i love learning about random stuff so i can tell my parents about random things in the middle of a conversation

"Asking for help isn't giving up, it's refusing to give up." - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse -

Was in therapy for three years and have been taking antidepressants for about nine months since experiencing a breakdown early this year. If you're reading this and feel like you need medication, please talk to your doctor about it. It's made my life liveable again.

Alcohol and cigarettes addiction actually destroyed my life. I could remember several years ago after divorce with my wife which brought me into my disastrous journey on Alcohol and cigarettes. I suffered severe depression and mental disorder. Got diagnosed with cptsd. Not until a friend recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Much respect to mother nature the great magic shrooms.

Treating my anxiety disorder and depression has improved my life so much... I can never stress it enough. Get help people. It's not your fault. Don't feel guilty. It's an illness like any other.

"It is easier to say 'My tooth is aching' than to say 'My heart is broken.'" Tell that to the dentist I haven't visited in 8 years.

I have just started my treatment and I can honestly say it's mind-blowing! I have been in therapy before but never had these results. For me, the most surprising part is not necessarily feeling good but the willingness to take risks, take decisions and make changes. Before this, I used to look around me and feel somehow trapped, like there was nothing I could do to change my situation, whereas not it seems as though my brain can find solutions.

I suffered severe depression 20 years ago as a teenage. Got diagnosed with ADHD. Spent my whole life fighting ADHD. Not until my wife recommended me to psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment saved my life honestly. 8 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms.

The art is so perfect, you can really see the sadness in the clients' faces. This is the reason I only watch Ted Eds animation. Thank you Ted-Ed

Thank you for featuring mental health-related videos.

I overcame my addiction with the help of mushrooms.

It's not just psychotherapy and antidepressants, there are 3 methods for combatting depression and any doctor that doesn't explore the 3rd option is falling short. Lifestyle is the 3rd factor. If you're working 80 hours a week, living paycheck to paycheck, etc, you can't be happy. Some of this is beyond our control but you can't expect results if you give someone medication and therapy when they're in an impossible life situation.

Chemistry can be really complex and sometimes really scary. Much respect to those people who dedicate their lives doing scientific research so we can live a better life, at the end of the day they're the real life heroes.

My grandpa had depression and he committed suicide, I miss him so much. He did treatment and we thought he was improving, this illness is heartbreaking.

I suffered the borderline disorder for over 23 years, with so much anxiety not until I came across psilocybin mushrooms treatment. Psilocybin treatment actually saved my life honestly. 6 years totally clean. Never thought I would be saying this about mushrooms

I've struggled with depression for many years and had enough of anti-depressants and ready to try something different .

I took antidepressants for 8-9 months, it helped me, and i eventually healed as time went by. Im glad to have survive depression and saved from the attempt of suicide. Here's a smiley face for anyone reading this >> •ᴗ•

Here's to all of us who take antidepressants to function normally and survive! You are not alone. You are all cherished and loved. ❤

Psilocybin DMT, mushrooms and psychedelics, as a whole, have shown substantial promise as beneficial agents that can truly aid individuals grappling with mental health difficulties.

I've been depressed for well over a decade and it started in my early childhood years. Finally getting diagnosed and given antidepressants for the last 2 years has definitely helped me improve my mental health. Antidepressants do not take away my depression and anxiety, but make me feel less overwhelmed and more motivated to improve through therapy. there is always another answer, and it may not be the first one, but it is out there. for everyone dealing with their battles in private, i see and recognize you, and you are worthy and so so valid and deserving of getting help.

This isn't related to the topic but I like how everyone looks like they have a bird for a head.

I am on antidepressants and i am proud that i have face the reality and went to fix my life, please don’t be ashamed when you need help ♥️

I’ve been taking medication and seeing psychiatrists and/or psychologists for over a decade. Trialing through different meds can be extremely difficult, I’ve had some rough days to say the least. My advice to anyone dealing with similar issues would be to never give up. The sun will rise on the perceived eternal darkness you are going through. Much love ❤️.

