Depression - Info for Everyone

[Katrina]

Wow...I didn’t get to read it in it’s entirety but as someone who doesn’t suffer from clinical depression, I found it to be incredibly sad and eye opening. I usually pride myself on being sensitive and knowledgeable on many things involving people and their emotions and I have seen first-hand what depression does through my friend. But this gives it a whole new dimension.

Incredibly sad? Ouch.

Well I guess it is pretty sad that getting asking for help is so difficult. It is sooo true that the person you go to for help will probably freak out and need you to comfort them. lol. I guess I've just learned to laugh at it all.

 

[Moll Flanders]

Here's a comic strip that explains depression really well. The first time I read it, I laughed so hard that I cried.

Hyperbole and a Half: Depression Part 2

I think I said on here that I read her book, it was very sweet and I could identify with a lot of it.

Wow...I didn’t get to read it in it’s entirety but as someone who doesn’t suffer from clinical depression, I found it to be incredibly sad and eye opening. I usually pride myself on being sensitive and knowledgeable on many things involving people and their emotions and I have seen first-hand what depression does through my friend. But this gives it a whole new dimension.

Incredibly sad? Ouch.

Well I guess it is pretty sad that getting asking for help is so difficult. It is sooo true that the person you go to for help will probably freak out and need you to comfort them. lol. I guess I've just learned to laugh at it all.

I don't think that KLS52 was meaning to say anything negative in her post, just that it opened her eyes a bit.

 

[KLS52]

I absolutely did not intend my post to invoke a negative response. I’ll refrain from trying to explain myself because if I missed or misinterpreted something I don’t want to risk being misunderstood again.

 

[Katrina]

I absolutely did not intend my post to invoke a negative response. I’ll refrain from trying to explain myself because if I missed or misinterpreted something I don’t want to risk being misunderstood again.

You didn't say anything wrong. I am very sensitive to the idea of being pitied, and I took your comment too personally.

 

[KLS52]

You didn't say anything wrong. I am very sensitive to the idea of being pitied, and I took your comment too personally.

Ok. Sorry, though. It wasn’t pity. It was more shock that I thought I understood how someone with depression would feel, even though I can’t really know, not having experienced it, because I’ve been exposed to it for 15 years with my friend and I see how bad it gets, sometimes. And I guess I didn’t know why it would seem funny to someone, yet maybe you need to experience it to really get the meaning of the comic strip.

 

[silva]

Yeah, that really illustrates the progression.
I just slowly forgot why I ever did anything, or why anyone did anything. I forgot the feeling of joy, or enjoyment.
I truly don't even know anymore! Do I mean forgot, or forget? I've always been some kind of different from everyone else. I certainly have been depressed, and even now, but I've been so accustomed to caring for others with depression I've kinda learned to push mine down and keep on keeping on, so to speak. I find the time I have to myself quite wasted, and like I look forward to doing just nothing. In my mind I can think of all sorts of things I should be doing, or want to do, but I just don't want to...
I've spent so much of my youth with psychiatry and all that, and don't have a positive outlook on it at all

 

[Katrina]

Ok. Sorry, though. It wasn’t pity. It was more shock that I thought I understood how someone with depression would feel, even though I can’t really know, not having experienced it, because I’ve been exposed to it for 15 years with my friend and I see how bad it gets, sometimes. And I guess I didn’t know why it would seem funny to someone, yet maybe you need to experience it to really get the meaning of the comic strip.

Ah, okay. Well I see it as a description of reality . . . with a few jokes thrown in. Like a comedian on stage poking fun at herself.

 

[KLS52]

Ah, okay. Well I see it as a description of reality . . . with a few jokes thrown in. Like a comedian on stage poking fun at herself.

That makes sense, in that context. I probably should have waited until I could read the whole thing. The comic part was very small on my phone so I was going mostly by the text which read very serious and deep to me.

As someone who’s anxiety is wreaking havoc on her life, I do understand the comedian poking fun at herself aspect as I do that often. It’s very helpful, actually, in getting through the day.

I do hope you’ll let me say I’m sorry, though, for the initial misunderstanding.

 

[Katrina]

That makes sense, in that context. I probably should have waited until I could read the whole thing. The comic part was very small on my phone so I was going mostly by the text which read very serious and deep to me.

As someone who’s anxiety is wreaking havoc on her life, I do understand the comedian poking fun at herself aspect as I do that often. It’s very helpful, actually, in getting through the day.

I do hope you’ll let me say I’m sorry, though, for the initial misunderstanding.

It's fine. I"m sorry for biting your head off.

 

[silva]

I sure didn't find anything to laugh at in that cartoon!

 

[KLS52]

It's fine. I"m sorry for biting your head off.

You didn’t.

