Antidepressants made me far from normal. My first anti depressant because of severe depression and anxiety made me hypomanic and occasionally dipping into mania. I got severely increased anxiety and trouble sleeping at first. Anxiety to the point of not daring to go outside my house. At first I thought that this was not right and I complained to the doctors that I felt like a walking talking bomb that could go off at any moment. They just assured me that "It was normal to feel increased anxiety when depression lifts, it is a sign that the drug is working!" Through my life I have learned that doctors and other health personal is exellent at normalizing everything. Well, I trusted them so I stuck with the medication. After about 6 weeks of anxiety I started to get euphoric and my spectrum of daily feelings shifted drastically. Well, I was not depressed anymore. Oh wow, not at all. I was batshit insane. I needed only 3-4 hours of sleep a day before waking up full of energy. I was hyper sexual and masturbated at least 10 times a day. I still barely could go outside and got panic attacks in public. The worst thing was that I felt great. Too great. It took many months before I was tired of this never ending anxiety, and some occasional full mania episodes at late nights when I would start to hear muffled child talking and mumbling inside my head. I tried to change to another med but this med completely dulled my emotions to the point that I couldnt even understand a joke or even why someone was smiling. Empathy completely shut down and I felt like a robot. I wanted to quit the meds all together but my doctors said it was best to stay on them even tho I felt better "To prevent another depressive episode". Oh great so we are taking preventive measures now, why not throw everyone on anti depressants so no one ever is depressed?? Well I continued on the old maniac medicine for half a year more but the mania only increased in severity. I lost more and more control and grew incredibly impulsive. Soon I had alcohol binges like no other and became incredibly reckless. 9 months of hiding inside with no social life kind of fucks up your priorities.. I eventually quit the med cold turkey because it was destroying my life and I was clearly not my self. Shocker to the doctors I havent been depressed since even with no medication for years now. Maybe because I continued therapy? In the end I have lost a great deal of trust for doctors. Dont get me wrong, they are definitely helpful to have around but they can make mistakes and you shouldnt blindly trust one without doing your own research and listening to your bodys signals.