I Have Bipolar Depression - Should I Take an Antidepressant?

I Have Bipolar Depression - Should I Take an Antidepressant?

Would you like the short answer or the long answer? In short, if you have bipolar disorder, no, you shouldn't be taking an antidepressant - even if you're depressed - in many, if not most, cases. The long answer is, naturally, more complicated.

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My personal experience doesn't match up with this article. Aside from my recent struggles with oxycodone addiction, right now I feel the most stable I've felt in a long time on one of the newer antidepressants, Viibryd (vilazodone), which I've been taking for about 7 or 8 months now.

Also, I feel like over my 11 years of bipolar diagnosis so far, antidepressants were always prescribed to me, by so many of the psychiatrists I've seen. I've been on a lot of the antipsychotics and anticonvulsants too, Abilify was the worst for me. None of them seemed to help me at all. None of the other antidepressants seemed to help either. Viibryd is kind of feeling like a breath of fresh air to me, even if things are still tough, but this medication at least seems to be doing something for me.

How do you guys feel about this article? Are you taking any antidepressants, and if so, which ones? Do you take antipsychotics or anticonvulsants? Is treating bipolar disorder simply just throwing a bowl of spaghetti at the wall and seeing which noodles hold up best?