this realization that physical anxiety was preceding any anxious thoughts. For years I had done talk therapy (which was very helpful) but that therapy was mostly based around making me realize my anxious thoughts weren't "real". As soon as I stopped having the physical symptoms now I don't have anxious thoughts to begin with.
SSRIs absolutely destroy sex drive and ability to enjoy it for a frightening large fraction of people. For people that take them for extended time that sometimes becomes permanent! People should know the tradeoff they're making and not make the decision lightly.
I recently learned a possible mechanism that could explain this especially in men. Some SSRIs can make men's prolactin levels skyrocket to multiples of the normal value for men and this effect seems to sometimes persist for months after. I've found inconspicuously worded allusions to this in open medical literature, but it doesn't seem widely known or studied. Much of my knowledge is anecdotal from seeing friends and families before and after bloodwork. If they weren't privileged people with great health insurance they would never have gotten the labs to know that the havoc wreaked on their hormones.
Yeah. I don't have as much of a drive, but I haven't really had any problems with sex. I think it helps that my lovers and I have pretty crazy sex so it is rather easy to get excited :)
I feel strongly that these changes in my bodily function are affecting my mood more than the reverse.