4:11 - 4:28 this seems like quite an easy riddle to solve. Serotonin deficiency doesn't cause depression, the situation/pressure/life in which one finds itself in does, but serotonin acts as an artificial "glass half full" feeling that makes a person have the will to live and eventually face their issues

4:25 simply put "Correlation doesn't imply causation" - Demon of Reason

Ted Ed is my antidepressant because whenever they show up I’m happy

Bro the monolith casting spiraling shadow on “we still have a ways to go” with “understanding” at the middle 🤯 Animation artistry 🤩

Prozac is a miracle pill, I was constantly panicking and scared whenever I was alone; but when I started Prozac I suddenly was able to live to my true potential.

Lied to myself for 15 years about depression. Even made specific doc visits for it and lied to them, leaving empty handed. Finally openly expressed my emotions and got on antidepressants and it was the single best decision I’d ever made. Literally life saving. I call it the logic pill. Life is wildly better three years later heavily thanks to starting them.

Great video! I'm always annoyed when people say that depression is "just an imbalance of chemicals in the brain" when it's much, MUCH more complicated than that.

So far Prozac has given me a fresh breath of life after so many years in the deepest darkest pits of depression. I would go over and over and over with myself trying and trying to find ways to break out of that abyss but nothing every seemed to remove the root cause. After years, I finally feel like a normal functioning human which blows my MIND. I never expected it to have such an immensely profound impact on my mental state or health, it was honestly incredibly stigmatized from my initial standpoint.

In my experience antidepressants made me feel nothing at all, they made me somewhat numb. Although I wasn’t in a state of sadness and having to deal with anxiety every day, it also stopped any excitement or happiness overall. I’m not on them anymore but they did help me overcome lots of things and I did see overall improvements

I liked how the pup was giving instructions to the scientists to prepare drugs for depression.

it's my first time taking antidepressants and i've never felt this happy (?) in years !! i literally was so shocked when i realized why bad thoughts were being suppressed / weren't being processed further, i remembered i took an antidepressant earlier. it's still weeeeird. i'm also a chemistry major but i really stopped studying it a few days ago because i was so unmotivated and probably lost passion. but i slightly got motivated seeing the chemical compounds in this video. perhaps i wanna make people feel what i felt and help them too

i was diagnosed with depression 3-4 years ago and have been on anti-depressants since. they saved my life man

This is the first time I haven't learned a lot I didn't already know from a TED video. It just made me really grateful I have great people like family and doctors around to help educate me, and not everyone gets that :)

As a victim of the above mentioned I can truly say that I would have taken my life years ago if it was not for therapy and medication. Do not be afraid to ask for help. A life with untreated depression is no life at all.

Don't let anybody talk you out of giving antidepressants a try if you need them. I avoided them for 5+ years and giving them a chance saved my life.

Depression is a heartbreaking mental illness and it can destroy the person and the people around way more than we imagine. I've been dealing with depression all my life and it wasn't until I started taking antidepressant medication that I actually realized what not to feel depressed feels like. I didn't know what it was like to wake up in the morning being energetic... I never experienced that until recently. I know depression it's part of me and I have to learn to live with it... It's hard but it's a relief knowing that there is a way to deal with it. Love to everyone out there dealing with depression ❤

Out of the 7 I tried, they don’t work for me & instead make me a walking NPC with no genuine raw emotion. Also, some of them (such as Zoloft) lower your risk assessment drastically which can produce disastrous results in certain individuals (James Holmes). Speaking for myself personally as someone with depression induced by generalized anxiety disorder & PTSD: I am not a fan. Working out, socializing with others, a stronger sleeping schedule, a productive day, etc. benefit me much more. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk El fin

A quote fitting for this video: "If you don't have your own serotonin, store-bought it just fine."

I haven’t even finished the video but the animation is so good...

