Poll: What do you think of depression?

[Loop Stricken]

I'm probably depressed right now. Never been suicidally so, however.

If we're all being armchair diagnosticians though I sometimes have minor manic episodes so very very slightly manic depressive? is that how it works?

I mean I was in a mad hurry to clean anything I could about to days ago.

What I've always wondered is whether it is an actual disease, or more like a predisposition to a personality type.

Well it's almost definitely not infectious...

 

[Lilani]

I know depression exists and can be serious, but I have a lot of trouble taking it seriously sometimes because I have a friend who self-prescribes her symptoms.

She has been diagnosed in the past, and I'm not sure if she's still on medication, but now she uses it as a weapon. She says things like "I don't value myself" and "I have no confidence, no self esteem, no self worth." To me, that is her saying that she has decided she has no value for herself. In which case, I can be of little help to her. I mean, if she's decided that is how she is, what am I supposed to say to change it?

But I try anyway. She bats away all of my comforts, as I rattle off the list of reasons she is a good and special person as I have dozens of times for the last five years or so. I think she does do it for attention, though maybe not consciously. The presence of depression, drama, and having some antagonist out of her control that is ruining her life has been a mainstay for her since middle school. I think she's just gotten to the point where if something isn't ruining her life or holding her back, she feels left out. If she doesn't have some way to get her friends to drop everything they're doing and help her out, she feels disconnected and alone.

So I guess you could say this experience with my friend has desensitized me to the idea of depression. It feels as though I've had the boy who cried wolf shouting in my ear for half a decade. It gets...tiresome.

 

[Daniel Allsopp]

What one of my teachers said was that it was because some people were so bad before starting medication that they couldn't even come up with the will to kill themselves.

I know that feeling all too well.

What I've always wondered is whether it is an actual disease, or more like a predisposition to a personality type. In which case, do people call it a 'disorder' because they see it as a negative disposition, and would they call something a disorder if it made someone predisposed to confidence or happiness or something that people strive for?

In my opinion it's both. It's a part of the person, but we call it a "disease" because it is not what we consider an ideal trait for a human.

 

[Nightvalien]

meh just embrace it, that's what i do, actually if you think about it you have nothing to worry about because you don't got any hope about anything at all.

 

[Enkidu88]

I suffer from clinical depression, and I have seen a lot of people dismiss depression on the internet. They say that depression is an excuse, or to "just get over it", but I know from experience that depression is very real and not easy to shake off. It seems to me people dismiss depression in order to protect themselves from it, and people that have encountered depression are more accepting of it.

Dear reader, what are your thoughts on this matter?

I was diagnosed with clinical depression at the age of 6, my father has had it most of his life too, so I know what you're going through. Stick with it though, it gets better.

Took until I was 19 for my depression to go into remission. A combination of talk therapy, as well as some wonderful pharmaceuticals have allowed me to live a pretty ordinary life.

People who told me, and others suffering from depression, to "get over it" are just ignorant bastards who I would punch in the face if I wasn't such a civilized person =P. The fact that the brain's neurotransmitter levels are off isn't something you can just "get over".

 

[Normandyfoxtrot]

There are actually some psychological diseases that are "good" trait based turns out enough of any trait is pretty shitty.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

I refuse to help myself, in a way. From my point of view it is utterly impossible for me to help myself, but from any other point of view it seems absurd that I think that way.

Do you take your medication? Do you put one foot in front of the other and attempt to get on with your life as best you can? Do you leave the house at least sometimes? If you answered "yes" to 2/3 of those questions, you're not the type of person who makes me angry.

I've had many friends and relatives who basically use their depression as an excuse to become parasitic lumps of wasted space. They don't take their meds, they don't try to live their lives, they just lie in bed and watch tv. To hell with them. They will never be cured, because they don't want to be cured. (Also, i'm using "cured" as a relative term, since clinical depression is typically a lifelong struggle and not something that can be truly 100% cured.)

 

[Enkidu88]

However, when you're past it, it feels like you've been an idiot for not seeing the bigger picture before.

