Be kind to your antidepressant medications

It’s extremely important to have a positive mental attitude towards your medicines.

Suppose each time you take medicines and think, “Oh shit, I got to take these medicines again. It’s destroying my kidneys and liver. When can I stop taking medicines? I hate seeing the sickening doctor,” it may interfere with your recovery from depression as the mind is very powerful in affecting healing.

Case report:

Once, there was a patient with depression who attempted suicide by overdosing on the antidepressant medicines that she believed would kill her. She was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Unfortunately, she remained unwell despite all ICU monitoring showing that she was normal. She only ‘recovered’ when her psychiatrist told her that she was actually on placebo antidepressant drugs (a sugar pill with no active medicines).

Kindly remember:

If you believe that a medicine or treatment is effective, the outcome will be better, and vice versa. No doubt, antidepressants work. But they work even better when:

• The patient believes that it works.

• The patient’s doctor believes that it works.

• There’s a good relationship between the patient and doctor.

Therefore, the next time you take your medicines, gently say in your heart:

I'm so grateful that I get to take this medicine. It's so kind of my doctor to give this to me. May my body be able to adjust to this medicine and make good use of it for my recovery. May God bless me and my medicine. Yes, I'll be well soon. Yeahhhhh!