Depression

[Banned]

Depression,one of the greatest problems suffered by our society.It's more or less pervasive today being prevalent in each and every part of the world,but as a sort of indubitable problem present in each one of our lives.Sometimes,no matter how much we try and how far we go,we can never get rid of depression.It is certainly a part of our life but too much of it does have a bad effect on our health as well as our life-style.As a result,we are unable to enjoy life in the best possible manner.When things look distorted,we are left to take horrid decisions such as going for suicide or drugs.Surely,it's no way to deal with it but it's also true that no body in this world,not even the expertise of a well qualified scientist or psychologist can eliminate it completely.The horrible truth still lies in the fact that we,the human beings will never be able to get rid of it.Instead,it will always remain a part of our lives which are tempted to rot day by day because of this wraithlike common trouble existent in every human life.And some deep studies even suggest that it's a segment of every life-form on earth excluding plants.It's discernibly,one of the most stressful concept which generates a feeling of great concern towards our lives.And here's some addendum...

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/depression.cfm

A small 'Depression Screening test' to take:

http://www.med.nyu.edu/psych/screens/depres.html

Here's what I got in the test:

Your answers reflect the presence of significant depressive symptoms. It is advised to seek a psychiatric consultation

[Stalins Ghost]

Your answers show the presence of prominent depressive symptoms. It is advised to seek a psychiatric consultation

I don't think I'm going to go on the word of 10 question internet test. I've known for a while now that I have such symptoms I think I've got the the point that I know how to cope with it *most* of the time.

[Nasheim]

Most people have no idea what real depression is like.. they just feel down or frustrated with their mundane life and say "I suffer from depression". Most of the time they don't. These online tests only fuel this total misconception of what it is.

A permanent feeling of an empty void inside of you that you can't feel, no enthusiasm towards anything, no motivation, a big lack of concentration, apathy towards so much of your life, constantly thinking you wish you'd just not wake up or you could just walk away and never come back, having bouts lasting anything from a few days to a few weeks of feeling utterly rock bottom for no discernable reason, often feeling very distant from people, scremaing to yourself in your head "what the hell is wrong with me?!" but never being able to figure out why...

.. you get the idea. Anyway, that is what depression is.. it's not "oh my life is so boring, I have no enthusiasm for it, my job sucks".

Another totally unfair attitude towards depression is how it's treated in the eyes of society and such. Most of the time people consider it to just be something you grow out of or get over, that in a few weeks you'll be smiling again and it's just a phase... you get annoying, chirpy people going "oh come on, smile!", the kinda people you want to punch.

I'm quite aware I'm rambling about utter tosh right now but I was merely just trying to show how I feel depression is so badly misinterpreted in society these days.

[Da Skinna]

And you're not wrong.

Not long ago I realized that for a few years in my life, I was severely depressed. Not like, my life sucks and blah blah blah, but nothing. the feeling was non-existant, I felt hollow. No joy, sadness, happiness and only rage turned inward.

The keyword being hollow, you just don't feel anything for anything.

And that test was stupid.

[Stalins Ghost]

As indicated in another thread, I'll point out that by all likely hood, many people are far more susceptible to it than others if its common within the family: If you have a family member who suffers, there is a possibility that you will too. Many specialists in the field are pretty sure that it is in fact, a chemical imbalance; hence the development of anti-depressants- which admittedly sometimes result in mood swings themselves, and it can be a very difficult situation, particuarly for those around you.

[Sétanta]

I'm not depressed in the slightest. Just so ya'll know. Anyways, I think depression is at least to some degree all in somebodies head. If they convince themself they are depressed, then they probably become.

[Atheist Peace]

I'm not depressed in the slightest. Just so ya'll know. Anyways, I think depression is at least to some degree all in somebodies head. If they convince themself they are depressed, then they probably become.

I didn't realize that I had been depressed until after it was largely gone (in other words, not omnipresent as it had been); at the time, I just knew I was absolutely miserable and hopeless; I didn't even really consider the question of whether I was depressed. It is doubtless a dreadful state in which to be, though; there are only a few people on whom I would wish it.