^This. So much this!

Very well put my good sir.

 

[Naeo]

I suffered from some pretty bad depression after a really, really awful breakup two years back. Didn't help that I have a slightly congenital predisposition towards depression/anxiety disorders. So when someone says they're depressed I kind of have an idea what they mean now. Yeah, it's a real thing.

 

[Daniel Allsopp]

I know depression exists and can be serious, but I have a lot of trouble taking it seriously sometimes because I have a friend who self-prescribes her symptoms.

She has been diagnosed in the past, and I'm not sure if she's still on medication, but now she uses it as a weapon. She says things like "I don't value myself" and "I have no confidence, no self esteem, no self worth." To me, that is her saying that she has decided she has no value for herself. In which case, I can be of little help to her. I mean, if she's decided that is how she is, what am I supposed to say to change it?

But I try anyway. She bats away all of my comforts, as I rattle off the list of reasons she is a good and special person as I have dozens of times for the last five years or so. I think she does do it for attention, though maybe not consciously. The presence of depression, drama, and having some antagonist out of her control ruining her life has been a mainstay for her since middle school. I think she's just gotten to the point where if something isn't ruining her life or holding her back, she feels left out. If she doesn't have some way to get her friends to drop everything they're doing and help her out, she feels disconnected and alone.

So I guess you could say this experience with my friend has desensitized me to the idea of depression. It feels as though I've had the boy who cried wolf shouting in my ear for half a decade. It gets...tiresome.

I don't know why, but I push people away too. I pushed away my girlfriend, my best friend, and then after that another friend. I'm hoping that, eventually, someone will care enough about me to drag me kicking and screaming out of my pit of depression. I don't know why I feel like that though... Maybe because I think that, if I have anything to do with beating my depression, it's possible for me to go back? Like I build a road to escape from a forest, but that road allows me to go back any time.

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I have depression, anxiety disorder and PTSD all diagnosed by a psychiatrist. Let me tell you it can become very frustrating with relationships. People just think you are a moody, paranoid asshole. Technically you are , but it's not a choice. I have become increasingly introverted becuase of it. You start to think that you are the problem in what gave you it in the first place because of how people react to you.

As a random example: Must be your fault that your dad hit you becuase everyone else hates you too right?

It would be alot easier to get through if more people were understanding.
I have been put forward for EMDR therapy but im practically having anxiety attacks just thinking about that. It's a bloody hard thing to get out of I have been struggling with it since I have been a teenager. I think after 7 years of therapy I'm getting better and maybe I can get back to a normal life.

I would advise anyone here to go and get help from a trained psychologist. It's like someone untangling your brain for you and it really does work. I haven't been on any medication.

 

[Daniel Allsopp]

Do you take your medication? Do you put one foot in front of the other and attempt to get on with your life as best you can? Do you leave the house at least sometimes? If you answered "yes" to 2/3 of those questions, you're not the type of person who makes me angry.

I've had many friends and relatives who basically use their depression as an excuse to become parasitic lumps of wasted space. They don't take their meds, they don't try to live their lives, they just lie in bed and watch tv. To hell with them. They will never be cured, because they don't want to be cured. (Also, i'm using "cured" as a relative term, since clinical depression is typically a lifelong struggle and not something that can be truly 100% cured.)

I don't have medication, but took it when I did. I enrolled in college but then dropped out due to stress. I leave the house sometimes when the stars align and I say to myself "Hey, let's go sit in the park and read".

Also I feel guilt for being one of those parasitic lumps of wasted space that you speak of. Anyone who does not want to be cured is a liar. True depression makes you wish it was over, by any means necessary.

