Human Depression

[turtle]

What in the world are people talking about when they say a person is depressed?

[anon]

What in the world are people talking about when they say a person is depressed?

I'm not 100% sure. Perhaps it means that person is unable, psychologically, to rise to the occasion.

[jonquil]

What do you think, turtle?

[Blurry]

This questions leads me to believe you've never been depressed, so before I answer I have a question of my own.

Have you ever been depressed, turtle-dove?

[HexHammer]

What in the world are people talking about when they say a person is depressed?

Google is your friend!

[turtle]

google is not good for understanding depression.

I am depressed but I am happy also. honeysavant are you depressed?

[Blurry]

I'm certifiably depressed LoL, I've been diagnosed.

It comes and goes. Since my diagnosis I have kept a close eye on my cycle -- I know the first signs of what I call a "downslide". I've actually been downsliding for a couple of months now. First sign is a crabbiness I can't shake. Second, I lose interest in social activities. Third, that loss of interest becomes a desire to lock the world out -- this step will go on for awhile, until I feel like I'm going to explode everytime someone says my name. Fourth, I actually do lock the world out, pull the covers over my head, and sleep -- catatonic depression. It's the worst.

I'm generally pretty good at stopping the downslide around the time I lose interest in social activities, but this time I'm getting to, "I'm gonna fucking explode if one more person asks me for anything."

[rakra]

Is depression related to introversion?

[Blurry]

Is depression related to introversion?

I doubt it.

[turtle]

rakra are you introverted.

honeysavant do you consider yourself to have a clinical depression. what is clinical depression.

[kuze420]

it means you might as well not go to the bathroom and shit yourself because that is your life.

[Three Times Great]

What in the world are people talking about when they say a person is depressed?

I think it means generally that a person is more unhappy than is considered normal, and/or that a person's ability to generate happiness/contentment in life or across varying situations is abnormally restricted or underexpressed. In terms of the reasons for this being depressed, there are many, and I do not believe that causes for depression are entirely well known yet.

I get depressed sometimes, occasionally severely so. I think this is a normal human experience. Life is often depressing, after all -- so being depressed is often enough only a genuine reaction to one's being alive. Suppressing these sorts of reactions because non-depressive states are considered desirable to depressive states tends to make one false before oneself, rob a person of their ability to be authentic in their emotional experiences, and can lead to neuroses and psychological complexes, obsessions or deseases.

Unfortunately I know many people like this. They have traded a deeper self-knowledge and quality of emotional experience for a larger quantity of shallow cheap "happiness". Of course the real condition of their psyche is written all over their face, particularly in the eyes, and it is apparent they take great pains to deceive others and themselves about what is really going on inside. It is sad but telling that Western societies today are so geared toward producing these unfortunate conditions in people.

[Blurry]

rakra are you introverted.

honeysavant do you consider yourself to have a clinical depression. what is clinical depression.

My official diagnosis, turtle-dove, is clinical depression, which means nothing more than, "depression of sufficient severity to be brought to the attention of a physician and to require treatment". When I was diagnosed (seven years ago) my doctor suggest I seek therapy, and set me up with a guy. The first 'therapy session' I went to, this man asked me a shit-ton of questions to which I was to respond - none of the time, some of the time, most of the time, all of the time - and scored my answers. He said this little quiz was a way to gauge the severity of my depression, and when I was finished he informed me that I scored a "severely depressed". Whatever that means.

[Blurry]

What in the world are people talking about when they say a person is depressed?

I think it means generally that a person is more unhappy than is considered normal, and/or that a person's ability to generate happiness/contentment in life or across varying situations is abnormally restricted or underexpressed. In terms of the reasons for this being depressed, there are many, and I do not believe that causes for depression are entirely well known yet.

I get depressed sometimes, occasionally severely so. I think this is a normal human experience. Life is often depressing, after all -- so being depressed is often enough only a genuine reaction to one's being alive. Suppressing these sorts of reactions because non-depressive states are considered desirable to depressive states tends to make one false before oneself, rob a person of their ability to be authentic in their emotional experiences, and can lead to neuroses and psychological complexes, obsessions or deseases.

Unfortunately I know many people like this. They have traded a deeper self-knowledge and quality of emotional experience for a larger quantity of shallow cheap "happiness". Of course the real condition of their psyche is written all over their face, particularly in the eyes, and it is apparent they take great pains to deceive others and themselves about what is really going on inside. It is sad but telling that Western societies today are so geared toward producing these unfortunate conditions in people.

I so agree with all of this. When I first was diagnosed I was put on medication, and honestly, at that point in time I needed it. I had no will to help myself, and the meds gave me the kick in the ass I needed. After a few months, though, they weren't necessary anymore. All they did was shield me from experiencing any emotions whatsoever. I was neither happy nor sad, and it really f'ing bothered me, so I stopped taking them.

