do most aspies have to be on antidepressants permanently?

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If you've got other people around you that believe in them, you might as well accept being on them forever.

It makes the act easier. It's part of the stage set.

With a little bit of Prozac, I do pretty well at keeping my mouth shut and pretending to be happy, horny, and carefree.

Every time I fail, we fight about whether or not I need to increase the dose.

That's the way it is. Everyone wants someone who smiles all the time and has no wants, no needs, no problems-- Someone who can take others' wants and needs and problems in stride, and meet them all apparently effortlessly, without ever asking for reciprocation.

I've been on antidepressants for about 12 years, they occasionally work for me. I've done ECT for my depression (not a great experience for me), I'm currently looking into TMS treatment. I recently turned 30 and would say I was first very depressed when I was about 10. I have been on 30+ antidepressants and many more combinations, but I have people I know on the spectrum from support groups, that don't have depression in addition to being on the spectrum. Some have depression chronically, and are treated for it others have depression on occasion. Personally, I was first diagnosed as being on the spectrum because I was undergoing extensive testing psychological testing to try to help understand my depression.

Parents want me on antidepressants... I'm fine with it as long as I get prescribed a kind that doesn't have weight gain as a side effect. My mum's had depression for ages and she gained so much weight she had to have weight-loss surgery, and I'm already slightly chubby so I definitely take after her, and my parents' attitude is the "you're fine the way you are" attitude so they'd NEVER consent to me getting surgery to keep myself out of plus sizes.

I've never been on drugs

I haven't researched anti-depressants, but just from being some around people who were on them, have not made an association between them and weight gain. You are right to be concerned and should stand your ground about which side-effects you can tolerate and which you can not. It would be so counter-productive to be chemically treating the depression and then adding something that would add to depression.

I am on lovan 20 which is an antidepressant.

Every anti-depressant I took made me really mentally ill, like 10x worse than no drugs. That effect lingered for about a year after I stopped taking them. My psychiatrist told me that paradoxical reactions to anti-depressants are not-uncommon in autistic patients.

In answer to the OP's actual question: I doubt that "most" aspies are taking anti-depressants indefinitely. It's very likely that more aspies are doing so than average people because the rate of mental illness is significantly higher in autistics.

The best antidepressant is to do something with your life to make it less depressing.

That's true, but people don't always have the motivation, the ability, the knowledge or the means to do that.

I've been taking antidepressants for about a decade, and anticipate staying on them indefinitely.

Almost daily exercise also helps me deal with depression.

I've been running on meds for a while now, and I plan for it not to be permanent.
While it does make me emotionally stable, it also has a few side effects I don't want to live with, most notably I feel that I can't "obsess" like I could in the past, and that was a part I actually liked about myself.

so for now I'm gonna finish my study, go back to my quiet house, get a job I can enjoy, and then when I have little to unbalance me I can work my way off the meds.

I took lexapro for over a year. I also had a bad experience with it. It helped relieve my anxiety for a while but the side effects were weird and looking back it didn't change my behavior for the better. And when I stopped taking it, it actually gave me withdrawal symptoms like nausea, dizzyness, extreme depression, etc... it's a horrible drug and i don't suggest it for anyone.

I think at the end of the day an aspie will be an aspie. And the solution is learn about your differences, learn how to use them and survive with them, and most importantly learn how to live in the moment (which is the hardest part for many aspies)

I have been on an anti-anxiety med for ages but never was on an anti-depressent med per-se. I am not sure if there is cross over in the meds used for those things.

Just started another stupid anti-depressant....uhh I feel like crap so kinda more willing to try whatever. But yeah it might help a little or just make things worse like all the past ones. Either way not sure I'd want to be on such things for the rest of my life.

I can totally understand "life gets worse if you stop". Before I finally quit lexapro for good, after a few months of starting it, I got tired of feeling dependent on it and paying so much for it and I would stop for a while and then start again when my emotions went out of control (as a result of withdrawal symptoms) With lexapro I saw my depression decrease but my aspergers still there and prominently making life uncomfortable and hard for me. I was still unable to have conversations with people, I still felt left out, I still felt unloved and almost invisible, and I was still very very depressed with the low-level go-nowhere job I had.

Antidepressants don't make your life better, and they don't cure anything. I would compare them to recreational drugs: They are great at altering your mood and making you feel temporary good, or at least "OK", but they really don't cure anything.

I would caution aspies about taking antidepressants. You get told that they will help you make you feel better... yeah that's exactly what every drug-dealer on the street says to convince you to try something. It will make you feel better TEMPORARILY and then you will have a WORLD of hurt following when you want to or have to stop. And even if you stay on it forever, you will start feeling totally empty and you won't be able to recognize yourself in a weird way which is ALL we have as aspies.

Antidepressants are no good for Aspies imo.

Of course drugs don't cure anything....that is ridiculous. But sometimes the do help alleviate unpleasant symptoms and such. One should definitly be careful about anti-depressants even though they are 'prescribed'. People should always be aware that drug effects are only temporary.........then again with psychedelics sometimes people have quite mind opening experiances that can cause more permanent change that is more a change in perspective so its not the chemical itself that creates the change.