Do Antidepressants effect empathy & readings?

I recently started on some anti-depressants to help with a few issues in relation to ptsd i'm having. I wondered though, does anyone here take antidepressants and if so , do you find your readings are effected by taking them.

The reason i ask is that my boyfriend recently noticed that i don't empathize the way i used too. That the antidepressants numb/block out pain or perception of pain in relation to others. It's like my empathy that i had before, which was actually causing me alot of pain, is now blocked as i was way too sensitive to everything, including my surroundings, others, my own pain etc.

Does anyone notice any difference in tarot readings when being on antidepressants, i imagine not having the kind of sensitivity i used to have has got to inpact my readings somehow.

Thanks
Ambience x

I have never been on them, but I can tell you there is no doubt that they would effect your empathy. They effect all emotions, good and bad. A sort of temporary chemical lobotomy. Basically you are interfering with the signals from the frontal lob to the rest of the brain to some degree. So my answer is yes.

From my perspective, and I have been on them for quite some time now, is that once my brain stabilizes, once I am passed the first 4-6 weeks of starting the medication,
I feel MORE empathic, more sensitive and MORE myself!
My depressions are deep and clinical. I cannot feel much of anything when I am sick. I cannot even feel my own feelings.
So, the medications bring me back to myself, to where I can think and feel.
Just my experience and perspective.

I agree with victoria.star. I had to be one them for awhile and my experience was a positive one like hers. By all means hang in there and keep taking them as long as your doctor says you need to.

Actually this was in combination with alcohol- i asked him the same question about when i'm soba, he said yes it does increase my empathy as i'm dealing less with my own pain, i can see what's happening, but i don't have to react to it in quite the same way. He said the combination of alcohol and antidepressants was like being with an unconcious person even though i felt happy in myself, i was totally unempathetic. I guess that is more alcohol than anything else then.

When i think back to being on antidepressants in the past- i was reading more and i think my readings were quite accurate back then.

Antidepressants will have paradoxical results. Changing brain chemistry may positively or negatively affect the cognitive and emotional capabilities of the person taking them, but I lean towards negatively in my working experience.Sure it makes my job easier, we call it "chemical restraint" Most people, but not all, when they come off of them feel their life on them in RETROSPECT was zombie like. This is just my opinion, my brother the psychologist would disagree.


Schwartz, R. 1995. Drug therapy may harm society. In Mental illness: Opposing Viewpoints, says "You bring about a break, however small between the individual and either his external reality or his humanity, by which I mean his tendency to react “humanly” to external circumstance. Either you have reduced his awareness of what is going on around him or you have reduced his capacity to care about it in the ways that human beings have historically cared as far back as myths and legends take us..."

I tend to lean to this side of the medical debate.

I am pleased some of you are having very positive results from your drug therapies.

I can see the alcohol effecting your empathy. But the most important thing is to really listen to what your body is telling you. It will tell you what it needs or doesnt need if you listen closely. And if you think it is the medication I would talk to your doctor and tell him/her this lack of empathy is a real problem for you. Wish you the best!!

The crowned one said:

Antidepressants will have paradoxical results. Changing brain chemistry may positively or negatively affect the cognitive and emotional capabilities of the person taking them, but I lean towards negatively in my working experience.Sure it makes my job easier, we call it "chemical restraint" Most people, but not all, when they come off of them feel their life on them in RETROSPECT was zombie like. This is just my opinion, my brother the psychologist would disagree.


Schwartz, R. 1995. Drug therapy may harm society. In Mental illness: Opposing Viewpoints, says "You bring about a break, however small between the individual and either his external reality or his humanity, by which I mean his tendency to react “humanly” to external circumstance. Either you have reduced his awareness of what is going on around him or you have reduced his capacity to care about it in the ways that human beings have historically cared as far back as myths and legends take us..."

I tend to lean to this side of the medical debate.

I am pleased some of you are having very positive results from your drug therapies.

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I think i tend to lean towards the statement by schwartz also. I think my boyfriend would agree that the antidepressants help his life. I am less angry day to day, which has been one of my problems and my anxiety is reduced. It is the alcohol/drug combo which seems to be quite detrimental. Personally i don't think it's a good idea to take anything, but i've come to the point where i feel i do need some external help and this is it. Ordinarily i wouldn't go with this as i don't like to have to rely on something outside my control. The intrusive thoughts i've been having are much improved with the drugs however so there is something to be said for them as they were causing me massive pain and distress.

I remember feeling my life was zombie like in the past after taking antidepressants too. It's funny you have noted this also. Quite interesting.

Personally i'm more into alternative therapies and things like nlp etc. I am trying this for now. I will have a go at practicing readings soon. I feel confident enough to do this for others now, where as before i felt in too bad a place myself to be able to help anyone else or give guidence, if that makes sense. I like to feel i'm doing the most ethical and good thing for others.

Thanks for your views on this

I can't speak in the specific case of tarot reading, but I noticed the same thing as your bf did in someone I was intimate with. The good thing with anti-depressants is that they helped him function during a tough time. He could get out of bed, go to work, eat, sleep, etc. The bad thing is that they made him self-absorbed and lacking in empathy (this person is naturally empathic). And at the heart of all this was his incapacity of changing the status quo in his life in various important ways, professional and personal, despite the fact that he was deeply unhappy about it. That didn't change with anti-depressants: they just made him care less about being stuck. This person took anti-depressants for well over a year, so this wasn't an acclimatisation stage.

Now, I realise that different people will have different reactions to chemicals in their bodies, but the *general* chemical reaction will be similar. IF the underlying cause of the depression is dealt with with talk therapy or some form of spiritual healing, or if the sole cause of the depression is chemical imbalance, then gradually, what is stopping someone from caring will disappear. But if it isn't... I don't think anti-depressants will do anything more than stop someone from disappearing in a pit of despair (which is already a good thing).

I can't help thinking that could have some effect on tarot readings.

The crowned one said:

Antidepressants will have paradoxical results. Changing brain chemistry may positively or negatively affect the cognitive and emotional capabilities of the person taking them, but I lean towards negatively in my working experience.Sure it makes my job easier, we call it "chemical restraint" Most people, but not all, when they come off of them feel their life on them in RETROSPECT was zombie like. This is just my opinion, my brother the psychologist would disagree.

Click to expand...

I agree. That's also because antidepressant are many times used by people who don't really need them (NOT saying that's it's anyone's case here, just pointing what I know from living regularly with doctors!), as instead of having the "balancing" effect, they make the person have a more artificial mood. They don't deal with the source of the problem, they just palliate it. It's a sad reality in the world of medicine (people taking medicines they don't need), and specially when it comes to medicines that work on the brain, because it really changes important things.

I had a friend who started taking antidepressants, and like some of you pointed he ended up losing his empathy. He used to be very sensitive about other people's problems, to relate to them, and then all of a sudden he seemed "calmer", but he also seemed detached. In tarot readings, having a rapport with the person you are reading to is important, and my friend seemed to have lost this ability.

When he stopped taking them, his mood wasn't as stable as before, but he felt more "himself". Of course, his problem wasn't as serious as some other people's. I'm not even sure if he needed the medication or if just he had a lazy therapist.

So I think that taking drugs - any kind of drugs - can really impact your tarot reading abilities. If it's good or bad depends on how your brain reacts to the medication, and whether it really needs the chemicals to function.