JUST BECAUSE YOU SEE IT IN WRITING DOESN'T ALWAYS MAKE IT TRUE -  

This is an informational, support giving Forum on depression. As you move around the Forum you will see many areas of interest represented.  One of the largest areas is our forums dealing with the different medications used for depression.

It is a very comforting feeling to be able to share thoughts and information with other people who have the commonality of mental illness.  With this comfort, sometimes comes a false sense of security about the quality and caliber of advice that is being given on this Board.  We are simply people helping other people by sharing our experiences.

The Members and Moderators on this Board are not professionals in the field of Mental Health nor do they represent themselves as such. This brings up a very interesting point.  Many times as we view the Forum, we see members asking other members medical questions such as "what dosage or type of medication should they be taking for their particular illness and what side effects should be expected".  These questions probably should not be posted in the first place AND if they are answered, the answer should never be taken as a replacement for consultation and treatment by a medical professional.

The treatment of mental disorders is a personal trial and error process. Just because one person has severe headaches when they use Zoloft doesn't necessarily mean that if you take Zoloft YOU will have headaches too. Conversely, the fact that Paxil didn't work at all for one member does not mean that Paxil cannot be your success story.  Your wonder drug or combination of, will be discovered totally independent of what may or may not work for another individual.  If one drug was the answer for everyone, then there would be only one drug on the market. We all react differently to different medications and varying dosages.  It may satisfy your curiousity to learn about other people's experiences, BUT this should never be the deciding factor as to what will work best for you.  Sorry, it just doesn't work that way.

Our concern is that we all have a tendency to think that if something is in print, it makes it factual. A great story in an English paper last year proves our point exactly. The paper ran a story about the problems with growing spaghetti trees in Italy because of the drought that Italy was experiencing at that time. They even put in a mocked up picture of an orchard of trees with spaghetti hanging off their branches. Sounds absurd, well it was, but the paper got thousands of calls and letters asking where spaghetti trees could be purchased.  People saw it in print, so it must be true!! This perfectly illustrates our concern with the potential impact that many of the Forum posts might have on you.  We ask you not to post questions that should be exclusively posed to a professional.  And we ask you, in turn, not to answer posts that you are not qualified to answer.  This request is really for the good of our entire membership.

There is one question that occurs quite frequently on the Forum that needs to be addressed.  
Giving someone dosage information for drugs, recommending certains drugs over others and giving outright medical advice could have dangerous results or could actually delay someone from seeking the proper medical attention that they need.

Sharing your own personal experiences with medications, treatments and what worked for you is a much better route to take. This method of imparting advice and support will enable the member to filter what worked for the other members, in combination with their own personal experiences and professional help to hasten their journey on the road to recovery. You have to be able to selectively edit the information gained on this site and not take every word written as gospel.

Terms of Service

You agreed that you would not use Depression Forums.org for chain letters, junk mail, 'spamming,' solicitations (commercial or non-commercial) or bulk communications of any kind including but not limited to distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such a list.
You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this Forum.  You also agree not to post any websites or Internernet Pharmacies for the   purpose of obtaining legal or illegal drugs without a perscription. You also agree to stay 'on topic' in posts, do not cross post or duplicate messages to other areas of the forums, create long subject lines, post commercial advertising, or post any other type of  SPAM on these boards.

If we find any member posting information on where to obtain drugs on the net they will immediately be terminated from DF.

A word to the wise is sufficient!  Please be extemely careful about the questions you ask and the questions you answer. We are all here to help each other in the best way possible.

Forum Admin