It was very sweet to include an animal with the people who experienced depression in the video ! Very nice :)

I was waking every morning feeling like a failure. Yesterday I did something embarrassing and I laugh every time I think about it. I don't think the antidepressants will never prevent me from feeling sad again but I haven't felt sad since I started taking them, I laugh instead of feeling ashamed, my brain finds beauty in things more easily. I sometimes feel this underlying sadness but it's just out of reach. It's such a weird sensation, I hope it never goes away.

I think a lot of people take them and expect to just feel better which doesn't happen. They just make your mood more stable so you can actually work on the issues that are making you depressed or anxious without feeling crippled by panic and stress.

You can dance or you can cry but still the sun will shine on you 🌻 all love to the fighters out there, you know who you are

For me depression existed in my mind, anytime I had a thought that would make me feel depressed I would sit there and listen to the thought, just listen to it speak. Then I would realize that the thought speaking was speaking about something that already happened, being stuck in the past. It was so powerful that I would have 1 thought in the morning that led to 1000 other thoughts and after what felt like a 1000 thoughts I would realize that I'm thinking of the past. That brought me joy that I was just thinking of the past. The more I exercised this practice the faster I was able to catch the thought loop. Soon I was able to catch the first thought, that very first thought that made me feel sad, and I would ask myself a bunch of stuff like why did I think that, when did this happen, does it affect me right now, etc... I would obsess over the thought knowing that I broke the cycle and I'm left with just that one thought. And then I would simply say, "oh I'm thinking of the past" and fully dismiss the thought, it was hard and I suffered from that mindset for a very long time and I forced it out of my brain by working on my thoughts. For me it's vice versa when it comes to anxiety, when I feel scared I realize the second I felt scared was because of a thought of the future. Something like "oh what are rhey gonna say" "oh what if this doesn't happen" "what if that happened" they were all simply thoughts of the future. Iam now done with thoughts of the past and future and solely think of the present moment, and if I don't I PAY ATTENTION, TO WHAT MY MIND IS DOING! And I catch it. I catch it in its act. We have two minds the concious and the unconscious for me depression and anxiety rooted from the unconscious but the more I paid attention and confronted the negative thoughts the more my unconscious mind was filled with positive thoughts. Another thing that I do religiously is simply replace bad thoughts with good thoughts, for example if I get stuck with a thought like, "omg my life's a mess, etc." Whatever thought gives me a negative feeling I will say in my mind, to my mind "no I won't think that I will think _____"

Anti-depressants worked so well for me. It made me feel like myself again. But my family can't afford them, so I just try to function like a normal person.

I like how we are still at a point of history where we don´t understand how some stuff works but we kinda just go along with it cause it works.

What I got from this is that we are pretty advanced in treating the symptoms. But I've rarely seen someone talk about curing this, nevertheless, preventing it in the first place.

Just now when I was seeing this video I was informed that a 26 years old girl that I knew, whom had a young baby, just commited suicide. Where I live this unfortunately is very common and very very sad. People usually say that depression is a sign of weakness, but I'm sure that having it and facing it, asking for help and treating it is the ultimate demonstration of courage, after all, you battle an invisible enemy whom wants to kill you so badly.

I have been taking antidepressants for a long time. And I've improved, I know. But it's like roller coaster, sometimes I'm good and sometimes I just want to disappear. Often my therapists thinks that I'm fine and I don't need the medication anymore and they cut it, but then it gets worse and I've to restart the medication again. I'm thankful for the antidepressants, because without them I honestly couldn't have done it myself.

I used to have anxiety disorder. Ever since taking antidepressant medication I feels like I just came back to life

This makes me feel better, I've been on antidepressants since age 14, and now at age 22 I'm looking to make steps to come off them! It's nice to hear that there's hope that I won't need them again

SSRI have extremely dangerous side effects in some patients like suicidal thoughts, it is highly suggested that it should be taken with very high caution ⚠️

Psychologist here. I find a lot of my clients who effectively reduce anxiety and depression levels are the ones who take SSRI's while they have weekly psychotherapy sessions. A lot of depressive and anxiety mental illnesses fall under the biological predisposition that were just brought to light by bad environmental factors. So, I usually suggest to most of my clients to get medication first from a psychiatrist before they go to me for counselling.

