Do you suffer from depression?

Originally Posted by ClaireBear

I don't suffer from depression, but I have noticed that it seems lately the majority of peope do. I know there are instances where there can be chemical imbalances that cause it. But for the most part that doesn't seem to be the case. I really think that happiness is a choice. Bad things happen to everyone, and when they do, whether you fall into depression over it depends on how you choose to react. I've always made myself get over the bad stuff and move on, becuase I know that tomorrow is another day, and life is too short to waste being sad.

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If this is how it is for you, i respectfully submit that you have no idea what clinical depression is. There is no mystical, magical thought process that will make a chemical imbalance better. That would be like saying "those lazy diabetics would get better if they just thought they could".

For me, it was a series of events - if you want to know those events, this thread has to move to IMO, which would be a shame for the younger people.

I didn't just wake up one morning and decide I was feeling a bit lazy and cranky and would struggle for years with self-hatred and pretending to be okay.

Oh yeah, why didn't I just decide to think myself better? I could have avoided a lot of hell

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

...that depression can first arise out of "natural" emotions, without an initial chemical problem.

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You made my point much better than I did. Thank you.

Assuming depression is always a choice makes no more sense than assuming it is always a chemical imbalance. There are different types of depression.

Originally Posted by ClaireBear

I don't suffer from depression, but I have noticed that it seems lately the majority of peope do. I know there are instances where there can be chemical imbalances that cause it. But for the most part that doesn't seem to be the case. I really think that happiness is a choice. Bad things happen to everyone, and when they do, whether you fall into depression over it depends on how you choose to react. I've always made myself get over the bad stuff and move on, becuase I know that tomorrow is another day, and life is too short to waste being sad.

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This is really why I hope that very soon they come up with a definitive test for depression. I am very much an analytical type person and its too hard to define/diagnose depression. They're working on finding a definitive blood test/biopsy that can be done but as of now they're only finding correlations.

But I just don't believe that 50 years ago, there were no depressed people and then all of a sudden they appeared! The 75% on this poll isn't far off from the estimated 75% of all americans experience it at some point in their life. And if the numbers were the same 50 years ago - the suicide rates would have been higher which they weren't.

The only correlation between the suddenly ridiculously high numbers of people with depression is the increasing pill-popping state of the US and the ridiculous commercials leading thousands to run to their doctor because they're depressed - just like the ball on the commercial!

If you look at other countries without the pharmaceutical companies you once again don't see these ridiculously high numbers of depression.

I'm not trying to put down anyone on here or saying they aren't depressed - I just wish there were better diagnostic tools to determine someone who is clinically depressed and someone who is just having a hard time dealing. Right now so many psychiatrists will prescribe antidepressants to just about anyone (I was offered drugs after 1 session when I just wanted to talk to someone about some issues I was having in college - I didn't go back after that - there was no reason for them to offer me drugs, and yet they did). But anyway, I wonder if a lot of people wouldn't do better with counseling and time.

There have even been studies that showed that placebos did just as well at curing depression as active medicine (eg. here http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-pam042902.php) so in some ways for SOME people its not physiological.

Someday we will find some great diagnostic tools, and I'm hoping these numbers fall. Because all the drugs Americans take nowadays cannot be healthy.

For me when people say to get over it or not waste your time being sad is insulting. Like I would choose to live my life struggling with being depressed or panic attacks or being so afraid to leave my house because of them that I don't leave for months and at the worst part even YEARS.

I would LOVE to just move on and be a normal, happy person but this is something that you can't just move on from and saying that you should is a huge slap in the face.

Sorry

Oh yes, oddly enough I was born with it..................yes thats right the doctors said that I was born depressed.

As I get older it gets somewhat better, but I refuse to take any meds because I dont believe they help as much as they hurt.

I was right after my mom died. I was real angry, real sad, always bawling, just mean and hurt. I was on Paxil for less than a year. I was less angry and not so mean. I am better now though sometimes I can get mean around certain times!

I believe I have suffered from it, and it's still a struggle. My brother died when I was 16. It completely turned my world upside down. After reading everyone's responses, I will tell you that having everyone tell you to just "be happy" or "You don't need help, you're just pessimistic/ have low self esteem etc. I have never received help. However, I also know I worry too much about stuff that doesn't matter...I'll replay 90% conversations in my head right after the fact(I do this a lot while driving) and purposely pick out words or an entire response that I shouldn't have said. I become worried hat I may be interpreted the wrong way ALL the time!

