Antidepressants to treat grief? Psychiatry panelists with ties to drug industry say yes

[LWolf]

44. I don't think there is a clear-cut

difference between the two. Depression can be a part of grieving.

I suffered a major loss in 2000. I was grieving. I was also depressed. I was grieving for what I'd lost, and grieving for what appeared to me to be a very bleak future, moving on with half a lifetime to live with that loss.

I couldn't sleep. I struggled to function. At the 4-6 week mark, my doctor prescribed Paxil.

It didn't make the grief go away, or shorten the grieving process. I was still depressed. It did allow me to get a few hours of sleep, and to function well enough to get through the days. I took it for 3-4 months, and then was able to function without it.

It was at least 2 years before I felt I was doing more than functioning, getting through the days and nights.

In some ways, I am still grieving. I've learned to let those waves of grief wash over me, and to just wait until they recede, because they do.

I don't think every person grieving needs to be medicated for depression. I don't think there's anything wrong with recognizing the depression that a grieving person might be going through, either.