Feeling increasingly depressed while still on sertraline (zoloft)

I was hospitalised a year ago due to severe depression. I’m currently on 100 mg sertraline a day. I wasn’t expecting to feel like this again, not while on ADs. Once again crippling guilt seems to be the culprit. I really look forward to meeting the psychologist and broaching all these underlying issues which I suspect are driving all my problems. I don’t accept I suffer from schizophrenia, this is just a label to hide plain existential issues we all feel rightly uneasy about. Sorry about the rant.

I also believe my symptoms are driven by existential fears and issues. I still do have a major problem though, because they upset me so im out of control and terrified at times. I also believe in solving the underlying issues…im curious what the psych will do.

I also struggle with guilt. Havent found a solution yet.

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I take a boat load of antidepressant.

Depression is common for schizophrenics. If something isn’t working worthwhile trying something else but it’s a hard thing if you’ve ideation.

Talk to your doc. It’s strange brain chemistry. It isn’t existential problems.

Surely existential problems play in role in many cases. In my case, unresolved feelings of guilt are not just a symptom, human beings feel guilt for a reason.

Pdocs don’t give the sz dx lightly. In fact, most pdocs are hesitant because sz is so serious. If more than one pdoc told you you have sz, just accept it and its treatment. Having said that, a woman(Shoe, anyone else remember her?) on this site years ago had narcolepsy but was dxed with sz for years. If you really don’t have the symptom profile for sz, get a fully complete physical to eliminate or confirm a physical cause for what symptoms you do have.

AD’s aren’t happy pills so sometimes the depression can return. Cognitive therapy can be very helpful for depression but it doesn’t help sz much. What helped me most with the sz stuff was a good antipsychotic. Sometimes the delusional thoughts could be very depressing and no amount of cognitive therapy, or AD, will change that.

When I felt a lot of guilt it was because I was doing things I was taught were wrong. Without going into too much detail, I was rather promiscuous and I was taught as a child that that was wrong. I was doing other things besides that and I have a very strong sensitive conscience that caused a good bit of guilt. The way I got rid of the guilt, I stopped doing stuff I knew was wrong. I feel better. You didn’t say whether the guilt you feel is from the past or present, and I don’t mean to imply you’re doing anything wrong. I just wanted to say why I felt guilt.

Life is hard, and I’ve never gotten it quite right.

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Only if you let them! We all have a journey and we all go different paths.

Not a fan of existential crisis!

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I was having unresolved depression on zoloft and bumped up to 200 mgs. Unfortunately that was too high a dose for me. I am sza bipolar type and the high dose caused a manic episode. If you aren’t worried about mania then why not try a higher dose? Zoloft is a good anti-depressant, I would take it again if I were allowed, but my pdoc won’t take the chance now. By the way it’s funny how easy it is to walk away from guilt and other negative feelings when we get our brain chemistry straight. Good luck.

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It’s a combination of external factors and your brain chemistry. Like a loop, data comes in gets processed, you become aware of it, and then it goes back in. There can be problems on either side of this loop: either with the processing or with the stimulus.

I lean more to the idea that the processing side is more the culprit for how you feel. Different people can react differently to the same situation because they process it differently.

Meds can change the way you process things and ADs help to do this.

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@NotSeksoEmpirico
I’m sorry you’re struggling. That’s really hard. Address what you can. Then, ask for a med increase if need be.

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