Anybody else have trouble with creative thought when they're on depressants? It's not so bad with music, but I notice it when writing, my writing style becomes very flat an cliche. I've found I can override it to a degree with heavy drinking, but I'm honestly kind of tired of being liquored up all the time. Anybody got any ideas?

Sadly not bro. I was on a high dose of prozac for a year, and I think I picked up an instrument once. Had exactly the same problem. Since I've been off em I've been back to normal, but it was just a break I needed to take I guess

That's the thing that sucks is that I've got a pretty effective cocktail going. My depression is still fairly high and I sleep a lot, but my panic attacks are rare now. I took a break for a couple weeks last year, and it was hell. I kind of think if it's between my creativity and my sanity, I'd have to go with sanity. Apparently I'm no Ernest Hemingway, right?

have you tried stopping taking anti depressants? it worked for me, I also don't drink.

Yeah, I'm a creative whiz unmedicated, but I can't deal with the panic attacks.

Ah yes, I'm on mirtrazapine, and it makes life less creative and more dull. But at least I can sleep properly which is virtually impossible without the drug. I've been weaning off it, tapering at a rate of 7.5mg, month. I was on 60mg per day and in a few days I'll be down to 30mg and that will have taken me 3 months so far, then two months later down to 15mg, then another couple months down to 3.25mg per day, then 3.25mg every 2 days, then every 4 days, then once a week - each of these for a month. All up probably a year in total. NOT easy, let me tell you. This is not medical advice and pay no heed to it. This is what I am personally doing under medical supervision to try to come off it so I can get back my creative streak.

Fwiw, the University of Maryland studied patients who were prescribed an SSRI and found that the majority of patients did not suffer from too little serotonin. Rather, their receptor cells were weakly stimulated and needed some 'make-up gain'. So, what one is doing by inhibiting the re-uptake of serotonin is causing it to pool in unnatural abundance in the brain and, when the receptor cells periodically become more sensitive for a while, the patient suffers an outburst of wild emotion (which may be viewed as a need for additional tinctures). It's akin to when Garret Morris was providing News for the Hard of Hearing on Saturday Night Live and, instead of using sign language was simply shouting the lines that had just been read by the commentator.

As has been implied, here, one can't simply quit an SSRI 'cold turkey'. He has to taper, very slowly, and, even then, risks experiencing what has been called, 'brain shivers'.

My advice is to taper slowly, but immediately, abandon all allopathic treatment (since 'allopathy' means 'other suffering', innit?), and switch to cannabis indica vapor. It's not perfect, but it's very effective, and very safe. However, to make cannabis vapor-inhalation work, medicinally, especially for psychiatric purposes, there should be no ingesting of alcohol - no beer, no wine, and no booze, as they are, all, depressants.

And my advice is to take any advice in this regard with a teaspoon of salt or three.
Including the advice of professionals.

The only thing that seems certain is that reduction and withdrawal of SSRIs or any med acting on neurotransmitters is a difficult crux.

Late Doctor Christian Raetsch, who was a leading entheobotanist and who wrote the sole single more or less complete compendium of psychoactive plants, and also wrote a book about the medical usage of cannabis, said in one of his last interviews:

Lasst die Finger vom Cannabis

literal translation: keep your fingers off cannabis

meaning: dont use it, leave it.
And he and his wife were and she is still advocates of responsible and educated use of psychocative plants.

Cannabis is not a substitute for SSRIs at all. Other plants may be. But plants that DO NOT act on serotonine dircetly at all.
I am using several plants since two years or so on a regular basis, and could quit one of two neuroleptics I was prescribed. I was also prescribed several SSRIs before, and other stuff, including Tianeptine which is a serotonine reuptake enhencer - the exact opposite of an SSRI.
Go figure. This whole business is crooked.

The last cocktail of meds I was using was based on a misunderstanding between doctors, other doctors and me, it was "experimental" and "off lable" at first, but later no doctor would accept to be responsible to change it, for years, and its become now a standard combination in the hospital that made the decision in my case, based on ZERO evidence, just anecdotal records. The doctor who suggested it originally is no longer in charge ( and she was good, never imagined such nonsense to happen )

I am not going to advocate these plants I am using here though, and what worked for me doesnt need to work for all. Also these have to stay in their niche.
If you want to PM me about it I might change my mind on this though.

But my advice is to look, carefully, in the realm of adaptogenics, mild aphrodisiacs, and also mild relaxing stuff like, believe it or not, medical lavender, and most and foremost focus on your life style and relationships, which is of course, the most difficult trick of them all.
Its a life times challenge.