I don't think it was a case of 50 years ago there where hardly any, I just think it's a case of better medical records being kept, better studies and a better understanding of depression actually is.
There are *many* variations/kinds and yes they may start different ways, but what it all comes down to is a chemical imbalance with in the brain.

Not to be disrespectful to anyone on here at all, but 50 years ago attitudes would have been much the same as "chin up and snap out of it"

I think it's such a touchy subject, and I know exactly what people who suffer from depression get offended when people say "I can think my self happy, and I just carry on" because unless you actually experienced depression, you will never truly understand it. As someone else says, it's like telling a diabetic they are stupid and to think their blood sugar to be normal!

I have had a lot happen to me as I am sure a lot of people have Abusive mother and her BFs who liked to beat me, lived by my self since 15, miscarriages, abusive relationships, and I do not ask for the pity party *what so ever* .. and events is not what causes my depression. All this has happened to me over the course of 15 years and I *did* just get up and carry on.
It's what you got to do, no one else is going to pick you up and dust you off. My friends and family who know me tell me how strong and independent I am.

There's nothing perticular event for methat brings the cycles on. For example when I had the miscarriage, sure I was devastated and sad and I cried and was just numb for weeks, but I didn't get what *I* call my "depressed" and didn't need anti~depresants at that time, sure it took me time to stop crying and feeling say, but God, who wouldn't?

It was 8 months later I got a cycle.

For me, I can "feel" a cycle coming on. It starts over a few weeks. My last cycle I was pigheaded and refused to go back on the anti depressants again cause I get sick of taking them. I was near breakdown when I gave in and went to the doctors.

It's almost like a aura with migraines for a comparison. First I just start feeling numb .. I start to loose energy, I can't bring my self to even get out of bed and get dressed, I get days of such total despair and confusion that I can't even decide if I should for example, have a drink of water, or juice. It just totally over whelms me and I can sit in floods of tears for hours over it. I loose weight ( a good thing! ) because I have no desire what so ever to eat, Friends will call me and I will just stare at the phone ringing, They will come round to see if I am ok and I just won't answer the door. I'm lucky I have a good set of friends that understand it's just something I prefer to go through by my self because I can't cope with people at that time. If I do manage to drag my self out, all I can do is sit in the corner and watch people. One time I did this I just got totally over whelmed and run out the bar and home.

The anti depressants take about 6 weeks to get in my system, and for me there is a down side to them. The effect they have on me, is they enable me to function, BUT they also just stop me feeling. I don't really have any emotion about anything. I mean I still find things funny, and can go have a laugh and function like a normal human being, but it is like it just stops me feeling any kind of "sadness", so when I come off them, although my brain is back to normality, I have to cope with being able to feel emotion again, it's like a giant flood of it and for the first few weeks I get so over emotional (Not to be confused with depression) it's just crazy.

Once I adjust to being back to "normal" (What ever that is LOL) I am fine again till my next cycle.

I also want to add if a Dr is offering you pills after one session, then they are just crap. A good Dr will give you tests and assessments. Mine sent me to the mental health clinic for assessments by a proper specialist. I think a lot of GP's can confuse true depression with periods of stress and what not in peoples lives which is why I also think a good GP would also refer you to a councilor to help properly diagnose you.

Originally Posted by alwaysaangel

This is really why I hope that very soon they come up with a definitive test for depression. I am very much an analytical type person and its too hard to define/diagnose depression. They're working on finding a definitive blood test/biopsy that can be done but as of now they're only finding correlations.

But I just don't believe that 50 years ago, there were no depressed people and then all of a sudden they appeared! The 75% on this poll isn't far off from the estimated 75% of all americans experience it at some point in their life. And if the numbers were the same 50 years ago - the suicide rates would have been higher which they weren't.

The only correlation between the suddenly ridiculously high numbers of people with depression is the increasing pill-popping state of the US and the ridiculous commercials leading thousands to run to their doctor because they're depressed - just like the ball on the commercial!

If you look at other countries without the pharmaceutical companies you once again don't see these ridiculously high numbers of depression.

I'm not trying to put down anyone on here or saying they aren't depressed - I just wish there were better diagnostic tools to determine someone who is clinically depressed and someone who is just having a hard time dealing. Right now so many psychiatrists will prescribe antidepressants to just about anyone (I was offered drugs after 1 session when I just wanted to talk to someone about some issues I was having in college - I didn't go back after that - there was no reason for them to offer me drugs, and yet they did). But anyway, I wonder if a lot of people wouldn't do better with counseling and time.