Jumped onto this video very quickly. Not only do I work in medicine and have a good understanding of depression and SSRIs, I too suffer from depression and went through trial and error of trying many kinds of medications. I hope that in the near future, we can have a better understanding of it's causes, functions, and treatments as well as eliminate the stigma behind it. Thank you TED-Ed for spreading awareness through your massive following.

that guy holding up the "It's not your fault" billboard is my antidepressant

Fun fact: They don’t

The animation in this video is outstanding ❤

It is easier to say 'My tooth is aching' than to say 'My heart is broken." It has been 20 minutes and I am still thinking about this line. 😌 so perfect

I was on Sertraline and Fluoxetine therapies to treat depression but none of them helped me recover. On the other hand, I had severe side effects such as weight gain, headaches, insomnia and nearly developing diabetes. Therefore, it was not worthy taking them. Unfortunately, depression is more complex and just antidepressants aren’t the answer to the problem. If a patient suffers from unresolved trauma, medicine won’t really help. That’s why talking therapy with a psychologist is mandatory.

I think for most, anxiety and depression are the result of a deeply entrenched, warped belief system. I believe cognitive behavioral therapy (deliberate practice of new thinking habits) is the closest thing we have to a "cure" for neurosis. Drugs may help some more effectively receive treatment, but I would never consider them a cure. The real challenges for sufferers are finding the will to receive treatment, finding a therapist well trained in CBT who knows how to implement it in a deliberate, organized fashion, and making sure patients follow through with treatment.

It's kind of important to say that Antidepressants not only treat depression, but they are also used to treat some cases of general anxiety disorder, agoraphobia, social anxiety and more. Also, Antidepressants do not cause chemical addiction, that's just a common misconception people often do. And taking these kinds of meds, regularly and controlled, don't cause dependency. Some kind of meds, though, can make people addicted, especially if you take it without orientation. Most of all, it's only allowed to use any kind of medicine with medical prescription, so always talk to you doctor first. I've been under treatment for a year and a half now, and I'm so glad this happened to me. It was life changing.

We need more videos of "There's a Poem for That" 🥺💜 You completely forgot that series..

Wow, huge props to whoever animated this. I loved the art style, the drawings, the characters, the aesthetics. EVERYTHING!

I love the graphics style in this animation. Also, thanks for this informative video. More than 15 years with depression, I'm on meds, and I've had a long therapy, both very helpful, but it still affects my life, and I still try to learn more about it.

Its caused by some kind of trauma, and then the anxiety kicks in where you start feeling paralyzed by your thoughts, thats depression and its cause. Its very hard to come out of it by yourself. I did with SSRI, saved my life

I'm on an ongoing psychiatric / psychological treatment for burnout. The anti anxiety medication I have also happen to be anti depressive. Around two weeks ago I tried to end my life - I had no prior suicidal thoughts in my life and I think this was solely a result from the medication. I took the decision to stop taking these medicines without consulting my psychiatrist / psychologist a day after because I was afraid of it. It was the worst decision in my life... I started to have suicidal thoughts everyday, I felt like I was drunk most of the time, rashes on my abdomen appeared and I simply couldn't sleep. The doctors then said that I should take the medicine as soon as possible and then I did... I'm on a license of 15 days from my job and I'm gradually getting better. The suicidal thoughts stopped and the rashes are gone. It's honestly terrifying how a medication that affects your brain can affect your body and your life.

