Currently “suffering” from deep, impairing depression that has ruined my social life.
Still most advice I find about it is ridiculously simplistic and generalized. (Eat ze pills! Talk about when you were a 5 year old kiddo, enjoy the song of the biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirds, and so on into the foolish extremes of electro shock therapy and other tortures).
Everyone I’ve met throughout my life including myself have depression as a symptom.
Personally I suffer from it because of a great sense of failure, that life hasn’t gone quite as planned and that I’ve generally not lived up to the expectations of others and myself.
I am afraid of further failure and thus unable to get out of my apartment for days.
Otherwise I used to be and still am (when rarely up for the task) a very sociable, witty and still quite young person who loves to travel and experience new things.
I’ve spoken with people whose depression comes from their insecurities, their social awkwardness, their financial situation and so on. Yet we waste these millions on these bloody tards known as psychiatrists and these expensive medications (Mushrooms are cheaper) that enrich the corporate world at the expense of the people.
People with depression for being fat need to get help from Personal trainers who encourage them to exercise.
People who have alot of social anxiety need to get help from nice individuals who will introduce them to some club or some interest they have and teach them how to enjoy life.
People like me…well we need a TIME MACHINE.
That’s all. What are your thoughts?
As someone who has suffered severe depression and anxiety in my lifetime, I will be kind and simply say that your statements are misguided and very likely dangerous if taken at face value. Since we aren’t in the pit I’ll leave it at that.
I will, however, point out that you are complaining about information you are finding online being “simplistic” and “generalized” yet you are committing the very same sin. Those “bloody tards known as psychiatrists,” as you so colorfully and offensively put it, are paid to help treat depression because, as you point out, generalizations are all but useless.
In my experience people who think they can manage significant mental health issues without help fail spectacularly. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health therapists exist for a reason and usually do a damn good job of treating an individual, provided that individual is receptive to counseling and other forms of treatment.
No, I am not saying I will manage it. Suicide is a very real proposition.
It’s just that I’d rather face reality with all its failures (frankly, on average I’m quite an OK individual, it’s just that I had great aspirations in life) than buy into a lie.
Whether that lie is a sugarcoated Jebus or a sugarcoated Xanex.
Indulge me then, what made you seek out a psychiatrist instead of someone specializing in fixing what ever problems you actually were dealing with?
From my perspective, living in ze socialist paradises of the North we get few options when suffering from ze “depression” . I can’t just go and demand a professional career coach or a personal stock broker.
But I can demand a personal psychiatrist even though they are more expensive for the state to which I pay my taxes
Still this doesn’t quite seem to play out right when you consider that America is the number 1 prescription drug country in the world per capita.
I have had a lot of failures too and I tend to sit in the house all day and I am afraid of having more failure. I have been like this for 9 months and before that for my whole life I was “slightly better” but it was allways a struggle. I have had a few happy periods. I think we/me/you should keep trying and not give up even though it seems hard. This is a website where you can talk to people live one on one and they will listen: https://www.7cupsoftea.com/
Dude why? If there’s no credible solution of catching up to your hearts desires, if the cards were so stacked against you or you simply played them badly or didn’t want to play the game at all then why not throw it in?
But that’s beyond the point. This is about all those who rather than face their problems choose to objectify our subjective experiences into illnesses or ailments that can be treated out of existence.
you get five minutes in case you want to fix something.
anyway, everything else you posted here sounds like the naive ramblings of a 15 year old who believes he’s the first person to ever think of something. The first thing you need to realize is depression is not “oh, I’m sad because I’m fat,” or “I’m sad because my puppy ran away.”
Indeed. My life is pretty good - I’ve got a good job, nice place to live, wonderful wife and child, many friends, and I’m in decent shape…and I still suffer from crippling depression and anxiety.
**Gyrate **- you don’t want a puppy! They throw up on the carpet and shed on the furniture and they have to be taken outside EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! They might aid against depression, but they’ll flat wear you out!! OK, they’re cute and cuddly and all, but still (says the pug owner.)
