I've come across some interesting discussion about antidepressants and people dealing with grief, and I thought we'd take a look at that today.
It's an interesting concept, and honestly one that I hadn't thought of before. Can people who are coping with grief benefit from antidepressants? Let's take a look at some different views on this topic.
After reading this article and several like it, I see that the medical and mental health communities seem to agree that the depression that one experiences during the grief process is typically secondary, and resulting from the original cause of the grief. They also believe that any depression experienced from grieving is typically short term (relatively) compared to full on depression. With that said, there is also some agreement that the grief process may trigger a long term depression that continues after the grieving has run it's course.
Basically, what that all means is that it's not usually necessary (or beneficial) to treat the grief experienced during the normal stages of grief with antidepressants. It is possible, however, for an extreme stressor to trigger a clinical depression, which may linger after the grieving has ended. It's important to understand the relationship between grief and depression so that you can recognize when the depression has become more than just a normal part of the grieving process. We'll take a look at that relationship in the next post, as well as how some antidepressants and mental health medicines may benefit clinical depression after grief.
Stay tuned!
It's an interesting concept, and honestly one that I hadn't thought of before. Can people who are coping with grief benefit from antidepressants? Let's take a look at some different views on this topic.
After reading this article and several like it, I see that the medical and mental health communities seem to agree that the depression that one experiences during the grief process is typically secondary, and resulting from the original cause of the grief. They also believe that any depression experienced from grieving is typically short term (relatively) compared to full on depression. With that said, there is also some agreement that the grief process may trigger a long term depression that continues after the grieving has run it's course. Basically, what that all means is that it's not usually necessary (or beneficial) to treat the grief experienced during the normal stages of grief with antidepressants. It is possible, however, for an extreme stressor to trigger a clinical depression, which may linger after the grieving has ended. It's important to understand the relationship between grief and depression so that you can recognize when the depression has become more than just a normal part of the grieving process. We'll take a look at that relationship in the next post, as well as how some antidepressants and mental health medicines may benefit clinical depression after grief.
Stay tuned!