 

[Jinendra Singh]

IME, people who have never suffered from depression have a hard time really understanding it. At the same time, as someone who has been living with clinical depression for over four decades, I have found it helpful to keep learning as much as possible about it.

So, I thought it would be good to start a thread in which we can contribute information about depression, about new treatments, or simply things that have been helpful for you, if you suffer from depression or related illnesses.

I also hope that this can be a place where those of you who have never experienced depression can ask questions and learn.

I know there's a depression support thread, and this thread isn't meant to infringe on that. I hope that this thread can be an information/knowledge thread.

well, everyone in his/her life there is some stages where they are depressed some having minor or some having major.
some easily get rid out of that but some need time. In many cases, depression leads to death or major health sickness.
Mani reason for depression is an incident which shaken your life and you are in the situation where you are not able to handle the situation even though you were not aware that you are depressed.
The main reason for depression
addiction
not taking care of health
reckless behavior
avoiding nature
and the main one being arrogant

the simple way of getting out of depression is taking care of yourself
try to spend the time to analyze yourself and your flaws once you identify the problem you will easily get out of it

 

[Mischief]

^^^Folks, this is a prime example of the uninformed opinions of many of those who have never experienced depression that we have been talking about in this thread.

 

[Val]

^^^Folks, this is a prime example of the uninformed opinions of many of those who have never experienced depression that we have been talking about in this thread.

Aha..... And i, in particular, didn't get it about being arrogant..

 

[Mischief]

Aha..... And i, in particular, didn't get it about being arrogant..

Online, it's sometimes especially difficult to figure out whether someone is trolling or just deeply oblivious.

 

[Katrina]

^^ Yeah, most of those "causes" of depression are actually side effects caused BY depression, except for the arrogance. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

 

[Mischief]

A new study has uncovered a critical biomarker of depression and a promising treatment method based on the body’s levels of a single molecule called acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC). This molecule’s main job is to help transport fatty acids into mitochondria; in effect, it helps provide cells with energy. By comparing the blood levels of 71 depressed individuals and 45 healthy individuals, it was discovered that ALC levels were significantly lower in those suffering from depression. Not only that, but the more depressed the individual was, the lower their ALC levels.

Study links depression to acetyl-L-carnitine molecule | Big Think

IMO, this is a really big deal.

Not only does it open up the possibility of more effective medical treatment, it allows depression to be diagnosed like many other physical conditions, because there is a physical marker. This latter factor will be helpful in stomping out the idiocy that claims that depression is a failure in character, which we have unfortunately seen in a post in this very thread.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar when I was in my mid thirties. I still don't know if I actually have Bipolar as I signed myself off from my psychiatrist.

The thing that helped me to get over it all was therapy, especially the group therapy I had. It was a very intensive 18 month treatment. Medication did not help at all. I stopped taking it completely after I was 35 and just cope without it, I'm 42 now.

I don't even feel like the same person as I was before I had the therapy. I used to go out to clubs and do drugs a few times a week and get up after a few hours sleep and go into work. I don't know how I was functioning. I was massively in debt as well.

It seems like the therapy totally changed my personality. My life is very boring and routine now, but I much prefer it that way as it used to be chaotic!

I have a really good friend who is bipolar but suffers more from the depression than anything else. It’s so bad. I had no idea. She can literally start crying at her desk, for what seems like no reason, and then instantly stop and start to carry on a normal conversation. This can happen ten times a day. And there are weekends where she does nothing but cry all day. I’ve had normal sadness based on circumstances but never anything like that. It has to be horrible to be in such despair all of the time.
She’s also an alcoholic and I’m sure that doesn’t help. But she’s joined AA and I hope she sticks with it. I think alcoholism goes hand in hand with depression, for some people.

I think a lot of people self-medicate when they have mental health problems. I know I do.

 

[Val]

I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Bipolar when I was in my mid thirties. I still don't know if I actually have Bipolar as I signed myself off from my psychiatrist.

The thing that helped me to get over it all was therapy, especially the group therapy I had. It was a very intensive 18 month treatment. Medication did not help at all. I stopped taking it completely after I was 35 and just cope without it, I'm 42 now.

I don't even feel like the same person as I was before I had the therapy. I used to go out to clubs and do drugs a few times a week and get up after a few hours sleep and go into work. I don't know how I was functioning. I was massively in debt as well.

It seems like the therapy totally changed my personality. My life is very boring and routine now, but I much prefer it that way as it used to be chaotic!



I think a lot of people self-medicate when they have mental health problems. I know I do.

This is quite a lot that you had to go through...

 

[vegannatasha]

Depression is a horrible disease. I had a very close friend who suffered severely from it. He tried to kill himself twice last year. Last week he succeeded. I miss him so much. He was my only friend that was human. Now my cat , stray cats and squirrels that I feed r my only friends.