"we don't know what causes depression" tell that to parents who think if the world didn't explode you can't be depressed

I used to be one of those who thought that people who are (seriously) depressed are just exaggerating their feelings. In the end of the day you can just go to the gym, jump around, go out with your friends, have a hobby and all the “sad” feelings will go away - I thought, until I experienced it myself. I wasn’t doing well in the university, not in terms of my grades, but in terms of the program that I chose for myself. I hated the small city that I was living in. I hated the weather as it was always raining. All that hate and the feeling of misdirection was growing in me. Fast forward a couple years later when I moved to the capital city. I changed my university program, I was living in a city that I liked more and life seemed like it was back on track, but there was something strange happening in me. Every day i felt something that I described as “feeling uneasy”, I didn’t understand where it is coming from. I am a very analytical person, I talk to myself a lot, and usually if something is wrong in my life I try to guide myself to the root of the problem to solve it. However in this situation I couldn’t understand what is going wrong with me. I started having nightmares every single night. One day I just woke up and started hysterically crying, I felt a sensation of panic I couldn’t stop crying and couldn’t calm myself down. Several days later I started getting heart palpitations, I thought there is something wrong with my heart but all the doctors that I visited were telling me that it is only stress. Weeks later I fall down in my kitchen because I felt like I couldn’t hold my balance anymore. I started having a weird feeling when it feels like you are falling and your knees feel soft. Finally I was prescribed with antidepressants, I was taking them for a year, all the bad symptoms went away, I started sleeping and feeling better. Eventually I came to conclusion that it was all the bottled stress and negative emotions that at some point just exploded on me. Despite the obvious improvements in my life when I moved to the new city, all that accumulated stress of the past never went away. So my conclusion is, take care of yourself everyone, don’t do things that you hate(unless these are your responsibilities to make your life better, sometimes they are being mistaken for hate when in reality they are just difficult), make sure to structure your life properly and don’t be afraid to start small.

I don't care about feeling so down and overwhelmed by my own thoughts, I just the people around me to not feel bad for me or because of me.

I struggle with depression amongst other things but since I had bad experiences with doctors it's becoming harder to trust them and their prescriptions, thank you for this video, it will definitely help me.

the animation on this deserves an award

I have PMDD. The fact you explain depression as a chemical imbalance just blew my mind! The drop in hormones right before menstruation makes a lot of sense it could inadvertent cause a chemical imbalance. I hope we find out more about this disease in my lifetime

This channel answers questions I never asked myself. Thanks!

Well, I’ve been using antidepressants for some time now and I can say that this particular video has undeniably shed more light about comprehending my actual condition.

I am diagnosed with dysthymia since January 2019. I have been on medication with escitalopram and clozapine. This was a hard time. I just lost my job then searching for a new one. My health still wasn't stable from the past traumas I had four years ago. Depression has always been with me in the silence of my heart. Now it's 2021. Still on meds... and am hoping the clouds in my mind will clear out soon.

“Fortunately, in the meantime, we have effective tools to treat it” If in the US, the actual quality of psychotherapy will have a good chance of being an ineffective substandard level of care when the health plan is an HMO or less. The health plan will often have you find an approved psychotherapist on your own, from a list that of theirs that hasn’t been updated for years. But they’ll surely offer you antidepressants.

SSRIs are so incredilby dangerous. Akathisia can happen at any point during treatment and can persist for years until it causes suicide.

I just switched school and felt (still do a bit) depressed. I found working out to really help with it. It gives you a better body which feels nice, but you also feel great leaving the gym. Knowing that you put effort into improving your life feels good.

I loved the little dog keeping the person company throughout the video ❤️ Reminds me of my dog throughout my own journery

I actually take Prozac! It's more for anxiety than depression though. I remember first going on it about 5 years ago and the difference was night and day. Cool to hear the history behind it!

As someone who's been on antidepressants and still is, there's a few things I'd like to clear up regarding it. It's not a happiness pill. Just because you take it, doesn't mean your depression is automatically cured. Some may get better and never have to take it again, but that's more due to outside influences and also a different biology. We don't all suffer depression the same way, and what caused it and the degree of our depression are different. I'd say the biggest difference you'd see after taking anti-depressant is that you can THINK a bit more clearly. A fog that's been there for so long is gone, or slightly alleviated. It could make it easier to get out of bed, or you feel lighter after eating, small things that you can feel better just by having it be EASIER to do. The biggest difference though is mental support. You need a support system, people who care about you and want to see you happy. They don't need to do anything, just being there helps immensely. They're like your crutches, you need them to walk if your legs can't support you on their own.

