Thanks for this insightful thread, Craig. I'm glad you've found what works for you to remain balanced in this crazy world! But as you also said, there are also actual physical reasons for depression that simply can't be fixed by positive thinking.

Personally, I have the chemical imbalance thing going on which makes me very suicidal if I try to decrease my AD. Remember too that depression can be a real symptom of MS -- we're not just feeling sorry for ourselves that we have MS. A part in the brain can be damaged over time from the MS that affects mood, depression, etc.

Also, I believe depression, like any other illness, can run in families. One of my children is bi-polar, one had depression symptoms for awhile which AD's helped. After being hospitalized twice with major depression in '92 and '94, I'll gladly remain on my AD since as soon as I try to decrease and go off of them, those horrible thoughts come right back. Thankfully I have no bad side effects from the Zoloft.

Like everything else in life, each of us has to find what works best for ourselves. Yes, I do agree that minimal exposure to the media is preferred these days! That's their business, but we don't have to participate!

I believe if you need the meds, TAKE THEM! but...watch the self talk. In MY world, i can quickly do some bad self talk, and before I know it, I feel bad. If I make a conscious effort to do uplifting, and encouraging self talk, I feel better.

I always feel better after coming here and getting my daily dose of cheerleading. Thanks guys!

Prozac was awesome at only 10mg/day for me. I stopped cause i kept sweating (though not hot) and still do if i dont get outta wheelchair by 5:30-6pm to eat dinner on couch. Im busy and hate to get on couch. Restarting Prozac soon.

Anyway, anti-d's (funny pills) are absolutely the best if they work for you. More important though is to find ANYTHING you enjoy and run with it. Hopefully "funny cigarettes" will get approval country wide some day and we can all sit around, smoke and laugh our asses off

Awesome posts Craig, as usual! I take the meds because it fixes my depression and mood problems from the MS so easily and with no side effects. The pills are fairly cheap nowadays too.

I also do the self talk and have had therapy for about six months and that helped a lot. Depression is one thing that can be treated easily with a pill and it actually makes you feel better (unlike for instance, interferon or chemo, etc...) a feel-good pill for a brain chemical imbalance. Thank God for modern medicine!