Difference btw Unhappy and Depression (depressed, pill, medication, bipolar)
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Seems like these days everyone gets asked if they are suffering from depression or told they are.
Whatever happened to just being chronically unhappy?
Lets face it, some lives don't turn out that well. Your career tanked, your kids are on drugs, you have toxic parents or siblings, married the wrong partner but are sticking it out because of the kids. Whatever, those lives are out there and people can be stuck in them and chronically unhappy.
I don't believe that this is depression.
Isn't depression supposed to be a fairly serious condition that can strike people who have every reason to be happy? Like Morley Safer had a bout with depression, happy marriage, great career, something goes wrong in his brain and he ends up sitting in a dark room all day not wanting to move - that's depression. That's what drug therapy is for.
Seems like anyone who is unhappy gets labeled depressed even by Dr's. Maybe even more by Dr's who just want to stick a diagnosis on someone and prescribe a pill.
Psychologists don't seem to be much help with unhappiness but I'm assuming can help with depression.
lets not degenerate into all the suggestions to unstick the life - keep it to depression and unhappiness
Unhappiness is shakeable. Depression isn't. Unhappiness comes and goes with life's natural ups and downs; depression sticks around and is independent of life's ups and downs.
Moderator cut: orphaned quote Depression is hard to deal with and there are varieties which complicate things more. Is it unipolar, bipolar, atypical? Endogenous? Exogenous? You get the idea.
While humor may help an atypical or bipolar (briefly), it will do nothing for the unipolar.
Chronic unhappiness? Well, in this economy I understand that concept too. Go back to happier times and I think it's easier to look at depression vs. unhappiness that way.
Last edited by SouthernBelleInUtah; 11-07-2010 at 11:56 AM..
I've read the variations of depression and their symptoms on line and honestly - some of the symptoms can be personality traits.
What if someone sounds like that but doesn't meet the 2 year requirement? What if they have always been like that?
And also - unhappiness may not be shakeable if you have a crappy life hand. If you live with bad family, are really poor or have other chronic problems you may be be unhappy pretty much for years. I'm not saying that within that unhappiness you can't appreciate nice weather, laugh at a joke etc.
Do you get the difference?
To constantly expect people dealing with a lot of issues over many years to be happy or call them depressed is, I think, unfair AND can cause them even more stress.
"yes I know your taking care of your sick parents and your husband is an alcholic and you have no money" but your either depressed or happy. Get with the program.
It lacks empathy I think to diagnose the chronically unhappy as depressed.
I've read the variations of depression and their symptoms on line and honestly - some of the symptoms can be personality traits.
What if someone sounds like that but doesn't meet the 2 year requirement? What if they have always been like that?
And also - unhappiness may not be shakeable if you have a crappy life hand. If you live with bad family, are really poor or have other chronic problems you may be be unhappy pretty much for years. I'm not saying that within that unhappiness you can't appreciate nice weather, laugh at a joke etc.
Do you get the difference?
To constantly expect people dealing with a lot of issues over many years to be happy or call them depressed is, I think, unfair AND can cause them even more stress.
"yes I know your taking care of your sick parents and your husband is an alcholic and you have no money" but your either depressed or happy. Get with the program.
It lacks empathy I think to diagnose the chronically unhappy as depressed.
And it lacks empathy to diagnose someone as just unhappy when they are truly depressed. And people who have been dealt a bad hand MAY BECOME truly depressed.
Telling someone who is depressed to "just snap out of it" is what hurts a depressed person. There is a lot of guilt and shame associated with being depressed. No one would choose that condition of their own free will.
And I would expect anyone who is chronically unhappy to develop true depression (or some other illness) over time. A person can only take so much.
And it lacks empathy to diagnose someone as just unhappy when they are truly depressed. And people who have been dealt a bad hand MAY BECOME truly depressed.
Telling someone who is depressed to "just snap out of it" is what hurts a depressed person. There is a lot of guilt and shame associated with being depressed. No one would choose that condition of their own free will.
And I would expect anyone who is chronically unhappy to develop true depression (or some other illness) over time. A person can only take so much.