[turtle]

good post ttg.

honeysavant do you accept the diagnosis you have.
i see a psychoanalyst. he says i'm depressed.
i think he is right.

[Blurry]

Yes, turtle-dove, I accept the diagnosis I have. More than a doctor telling me that I'm clinically depressed, I know it to be true because...well, because I'm me. I've lived my life, I know what I feel. I also know that mental illness runs rampant throughout my family members. I'm okay with my diagnosis -- before I was diagnosed I thought I was literally going insane, so it was a comfort to know there was a medical reason for it. Chemical imbalance is no joke.

I also know that I don't need medication. With loss of emotion comes loss of inspiration, and that is not okay with me. I'd rather have some bad days (or months) and be able to feel than be medicated and be "okay" all the time.

[turtle]

Yes, turtle-dove, I accept the diagnosis I have. More than a doctor telling me that I'm clinically depressed, I know it to be true because...well, because I'm me. I've lived my life, I know what I feel. I also know that mental illness runs rampant throughout my family members. I'm okay with my diagnosis -- before I was diagnosed I thought I was literally going insane, so it was a comfort to know there was a medical reason for it. Chemical imbalance is no joke.

I also know that I don't need medication. With loss of emotion comes loss of inspiration, and that is not okay with me. I'd rather have some bad days (or months) and be able to feel than be medicated and be "okay" all the time.

honey savant--that thinking seems quite mature.

[lizbethrose]

Yes, turtle-dove, I accept the diagnosis I have. More than a doctor telling me that I'm clinically depressed, I know it to be true because...well, because I'm me. I've lived my life, I know what I feel. I also know that mental illness runs rampant throughout my family members. I'm okay with my diagnosis -- before I was diagnosed I thought I was literally going insane, so it was a comfort to know there was a medical reason for it. Chemical imbalance is no joke.

I also know that I don't need medication. With loss of emotion comes loss of inspiration, and that is not okay with me. I'd rather have some bad days (or months) and be able to feel than be medicated and be "okay" all the time.

Thank you for starting this thread--it takes the onus off me. But I do object to your labeling clinical depression as a mental illness. It really isn't an ''Illness," since 'illness' has a potential for a cure. And it really isn't 'mental.' You said it, BlurredSavant, when you said, "Chemical imbalance is no joke."

The lack of certain chemicals within the brain can't be 'cured,' but it can be corrected with drugs that 'replace' the needed chemicals. Do those pharms alter mental functions? I don't think so. Are they physically addictive?--No.

Why is it that using drugs so often means using mind altering drugs? Don't people use aspirin to relieve pain and/or fever? Don't people use vitamins as dietary supplements to augment nutritional deficiencies? What's the difference between using vitamins to supplement nutrients and using a pharm to add a needed brain chemical?

Thank you, again, I do appreciate your posts.

[turtle]

I wonder how helpful psychotherapy is for depressed persons.

[jonquil]

I think depression is often just a phase as a person grows up and starts to take control of their life. Once the depressive triggers are removed, life and one's overall mood improve. In my view, seeing a psychologist is OK if that psychologist is a responsible counselor; but it won't do any good if they just give you drugs. Drugs won't cure depression.

[James S Saint]

Depression comes in 3 basic forms; physiological, emotional, and cognitive. "Depression" is the label given to the "urge to give up", to not act even when actions are available. The medical world defines depression as a state wherein a person retreats from "normal activity" for that person (much less definitive). The underlying cause of depression in all cases is the futilization of positive response.

Oppression often leads to depression whereas suppression offend leads to aggression (opposite of depression). The depressive state neither loves nor hates, but rather stops caring and insists in not caring. Depression is not merely the loss of hope, but the acceptance in the hope of retreating, "shutting down", "giving up". The urge to withdraw completely is what leads to suicidal depression. Suicide is the overt act to withdraw from all life entirely.

Biochemicals and drugs can help most with physiological depression wherein the body refuses to respond normally under normal stimuli. Exercise, increased bodily fluid flow, and a medically clean environment help most against physiological depression. Proper levels of vitamins and minerals can help if they happen to have become abnormal. This level of depression is classified as "disease" (dis-ease) and is generally caused by invasion of toxins or germs. Physiological depression is almost never caused genetically despite family history. More often the family merely experiences the same invasive affects, often from the same sources (environmental or social).