My childhood best friend I haven't seen in a while has depression now and she's in a psychological clinic... She's only 14. I found out last week when I visited her again. It's so heartbreaking to see the joyful smile vanishing from someone's face... She already told me a while back that she wasn't doing all that well and plans on going to therapy, I comforted her and reassured her that therapy will help and everything is gonna be Allright! But I didn't think it was this bad anyway... I feel guilty for not staying in touch. I'm so worried

I wish they also talked about the other classes of antidepressants, like SNRIs and atypical antidepressants- the ones I am on. Still, very informative and awesome!

Serotonin has nothing to do with depression. It was purely a placebo, as no studies were ever completed on the drug. We have to stop saying that depression is z brain malfunction. It's like telling someone grieving that they're mentally ill - they're not, it's normal. Depression is a sign that something in your life is not right. Only you can fix it, not drugs.

I find myself with depression the pill helped me get my life together, a little push can go a long way, I dug myself out of debt I lost Waight (healthy) I started responseing to people positively, so it improve my friendships. I'm still on them, but I'm not worried about coming off, sometimes it's a small push to knock you into it, and sometimes it takes a small push to knock you out of it.

There is actually a really plausible theory explaining why antidepressants work, especially SSRI. Higher levels of serotonin are linked with increase in hippocampic cortisol receptors. When cortisol molecules bind to these receptors, an inhibition of CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone) occurs. That inhibition of CRH is then at the source of lower cortisol levels, meaning a reduction of stress in an individual.

The more you learn, the more you realize that there's so much you don't know *indeed*

So glad I told my shrink that I didn't want to take anything for my depression now that this is shown not to work. Seems like once they started handing these out people just got crazier and more suicidal.

Over 2 months ago, I made an attempt to end my life. But, fortunately I survived. I thought "Why am I still alive?" Sometimes I still think this way, but even if I don't say it or express it, I'm glad I got to live another day. I remember I was so overwhelmed with my attempt, I felt even more suicidal and thought "does it matter if I experience pain as long as I don't exist anymore?". Thankfully, I texted a hotline and they helped me. Later on they called the ambulance because I started feeling the after effects of the attempt(I tried to overdose). Ever since then, I started getting treatment for my depression. Right now I'm seeing a therapist, it has been really helpful and they're super sweet. At first I was afraid and uncomfortable but after a few weeks I had none of those worries anymore. Today I have an appointment with my psychiatrist so they can prescribe me medication. Kinda nervous, but I hope it goes well. I want everyone to know it's never too late to get help. Depression is a serious and awful illness. I've been battling it for over 5 years and just started getting help for it, don't give up guys.

That's why at least in the case of depression you as a patient must be very aware of yourself and explain your circumstances clearly to your doctor.

I can’t believe this popped up in my recommendations the day I got prescribed antidepressants... thanks for the info!

depression is an after shock of anxiety and panic... in my opinion depression can be treated by exposure to a positive environment like a comfort zone and having a positive company like a dog or a friend or any pet or person who may understand and listen to a depressed person. been there done that and the thing that healed me is my perseverance on to thinking positively... ps. Don't leave a depressed person all by himself, if he doesn't see a positive thing around... all the negative thoughts may lead to unaliving oneself.

Fun fact: as it turns out, there is no association between reduced serotonin and depression.

The art and animation in this episode is absolutely gorgeous!

Ted-Ed consistently churns out vids with different animation styles and I love it.

drepression can be treated if you have a good friend looking after your back and making you realise the truth about life (that it's tough) and that you have the power to change it (even by just a little bit)

So , after that- no explanation for how they actually work. But they sure absolutely do , and uh, it’s complicated. But thank goodness for the smart persons who marketed depression as a disease and make trillions from the perpetual cycle of depressed addicts (to various compounds/behaviors)