-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Can you 'beat' depression?
- Thread starter Yerda
- Start date
Aquitaine
Well-Known Member
I think in many ways Depression is a fundamental part of Humankind's quest for happiness. I wish I knew the answer to it, but it appears to be a constant struggle for those involved.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Clinical depression, no. I had that and it gets bad to where you literally cannot move. For me, it is like someone pushing walls around me and crushing me. Stuff like that. It helps to talk about it, but the physical symptoms that are affected by the mental symstoms in many cases need to be treated in addition to talking. One helps the mind the other the body.
Regular blues, it is like the tides, we go in and we go out. Affirmations can help. The religious find solace in prayer. One can definitely get out of depression/blues without therapy and medication. If it's just the blues, skip the medication, get a good nights rest, and talk to a good friend or trusted person.
Sometimes, some people can "deal with it" on their own. Sometimes, other people can't, and need help. It's easier to deal with if you get help, even if you are one of those capable of dealing with it on your own. Even with help, much of the cognitive and behavioral things that need to be done to help you out of depression is up to the individual to do. So you can buy or check out books on how to do it all by yourself. Or, you can turn to professionals who can help you through it.
Depression is a physical illness, often rooted in chemical imbalances in the body and brain, not just mental/emotional symptoms. I was surprised five months ago to be diagnosed as depressed, because I am mostly very happy and satisfied with life. I just thought I was tired and getting burned out on the job, perhaps suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Nope. I'm depressed, physically, and that's impacting my work and home life.
Most people think asking for help is a sign of weakness. It's not; it's a sign of the strength to know when you need some help, and to take the step to ask for it. You don't get bonus points for dealing with depression all by yourself. No one but you knows or cares about whether you got help or got yourself out of it, and the odds are that by getting help, you'll get out of it sooner than if you just try to do it yourself.
And think about this: you're probably not even aware of how your depression affects your behavior toward other people, and how aware they are that something is wrong.
My recommendation is to go check out help, and accept it if it seems to work.
My question: why would you want to deal with depression on your own?
It depends.
It depends on severity, it depends on the person, it depends on co-occurence with other conditions (which is common), it depends on circumstances. But, considering that depression can be more debilitating than blindness, it is foolish not to tap any and all resources of aid at one's disposal.
Yerda
Veteran Member
I went through a couple of years of not often wanting to be alive and about ten years of intermittent low moods, tiredness, fear, anxiety, self-hatred and self-pity. I use the word depression but it wasn't like most accounts I've read and I sometimes suspect it was somewhat due to the stupid things I did and stupid ways I thought.
Then it went away. I'm wondering if the change in outlook beat the depression (or whatever it was), or if the depression lifted causing the change of outlook.
It feels a lot like the effort to force myself to be a better person and a responsible adult caused a shift.
Is that possible?
Am I just an idiot that grew up a bit?
Then it went away. I'm wondering if the change in outlook beat the depression (or whatever it was), or if the depression lifted causing the change of outlook.
It feels a lot like the effort to force myself to be a better person and a responsible adult caused a shift.
Is that possible?
Am I just an idiot that grew up a bit?
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
In a manner yes.
I did it without medicine, but It was and still is difficult at times. I've had severe depression as a young teen and adult and had intensive psychotherapy early on in my school years.
For me, the crux came about was all in how I approached my depression and facing it directly and seeing it for what it really and actually is.
I dropped the notion that depression is ultimately beatable because it's actually unrealistic and creates false expectations and learned to abide with those feelings whenever attacks arose by recognising the nature by which we feel depressed and traversing each episode and letting it go.
I also eat lots of rice as it helps the body produce serotonin naturally and notably diminishes the attacks. It helps enough in my case in keeping things in the proper perspective.
Yerda
Veteran Member
I don't think I was ever unable to move. Really tired for weeks on end but even when that wasn't present I found that I often just didn't want to live for months at a time. Is that depression or something else?
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
In my personal opinion, what you described sounds like symptoms of depression. Whether you have it, medically speaking, you would need to talk with a psychologist. I know when it was bad for me, it was hard just trying to want to see a psychologist. However, it does depend on the person to. If you find a good doctor that will listen and take the time to know you, he or she can figure what those symptoms relate to. I have epilepsy, and I feel tired and depressed a lot off and on; but, I am told they are side affects to my medications.
That's the problem with depression. A lot of symptoms override other illnesses. That's why its better to see a professional. Talking helps a lot. I was in talk therapy for over a year before I got out of my depression. Everyone is different.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
I found the best way to deal with depression is to try to get to the root of the cause, find out why you are depressed, and deal with it. You could lay down on your bed and close your eye's and go slowly back through your whole life, of course the major things will appear, keep going until you come to something that jolts your memory, it could be something your parent said to you, or whatever, just keep going through it until it disappears. But if your depression is caused by a chemical imbalance then that's another story, your doctor will help you with that.
DawudTalut
Peace be upon you.