 

[derdeutschmachine]

Well, I was depressed in the past, but if I think about it, I never really had anything that terrible to be depressed about. This is the case in most "depression victims". If you litterally have nothing and are surviving by the barest of means and yet can still smile when you get a good meal in you, sorry depression is truly a disorder for the well to do nations. Similar to Bulimia and Annorexia, depression is a state of mind granted to us by having nothing better to worry about.
People who are starving have the right to be depressed.
People dying of cripling diseases have the rigth to be depressed.
People who are oppressed by tyranical rule have the right to be depressed.
people who suffer day in and day out because of cicumstances beyond their control have the right to be depressed.

however,
Middle class kids who have to deal with their girl breaking up with them... do not.
the suburbanite who can't deal with their classmates... do not.
the inner city kid who's parent's suck... do not.
and every other whiner who, like me, just had nothing better to do than hate life and couldn't rationalize why their perfect little bubble had to be broken... does not.

I am not saying pople in wealthy countries cannot suffer, however, I am saying that most cases of "depression" are simply people who just can't let the little shit go and move on.

Anyone can beat depression by giving a damn about something larger than themselves. Join the military, get involved in politics, hell... get a more demanding job or class load. If you give yourself perpose, there is nothing to be depressed about and in the long run, you'll look back on those sordid times and realize you wasted so much time sulking that could have been used in making yourself better and therefore not depressed.

short version. Depression is a state of mind, move on and do something about it.

 

[Aprilgold]

My family on my mother's side is all diagnosed with depression, I myself, have lived through a seriously dark, suicidal depression moment at the age of 10 - 12, and I really am a little more optimistic because of it. And during the whole time at school, teachers dismissed it as hormone issues and other things, when I was truly depressed, and it was obvious. Some didn't even notice, others didn't care, students bullied me for it, and there fore, depression is a real mental illness. And I've seen plenty of people discuss this same topic, usually going with the "Its a troll trying to be an ass" multiple times, more common they just dismiss it. I really truly believe its a real mental illness, brought on by great amounts of trauma, me, it was students both bullying all through my school years, and my grandpa dying when I was 10. Its the same excuses with suicide, that person is just pretending, they don't mean it, but its untrue, even if someone jokes about it, you never know. My advice, when you see someone, cheer them up with a joke or a high five or a simple "Hi" because when people ignore you for too long, you fall deeper into it, and then its harder to escape from your own mind.

-Snipped stuff for shortness-
Short version. Depression is a state of mind, move on and do something about it.

It is a state of mind, but there are factors that do make anyone suffer depression, if a rich artist saw his art burn, he has a right to be depressed, even though his life may be fine, if he spent hours and hours, months and years working on that painting, doesn't he have the right to be depressed? And its brought on from years and years usually of "small shit" yeah, getting punched every day is small, but being punched for 3 years and I bet your mood will darken. Be teased enough and you'll start thinking that what their saying is true. Seriously, everyone has a right to be depressed, no matter what it is. Some more then others.

 

[Jamboxdotcom]

I don't have medication, but took it when I did. I enrolled in college but then dropped out due to stress. I leave the house sometimes when the stars align and I say to myself "Hey, let's go sit in the park and read".

Also I feel guilt for being one of those parasitic lumps of wasted space that you speak of. Anyone who does not want to be cured is a liar. True depression makes you wish it was over, by any means necessary.

Eh, you still sound like you're doing more to help yourself than the people i know. And i understand, to a degree. My depression isn't as severe as some, and it's much more cyclical, but i can understand the soul-crushing emptiness and feelings of worthlessness, even when you can logically see that those feelings are complete bullshit. Well... that's my experience anyway. Dunno how your perspective works.

 

[Lilani]

I don't know why, but I push people away too. I pushed away my girlfriend, my best friend, and then after that another friend. I'm hoping that, eventually, someone will care enough about me to drag me kicking and screaming out of my pit of depression. I don't know why I feel like that though... Maybe because I think that, if I have anything to do with beating my depression, it's possible for me to go back? Like I build a road to escape from a forest, but that road allows me to go back any time.

See, that is good--that makes you different from her. She prescribes her depressive symptoms and stops there. She doesn't try to analyze them, or find their root, or even consider the possibility that her own negativity could be a part of the problem. Whenever I ask her about her feelings and what causes them, her answers always boil down to "my mom got mad at me because of my grades" and "it's because of the depression." She is always the victim--depression is what causes her problems, and she never questions the way she reacts to things.

