prozac robbed me of my creativity

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:38pm

i know that a post on bww is no substitute for professional therapy - but i've just got something on my mind that i want to talk about.

ive been on prozac for over 10 years and it's great, but when i hearad someone on TV say that "prozac robbed me of my creativity" i realized that in my life that was accurate.

prozac is great, it got me out of my funk and back into the world, but i have not written like i did before and i don't have that burning urgency to put pen to paper. it's really distressing the more that i think about it.

anyone else experienced this? how did you overcome it? did you get your creativity back or did you just go on without it?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:40pm

Is it necessarily Prozac itself which robbed you of your creativity or your lack of depressed state which did so? Updated On: 12/8/07 at 04:40 PM

[tazber]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:41pm

I overcame all my serious issues by seeking advice on a theatre message board. It's totally not an inappropriate place to do that.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:44pm

I don't disagree that most questions along these lines would be better suited for a doctor's office, but I don't think hearing some anecdotes, along with consulting a professional, is such an awful idea in this particular case.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:44pm

Have you consulted a psychopharmacologist? They tend to have some things a message board doesn't have--like training, continuing education and experience. Prozac is a very old class of drugs. There are newer.

Try getting professional advice. We had a thread just like this last week. They poster trusted an MD and a therapist, neither of which is a psychopharmacologist.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:46pm

I was on Prozac for awhile and suffered the same effect. You don't bottom out but you also seem to have ceiling. Might be fine for an office job but in the creative field it was a big draw back. I stayed on Prozac only long enough to stabilize myself out then weened myself off of it.

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 4:55pm

i prefaced my original post by saying - i know a post on bww is not a substitute for professional therapy.

it's just that the phrase "prozac robbed me of my creativity" has been haunting me for days.

i just wanted to hear if i was alone in this before i see my regular therapist this week.

sheesh!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 5:28pm

Seriously, you've been on an SSRI for over ten years and you only RECENTLY heard somebody say it "robbed them" of "their creativity"? And this is the first time you've ever heard that? Are you just trolling to get a response?

By the way, have you heard The Beatles broke up?

[BillFinn]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 5:40pm

I was on Prozac for two days and it made me SICK! Wellbutrin is so much better.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 5:51pm

Wellbutrin made me nutty. I told my doctor right away, though. I didn't let it haunt me. Of course, this was pre-BWW.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 6:05pm

As Lily Tomlin (and Jane Wagner) so eloquently stated, and I am paraphrasing, "I worry that drugs are causing us to be more creative than we really are."

Perhaps the prozac didn't really rob you of your creativity, but just made you aware of how uncreative you really are.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 6:43pm

My Dad's been on Prozac for a decade now, and it didn't rob him of his creativity.

It took away his desparation, however, but if that is an artist's only "muse" then there are other issues to deal with.

...such as "why are you an artist?"

Updated On: 12/8/07 at 06:43 PM

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 6:58pm

oh please, you had none to start with, c&a.

[tazber]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 7:00pm

well if the issue is lack of creativity then I have different suggestions alltogether.

Acid, LSD, 'Shrooms to name but a few.

[supportivemom]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 7:44pm

The "poop-out" syndrome is notorious with SSRI's. Basically, this means that it just stops working. There's also a state called anhedonia-where you just don't care anymore. According to the American Psychiatric Association, if initial therapy fails, you may consider switching classes- like going to an SNRI (serotonin/norepenephrine reuptake inhibitor) or you can augment with something else. In any case, you must talk to your doctor! mom

[DMsquared2]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 9:34pm

I'm on Prozac and Wellbutrin and I had a really great college audition last weekend so I can't say I've been robbed of anything.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 9:49pm

As colorful as Tazzy's suggestions are, I'd go with mom's.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 9:51pm

or the sauce, ya can't go wrong with the sauce.

[DG]

Posted: 12/8/07 at 11:56pm

"ya can't go wrong with the sauce."

Bull****.

Ask Namo.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:00am

Don't drag me back into your narrative until Step 9. Thanking you in advance.

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:35am

wow, im so glad my honest personal problems are such fodder for your taunts and jabs - for those of you making jokes you really need to look at yourself and why you would make fun of someone asking a question - this is not junior high.

and for the last time - i am not children&art.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:37am

this is very serious stuff here, c&a. you seriously ought to drink heavily. booze is good for the soul. it might help you to hate yourself less.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:38am

Not now you're not.

[tazber]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:40am

papa, you're an ass. He's looking to you for genuine empathy.
This is what you give him?
You act like this is a snarky off topic board on some theatre website.

[dfwtheatreguy]

Posted: 12/9/07 at 12:42am

grow the **** up kids