I thought we’d learned that depression isn’t a moral failing but a brain disease/chemical imbalance. If we can take ibuprofen for inflammation and antibiotics for infections, why do people still look down on antidepressants for brain disorders? Unless you’re inclined to take your health advice from Tom Cruise…
Depression is definitely a chemical thing, although I am sure it can be affected by situations. I am the most upbeat cheerful person I know and even I have suffered from a bout or two of depression in my life. In my case it was definitely brought on by circumstances - is there a different name for that? Acute depression, perhaps, rather than chronic depression?
Anyway, those times in my life really brought the true meaning of it home. It wasn’t anything that could be “fixed” - I have a decent life, too. It was just this awful malaise and nothing could make me feel better. The only way over it was through it.
Yet the OP seems to think he is a special snowflake - that only he needs a time machine to fix, and everyone else can just toughen up and get over it. Yah!
And what if, through hard work, they get a perfect body . . . and are still depressed?
And what if the depression doesn’t go away?
We all need a time machine. But we are not all depressed.
A person has chronic depression, not because he’s old, sick, poor, unloved, etc., but because his has a chemical imbalance in his brain. Of course if he’s all those things as well, the depression is exacerbated. But if he’s young, healthy, rich, loved, etc., the depression is still there.
In my case it takes the form of immobilization. It’s like going through life being strapped into a wheelchair, unable to get up and walk, and living in a world that’s wheelchair-inaccessible. You may know that you’re fully capable of walking - even flying - but you can’t unlock the shackles.
Depression, IMHO, isn’t binary. It’s not you either have it or you don’t. The human brain is extremely complicated. Most mental issues are the result of imperfections in how the brain works. And I would say that almost all of us are on some range of spectrum between perfect and totally fucked up. Chemistry is a way to tackle the problems of where you fall on the spectrum. Therapy and learned behaviors are another way. As others have said, you aren’t depressed because you’re afraid of failure. You’re afraid of failure and are depressed because your brain isn’t perfect.
Everyone gets depressed. It doesn’t mean everyone needs to be treated for depression. It’s normal to be depressed when outside influences in your life are there causing you to be depressed. Your dog died, then sun hasn’t been out for a week, you’re unemployed, etc.
The people with depression that need to be treated are the ones who are suffering when there is no outside influence. It’s a chemical inbalance. Your life is typical and should have it’s daily ups and downs yet you are in this depressed funk for no reason and you can’t break out of it.
You haven’t met me. I have never suffered from depression that rises to the clinical level. I have, however, suffered from debilitating anxiety, with results similar to what you have experienced: feelings of failure and fear of further failure.
Have you considered the possibility that you have cause and effect reversed? Could the social awkwardness and financial situation be a result of the depression?
Here’s my story. I used to be a seriously underemployed, overweight person who suffered from anxiety. Naturally I blamed my anxiety on my weight and my career situation. I tried over and over to get a better job and to lose weight, but it never worked out. Then I finally decided to listen to the people who were telling me to seek mental health treatment. I began to use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to deal with my anxiety. It took awhile, but eventually my anxiety began to subside. And I got a better job. And I got promoted. And I got promoted again. And I began to lose weight. It didn’t just fall off; I had to work at it. But I was able to make the necessary changes. I have now been at a healthy weight and had a high level, well-paying job for over seven years. There is no doubt in my mind that if I had not sought therapy for my anxiety, I would never have been able to lose the weight or advance my career.
The right therapy can be a time machine. But it won’t take you back, it will help move you into the future. I’m not saying that everyone can have the same experience that I had. Everyone’s circumstances are unique. But I know that for me, clearing up the mental health issues that were holding me back was the only way to move forward.
Seconded by a bipolar person! Reading through the OP, I kept thinking, OK, this person is hypomanic and on the way up.
OP, where you are now might feel like a good place, but you’re not going to like where you’re going. I’m gonna tell you straight: YOU’RE ON A BAD COURSE. **GET. HELP. NOW.
** Get your ass to some kind of doctor who can refer you to a psychiatrist. (N.B. psychiatrists do not lay you on a couch so you can talk about how your parents ruined your life: They get you on meds and help you stabilize.)
I’ve been past where you are. It isn’t pretty. From the heart, get help before you ruin your life.
OK, they’re cute and cuddly and all, but still (says the pug owner.)