There have even been studies that showed that placebos did just as well at curing depression as active medicine (eg. here http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-pam042902.php) so in some ways for SOME people its not physiological.

Someday we will find some great diagnostic tools, and I'm hoping these numbers fall. Because all the drugs Americans take nowadays cannot be healthy.

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Originally Posted by Bonnie1965

...There is no mystical, magical thought process that will make a chemical imbalance better. That would be like saying "those lazy diabetics would get better if they just thought they could"...

I didn't just wake up one morning and decide I was feeling a bit lazy and cranky and would struggle for years with self-hatred and pretending to be okay.

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Bingo! You said it perfectly.

Originally Posted by sofiecusion

However, I also know I worry too much about stuff that doesn't matter...I'll replay 90% conversations in my head right after the fact(I do this a lot while driving) and purposely pick out words or an entire response that I shouldn't have said. I become worried hat I may be interpreted the wrong way ALL the time!

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Me too! I`ve never asked anyone else if they do it so I`ve never known if it is 'normal' or not. I hate using the phone so every time i do, I go over and over the conversation until something distracts me. It`s not a problem though. Not to me, anyway!

I don't suffer from it, I MANAGE it.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

I don't suffer from it, I MANAGE it.

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I love that!! I was trying to come up with a better phrase when I wrote the question, but couldn't think of anything at the time. That would have been perfect though.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts and personal experiences. I wasn't too sure if this was an overly-intrusive question to be asking but just figured that if someone doesn't want to talk about it they sure don't have to.

I find it interesting (though not surprising) that this is such a divisive issue, between those people who "believe" in depression and those who don't.

Originally Posted by Pekoe & Nigel

I find it interesting (though not surprising) that this is such a divisive issue, between those people who "believe" in depression and those who don't.

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Some doctors still believe that PMS is a fictional affliction, so it really doesn't surprise me at all that those who have never experienced a clinical depression tend to think "it's all in our heads."

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Some doctors still believe that PMS is a fictional affliction, so it really doesn't surprise me at all that those who have never experienced a clinical depression tend to think "it's all in our heads."

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And on the flip side, many who have suffered from clinical depression think all depression requires meds.

I don't know. I haven't been diagnosed and don't talk of it often, but I feel like there is a black cloud over my head early in the week. It's bizarre. Monday is horrible, Tuesday a little better, and so on. I don't mind my job, so it's not that. I wonder if it's separation anxiety from my husband and the cats. Maybe I get better as the week goes on because I know we'll be together on the weekend. If anyone has the answer, please let me know. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is a problem for me.

Originally Posted by Rockcat

I don't know.

I haven't been diagnosed and don't talk of it often, but I feel like there is a black cloud over my head early in the week. It's bizarre. Monday is horrible, Tuesday a little better, and so on. I don't mind my job, so it's not that. I wonder if it's separation anxiety from my husband and the cats. Maybe I get better as the week goes on because I know we'll be together on the weekend. If anyone has the answer, please let me know. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it is a problem for me.

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Honestly, it sounds to me like you already have the answer to that one.

They don't call 'em blue Mondays for nothing.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Honestly, it sounds to me like you already have the answer to that one.

They don't call 'em blue Mondays for nothing.

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No, I don't have the answer. Your comment about blue Mondays makes it sound normal, so is that how everyone feels?

Originally Posted by Rockcat

No, I don't have the answer. Your comment about blue Mondays makes it sound normal, so is that how everyone feels?

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You gave your answer in the post you made: You are depressed at the beginning of the week and start getting better toward the end of the week, as that is when you spend time with your loved ones.

It doesn't sound ridiculous, it sounds pretty plain and simple to me.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

You gave your answer in the post you made: You are depressed at the beginning of the week and start getting better toward the end of the week, as that is when you spend time with your loved ones.

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What I meant was I don't know if that is technically depression, just being a baby about being away from my family, or something else like an anxiety disorder. There are so many posts on this thread about medication helping. Now I'm wondering if I should think about talking to a doctor.

Originally Posted by GingersMom

It doesn't sound ridiculous, it sounds pretty plain and simple to me.

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Thanks.

I don't know really...
I'm always worried about things.
For example: My cousin from America is coming to visit this week, and I've been struggling to sleep worrying about silly things like "He might break something"!
If I had to choose I would say I am depressed.
It might have something to do with my mum...