You seem to be on the right track, though. You seem to be able to "detach" yourself from your situation and analyze the parts objectively. She, on the other hand, never considers that she might be biased or even just plain wrong about people and their intentions. And she certainly never considers that she might be in the wrong when it comes to some sort of argument or squabble. She can never be held accountable--she is depressed.

Thank you for that post. You have proven to me that not everyone with depression is stubbornly dedicated to staying that way

 

[Moonlight Butterfly]

Depression is a state of mind, move on and do something about it.

No it's a physical illness that's a common misconception people make. We don't know enough about the brain to understand it but it's thought to be an imbalance in serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. This is usually fixed by meds but it can also be brought on by intense trauma and grief. It can also be hereditry.

When you are depressed you don't just 'feel sad' you don't find pleasure in anything. You basically don't see a reason to get out of bed which results in the 'parasitic wastes of space' someone mentioned earlier. If someone gets depression in a poor country they probably just die unnoticed of self neglect.

Telling someone to 'get over' depression is the same as telling a psychopath to 'get over' it.

 

[Varya]

I get a form of depression, but it's more like apathy. I can go for weeks without any emotional highs or lows or doing anything worthwhile. At any rate, coming a family with a history of ADD/ADHD and a lot of education in these subjects, I not only recognize it, I get in to a righteous fury whenever someone dismisses it. (I have adult family members who have committed multiple suicide attempts, so I feel I have the right to)

 

[TheXRatedDodo]

I suffered an incredibly deep, dark depression where I felt like my soul had simply withered up and died, I had no reason and no purpose, and no reason to harm myself or kill myself; just kept on going with the daily grind.

I was on anti-depressants for a period, and the closest thing I'd say I have taken in terms of their effects is ecstasy. Fake-happiness that made me more uneasy than when I was not taking them.
I eventually defeated it by going on holiday to Wales and spending the week walking through fields and back lanes and forests while not really thinking about anything at all. I pretty much realised you attain pure bliss once you stop getting so deeply lost in what's going on in your life and that happiness can only ever come from within rather than from without.

To anyone considering anti-depressants, unless you feel life's about to beat you, please try and work your problems out in your own way, in your own time. If you're depressed, there's probably a really deep seated reason for it that you have to figure out. Depression may be because of a chemical balance, but our emotions and our consciousness are all one being and deserve as much care and attention as a chemical imbalance does.
Pills should be a last resort for something that you can figure out with contemplation, they can help, yes, but they will never really fix the problem.


Having said that, I am still a very up and down kind of person, but I do not worry about this. I think there's a lot more that goes on behind the curtain than we know and I feel distinctly tied in to everything, because we're all a part of everything.
I think there's a lot going on in our world to cause a lot of alienation, and I personally think this is why depression rates are so massive now.

I'm glad this topic's here anyhow, so I can tell anyone who is suffering that they are beautiful people and that everything is okay, despite the world being a fucked up place. What real reason does anyone have to believe otherwise?

 

[derdeutschmachine]

Depression is a state of mind, move on and do something about it.

No it's a physical illness that's a common misconception people make. We don't know enough about the brain to understand it but it's thought to be an imbalance in serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine. This is usually fixed by meds but it can also be brought on by intense trauma and grief. It can also be hereditry.

When you are depressed you don't just 'feel sad' you don't find pleasure in anything. You basically don't see a reason to get out of bed which results in the 'parasitic wastes of space' someone mentioned earlier. If someone gets depression in a poor country they probably just die unnoticed of self neglect.

Telling someone to 'get over' depression is the same as telling a psychopath to 'get over' it.

Right... so is the mind not a part of the physical structure of a body?
and no it is not the same as a psychopath being told to get over it. I was depressed, I did some stupid shit because of it, but to claim it has an unbreakable hold on people such as psycopothy is simply a lie. People can get over depression. Ask me... I did it.