Each person is different. Medication has worked great for me. Therapy and honest conversation wouldn't help me at all. Prozac was better living through chemicals for me! But, the next guy may be different. 'Depression' is too general of a term for one solution..
yes, but your in for an incredably hard fight. I have depression, I've never used medication and the only time I've used therapy was twice because I lost confidence in my own judgement. I still have depression now, but after nearly seven years, I am one hell of alot better than I was.
But absolutely, under no circumstances do this completely on your own. it will kill you and you won't even know why that's a bad thing. you will need people around you who you can talk to and be open with. keeping it in your head is the absolute worst thing you can do. writing out your thoughts help, but talking and having a decent support network of freinds and family members is essential to recovery. the problem is that people don't become depressed in isolation; there is an epidemic of people with depression and if you talk about it enough you'll realise a large portion of people on forums are fellow sufferers.I realised that both my parents have depression but that its been undiagnosed and so that's why I got it. depression tends to make people withdraw and going online is an easy way to escape and find some comfort; the benifit of anonymity means that your problems don't follow you online and you can be someone else, or figure out who you are.
if you think of it as that you've been trained and conditioned into being depressed, what you have to do to recover is to un-learn the habits and thought patterns that make you depressed. the key is to identify them and to have the courage to change, as often its things we take for granted or think are 'normal' that cause the problem. (.e.g I gave up TV a few years ago and it was the best decision I've ever made. sitting still and watching the world burn and being told there's nothing you can do about it is an easy way to get depression and severe anxiety). An appreciation for the absurd and having a good sense of humour is really useful as a way to treat depression. but basically, if you've got depression you have to find that part of yourself willing to fight it out and that you are worth fighting for. I find its a blend of being angry at the world and yet also capable of being loving and forgiving for its and my own imperfections. that's what keeps you going. it will vary from person to person but asking people who've had it and learning from shared experiences is a good place to start. no matter what your head might be telling you, you are not alone.
depression is fairly masochistic, yes. whether its feeling powerless, overwhelmed or insignificant, at the back of your head is the sense of living in a hostile world out to crush you. in animals I've heard it described as "aquired helplessness" which covers both depression and masochism. masochism is a dysfunctional way to deal with anger because of fear, anxiety and inhibition so that it you direct the anger and blame yourself rather than to people who actually hurt you. it's incredably destructive.
Yes you can....
- It takes getting fit = gravity weighs us down, unless we're physically strong enough.
- Eating healthy, i.e. going vegetarian, no additives = You are what you eat.
- Mindfulness meditation = spend the time to talk to your own self, much more efficient than any councilor as you ask the right questions.
- Plenty of nature = Crazy disharmonious cities, nature helps us re-harmonize us.
- Positive affirmations = don't allow ourselves to slip into bad thought processes.
I did once. I haven't been able to do it this time.
On a more scientific note, the answer is clearly "yes", in that it is possible. That doesn't make it possible for a particular individual in a particular situation. After all, depression is scientifically defined as a statistical grouping of symptoms (rather, as more than one, as clinically depression isn't one illness). By definition, any diagnoses in psychiatry is permanent, but for all intents and purposes, even schizophrenia has been overcome. This doesn't mean that it is possible for anybody to simply "snap out of it" and stop being depressed. Some people are able to, some are not, and for neither do we know why, how, or what the etiology of depression is.
Yerda
Veteran Member
I know. I've seen the results in others.
For the reasons like you stated. I was ashamed and felt weak. I told myself that it was adaptive and that my genes were torturing me for failing to live right and failing to be honest. I'm only realising now that I held some pretty mental ideas.
I have often been foolish. It is fair to say I was inflicting at least some of the suffering on my self by my refusal to seek help (and self-medicate). I refused to accept that there was an issue when I was a teenager and then when it grew to the stage that I was thinking suicidally I was too afraid to tell anyone (I saw my sister sectioned under similar circumstances). For me a large part of it was self-pity which is weird for someone who was too proud to admit that I wasn't coping.
I think this may be similar for me.
Definitely.
I think it may be already over. I haven't had the 'symptoms' for a year or two now.
I reckon this is pretty good advice for the depressed person. And the non-depressed person.Yes you can....
Basically it is about fighting in the right direction, using all the negativity you feel, and using it to get out of the well you feel trapped within, rather than sit feeling sorry for ourselves.
- It takes getting fit = gravity weighs us down, unless we're physically strong enough.
- Eating healthy, i.e. going vegetarian, no additives = You are what you eat.
- Mindfulness meditation = spend the time to talk to your own self, much more efficient than any councilor as you ask the right questions.
- Plenty of nature = Crazy disharmonious cities, nature helps us re-harmonize us.
- Positive affirmations = don't allow ourselves to slip into bad thought processes.
All of these helped me, I believe.
That saddens and frightens me, mate. I've just registered with a new doctor and I plan to tell him about my past in the hope I can prevent a recurrence.
It is sad to see that so many here have struggled with depression. I cannot offer any advice other than seek help if you haven't already but I am always willing to listen to anyone who needs someone to speak to. Though words on a screen are all we really see of each other I feel like I know many of you and I care.
Jumi
Well-Known Member
Yes. My secret was basically nature and meditation. It took me a long time, but when I figured it out it the sun shone on my life.