Drugs effect emotional depression through a complex reaction process where the feelings and emotors are medically tweaked until they mask the cause of the depression sufficiently to simulate normal behavior (what is assessed as such anyway). A strong change in life situation can greatly effect a depressive state, but the person will seldom choose to pursue such a change. Strong love or hate interests can jar the emotional state into seeing new hope in taking action. But if such changing in life are introduced and do not succeed, they instead further aid the depression. Emotional and cognitive depressions are never caused genetically regardless of family history.

Biochemicals and drugs have no effect on cognitive depression unless they have positive (or negative) effect on mental functions such as memory, attention, focus, concentration, analytical response, and so on. Nootropics aid in that regard. The cognitively perceived situation of the person is the cause of cognitive depression thus anything that appears to the person to yield hope in the person's situation works against cognitive depression (winning the lottery for example if money is an recognized issue).

Signs of each type of depression vary from each other. Some people have various degrees of each type. Each type affects each other type, but does not directly determine them. People sufficiently skilled to properly diagnose depression (or just about any psychological ailment) are difficult to find. This is largely due to the attempt to over simplify the mental state and assign labels through symptomology rather than addressing causes.

Social and economic depression are additional depression types caused by analogous affecters. These are most often brought about (along with personal depressions) as governments change hands or restructure. Futilizing the people's effort to maintain their own safety is a critical part of re-ording a society, thus the people sense and often recognized the hopelessness of their situation. Suicides rise sharply as social demonism is injected so as to make clay by crushing the former statue for sake of the new statue. In the West, the more recent change ("paradigm shift") came about as Christianity was replaced with Judeo-secularism for sake of world governing.

In all cases, depression is the result of the actions of others and is seldom remedied except by the same.

[Three Times Great]

There is some contention over the claim that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Is the depression caused by imbalanced chemicals (neurotransmitters), or does being depressed cause this imbalance? What if depression is "caused" more by one's personal experiences and learned emotional coping strategies, and because we feel depressed as a result of less than ideal interaction with conditions in our environments this in turn causes an "imbalance" in the brain's neurotransmitters?

[Blurry]

I think depression is often just a phase as a person grows up and starts to take control of their life. Once the depressive triggers are removed, life and one's overall mood improve. In my view, seeing a psychologist is OK if that psychologist is a responsible counselor; but it won't do any good if they just give you drugs. Drugs won't cure depression.

"I think" is the perfect way for you to start this statement, as it's obviously just your opinion and is proven to be untrue. There are people who suffer from different "mental illnesses" their entire lives. Something like bi-polar disorder doesn't just go away when a person "grows up".

Fucking duh.

[Blurry]

Thank you for starting this thread--it takes the onus off me. But I do object to your labeling clinical depression as a mental illness. It really isn't an ''Illness," since 'illness' has a potential for a cure. And it really isn't 'mental.' You said it, BlurredSavant, when you said, "Chemical imbalance is no joke."

I don't think the onus was on you. I label clinical depression as a mental illness because clinical depression is called a mental illness by physicians. And not all illnesses have a cure.

The lack of certain chemicals within the brain can't be 'cured,' but it can be corrected with drugs that 'replace' the needed chemicals. Do those pharms alter mental functions? I don't think so. Are they physically addictive?--No.

The drugs used to correct a chemical imbalance aren't addictive, no, but I'm not sure what you mean by altering mental functions. One is able to think and interact the same way they always were, but there is a decided change in mood, and this change alters everything -- the way we look at the world, think about the world, respond to any given situation, etc.

Why is it that using drugs so often means using mind altering drugs? Don't people use aspirin to relieve pain and/or fever? Don't people use vitamins as dietary supplements to augment nutritional deficiencies? What's the difference between using vitamins to supplement nutrients and using a pharm to add a needed brain chemical?

The difference is as I stated above. When I was medicated I was numb. I was never sad, but I was never happy either. I was even-tempered all the time. I couldn't write or sketch anymore because I had no emotions, nothing to tap into. I never had the desire to break into song. I never soared to unbelievable heights of excitement the way I did before I took the meds. A smile on my face was not a sign of happiness, it was just me giving an expected reaction so others wouldn't think I was indifferent -- though I was. Totally indifferent to everything. Numbed from the inside out. I would rather experience the crash and burn after soaring than to never fly at all.

[cheegster]

I think depression is often just a phase as a person grows up and starts to take control of their life. Once the depressive triggers are removed, life and one's overall mood improve. In my view, seeing a psychologist is OK if that psychologist is a responsible counselor; but it won't do any good if they just give you drugs. Drugs won't cure depression.

At least drugs actually directly see to the depression, even if they are not good in the long term and do not cure it. Depression is mainly chemical as well, so no matter how good our life is you will fail to raise that mood. That's how it works.

And I don't know where you get the idea about growing out of it. Many people only have depression quite late in life rather than earlier on in it. EG Women who get post natal depression.