I always thought depression is largely a result of our overstimulated, overpriveleged lifestyles. We have so much readily available entertainment in our society that we become unable to draw joy from the little things anymore. We forget how to be happy just for the love of being alive.

It surprises me not that you think such a thing. It's probably not worth giving an explanation, but I can assure you that you haven't a clue about the subject. :wink:

[Dunecat]

I didn't realize that I had been depressed until after it was largely gone (in other words, not omnipresent as it had been); at the time, I just knew I was absolutely miserable and hopeless; I didn't even really consider the question of whether I was depressed.

Word. It wasn't until my THIRD psychologist that they suggested I do/have suffered from depression, and so he contacted a psychiatric nurse to prescribe me with medication.

It was a more than a daily thing. It saturated every fiber of my being.

And that's hard for anyone, none the less a kid.

That's why I respond passionately to people that mess with kids. Just sheer irresponsibility and cowardice.

Anyway, yes, depression- like many disorders now-a-days- is severely overdiagnosed. But I suppose it's better to acknowledge the existence of such things rather than dismiss them entirely...

[Ummon]

Word. It wasn't until my THIRD psychologist that they suggested I do/have suffered from depression, and so he contacted a psychiatric nurse to prescribe me with medication.

It was a more than a daily thing. It saturated every fiber of my being.

And that's hard for anyone, none the less a kid.

That's why I respond passionately to people that mess with kids. Just sheer irresponsibility and cowardice.

Anyway, yes, depression- like many disorders now-a-days- is severely overdiagnosed. But I suppose it's better to acknowledge the existence of such things rather than dismiss them entirely...

Depression can at times be not immediately easy to diagnose.

[Da Skinna]

True, but some people just got some ******-ass luck, and we all know **** happens. So... some are justified in being depressed. But chemical balances in the brain prolly do help in these cases.

[RZZZA]

I always thought depression is largely a result of our overstimulated, overpriveleged lifestyles. We have so much readily available entertainment in our society that we become unable to draw joy from the little things anymore. We forget how to be happy just for the love of being alive.

But im no doctor, I just play one on T.V.

[RZZZA]

Trolls Removed
-scottishranger

That being said, I realize that anorexia and depression are real medical conditions that should never be belittled or laughed off as in the preceding paragraphs.

[Hells Bells]

Your answers reflect the presence of significant depressive symptoms. It is advised to seek a psychiatric consultation,
these are all trick questions though, one goes do you think you eat too much or too little? i put sometimes because sometimes i eat too much and sometimes too little.

or the one about feeling bad about something that is not rational.. if your crazy your not going to be able to tell.

anyway psychiatric care costs too much for anyone to use. What is this trying to prove?

[Da Skinna]

It's hard to understand depression unless you've been there. I'm in pretty much the same boat as AP, but RZZZA, I can only say that it's not entirely like what we'd think of it as, these rich pukes that can't get joy out of anything, who we despise because they waste oxygen.

And we can call anything rich, free and nice, I mean look at the economy, and then the poverty levels, but those labels mean little, or have no bearing, on the emotions of people.

Depression can be hell, like so many other things, but it's a hell we understand much less than HIV or Leprosy.

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

depression is like love, until you have experienced it you haven't a clue what it means, but once you have experienced it you don't ever wonder whether you have experienced it.

Luckily you can get through depression (or grow out of it like I did), and that is a good thing.

Mind you, sometimes same can be said for love

[Da Skinna]

Good analogy. Maybe RZZZA can now think of it in better, more understanding terms.

[RZZZA]

I dont know what I'm talking about? Very likely. But let me riddle you this...

Was there such a thing as depression back in the days when vikings were pillaging the countryside, or did these people just all get axed and you never heard from them again?

depression is like love, until you have experienced it you haven't a clue what it means, but once you have experienced it you don't ever wonder whether you have experienced it.