But not always. I suspect that there are far more chronically unhappy that aren't and won't be clinically depressed. Although they may be diganosed as such. Why can' people accept that its just what it is? Why do you seem to insist on depression?
But not always. I suspect that there are far more chronically unhappy that aren't and won't be clinically depressed. Although they may be diganosed as such. Why can' people accept that its just what it is? Why do you seem to insist on depression?
I did not say always. And I've known far too many people who have been diagnosed with a mental illness not to know better. I myself have been diagnosed with clinical depression. I wasn't dealt a bad hand, per se, but whether situational or endogenous, it is real and it is a problem. And once truly clinically depressed, life just gets worse unless the depression is properly treated.
I am the last person who likes what is going on in terms of the "over-diseasing" of America. And each time I see one of those psychotropic drug commercials it makes me think of the over medication of America. But for those who truly suffer with mental illness, to just label it as unhappiness is an insult to those who deal with it.
BTW, it does not make me happy at all that those who "have the blues" are running to their Drs. for Prozac. They give those who really have a mental illness a bad name. I am tired of people throwing about labels like "you're just having a bipolar moment" when they have no concept of what it means to be truly bipolar. Truly bipolar people - their lives can be a living hell. I know some of them.
Last edited by mistygrl092; 10-31-2010 at 10:17 AM..
I have been happy and unhappy. That is not the same as depression. Depression, you could care less about taking a shower, whree you live, paying bills, eating, getting out of bed. Everything is a chore, and you just don't care about anything or anyone, especially yourself. Being unhappy, you still function, go to work, and live a life. Medicating unhappy people does not change anything, but medicating depresssed people can at least help them function.
I have been happy and unhappy. That is not the same as depression. Depression, you could care less about taking a shower, whree you live, paying bills, eating, getting out of bed. Everything is a chore, and you just don't care about anything or anyone, especially yourself. Being unhappy, you still function, go to work, and live a life. Medicating unhappy people does not change anything, but medicating depresssed people can at least help them function.
Thank you for saying this so eloquently. I didn't want to touch on the specific behaviors of depression, as I've been guilty of them myself!
I should point out though that there are different types of depression. With true unipolar, a person stops eating. With atypical, a person can gain a ton of weight. Any drastic weight change is often common either way. But, yeah, the not paying bills, not showering, not cleaning the house, withdrawing from everyone, etc are all classic signs.
Telling someone who is depressed to "just snap out of it" is what hurts a depressed person. There is a lot of guilt and shame associated with being depressed. No one would choose that condition of their own free will.
So true. When I was depressed, at my lowest I didn't even bother to get out of bed. I just wanted to stay under the covers. My parents would force me to get out of bed and the furthest I got was in the pool in our backyard. I would spend my days standing in it crying (the irony), trying to get myself to swim so I could release some endorphins, but my depression was too severe to battle without help. Eventually, I was treated with therapy and medication. I would have been hospitalized but my therapists and parents made a deal that they would provide the "cushioning" that hospitalization is intended to do provided I would go to therapy every day and be medicated.
Two years later, while most would argue my life conditions are worse (went from being rich to poor, partially sighted-hearing to totally blind and deaf, employed to unemployed, in school to not in school, experienced the death of a loved one for the first time) but ironically enough, I'm happier than ever before because I'm not depressed anymore. Some therapists believe I am still dysthymic (a milder, more hidden, underlying form of depression) but I honestly think it's only normal considering my life conditions.
I think that illustrates how much of depression really is chemical, and shows that clinical depression isn't just about being spoiled or having no sense of will. It is just as much of a disease as any physical condition. Like any physical condition, it is aggravated by stress (emotional or physical) but it is more than just a symptom of stress.
I wouldn't trade my physical disabilities for the depression I had to go through. I think depression, and mental illness in general, is so hard to deal with because when you have a physical disability, you still have a full set of coping mechanisms and the ability to have a positive outlook. But depression interferes with the coping mechanisms themselves, and makes it almost, if not completely, impossible to have a positive outlook. Therefore depression is not something that can just be waded through without the help of medication and/or therapy that helps target the actual physical cause for depression. Once medication and/or therapy is used to get over that initial hump, then a depressed person has at least a spark of can-do attitude to begin the healing process.
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