I understand, really I do. Depression is horrible. My views on the subject are not so specific and personal, theyre very "birds eye view". Depression to me, seems like a debilitating weakness. And not something that is external either, like AIDS or influenza, its an internal mental problem that could cripple a persons life.

Now, birds eye view, are these people the weak links in the chain of humanity? I ask because I see it is a common theme in evolution for the weaker and incapable species to die out to make room for the more dominant species. When a person refuses to eat or otherwise wishes to commit suicide, is that just nature at work weeding out the weak and sickly?

I realize that someone who took the hippocratic oath cant think in these terms, my question is more philosophical than medical I guess

[Last Roman]

Was there such a thing as depression back in the days when vikings were pillaging the countryside...

There sure was. Even further back as a matter of fact.

In the fourth century B.C., Hippocrates associated [depression] with "aversion to food, despondency, sleeplessness, irritability, restlessness," symptoms included among the current diagnostic criteria for depression. While the descriptions varied little, there has been a range of theories and treatment. In ancient times, melancholia was attributed to "black bile," which was thought to wander around the body, finding "no exit or escape. The treatment for the excess of this cold bile was purging, bloodletting, warm baths, exercise and proper diet. This theory persisted with minor variations until the middle of the 17th century, when it was eclipsed by a shift toward more chemical explanations. Treatment practices, however, did not alter significantly until the emergence of shock treatment and, more recently, antidepressants.

you can find more here

[Captain Arrrgh!]

I dont know what I'm talking about? Very likely. But let me riddle you this...

Was there such a thing as depression back in the days when vikings were pillaging the countryside, or did these people just all get axed and you never heard from them again?



I understand, really I do. Depression is horrible. My views on the subject are not so specific and personal, theyre very "birds eye view". Depression to me, seems like a debilitating weakness. And not something that is external either, like AIDS or influenza, its an internal mental problem that could cripple a persons life.

Now, birds eye view, are these people the weak links in the chain of humanity? I ask because I see it is a common theme in evolution for the weaker and incapable species to die out to make room for the more dominant species. When a person refuses to eat or otherwise wishes to commit suicide, is that just nature at work weeding out the weak and sickly?

I realize that someone who took the hippocratic oath cant think in these terms, my question is more philosophical than medical I guess

RZZZA, as always, I am intrigued by your posts. At first they come across as grating, but when one contemplates them further, they always provide food for thought and I'm grateful to ruminate on them. Looking at suicide as the end of severe depression, and your question as to whether that might not be nature weeding out the sick, this is an interesting point. It falls in with Darwinism, more succinctly Social Darwinism and I would have givin the concept credence in my younger years. Darwinian thought, though, has long since become its own religion, and the concept of the strongest surviving only holds up if we uphold it.
But what -and this is what I am coming more and more to believe- if we are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience? A startling amount of the true creaters on our planet have suffered depression, many ending their lives because of it. Bare with me here, but what if depression is a sign of something else, of say, insights, perception, or a keen intelligence within the sufferer of depression?
If the weak, depressed and unfit were simply sweapt from the gameboard of life, what a truley drab game it would be, peopled by a very uniform bunch. I'm not sure I'd want to exist in that group -but wait, what does that in itself mean? Have I declared myself unfit? Perhaps this elemental plane is not the end all and be all. And the thoughts go deeper.
I can say from my own experience that I am glad I didn't take my life, though there were some truely black years. I encourage all that feel like their depression is insurmountable to hold on, dig deep into their insight for a will to continue, what they have learned will be a gift to others later on.

[The Good]

I took the test, and it said I am not depressed, not surprising though, since I am rarely depressed at all, only in times of great hardships...

ROMANUS.INVICTUS, about suicide, it should NEVER be your solution to your problems, and you wouldn't realise it until you actually die from it that you have made a mistake! Also, don't take drugs, those aren't good for you either, a good way to stop depression would be to stop thinking and/or acting negative.

I hope that helps you out.