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I belong to reddit,there’s not a single forum/sub reddit on there that does have a host of people talking about their anxiety or depression,usually the two together,it is absolutely epidemic.Its like the common cold now.
IMHO We live detached from our spirits now,in a very soulless way,in a very industrialised highly ordered,reasoned society and taught to do nothing but work and consume.I think the majority of cases are not due to broken brains,but the result of our society.
I will leave you with this study on tribal groups.
"Modern-day hunter-gatherer bands—such as the Kaluli people of the New Guinea highlands—have been assessed by Western researchers for the presence of mental illness. Remarkably, clinical depression is almost completely nonexistent among such groups, whose way of life is similar to that of our remote ancestors. Despite living very hard lives—with none of the material comforts or medical advances we take for granted—they’re largely immune to the plague of depressive illness that we see ruining lives all around us. (In perhaps the most telling example, anthropologist Edward Schieffelin lived among the Kaluli for nearly a decade and carefully interviewed over two thousand men, women, and children regarding their experience of grief and depression; he found only one person who came close to meeting our full diagnostic criteria for depressive illness.)"
I belong to reddit,there’s not a single forum/sub reddit on there that does have a host of people talking about their anxiety or depression,usually the two together,it is absolutely epidemic.Its like the common cold now.
IMHO We live detached from our spirits now,in a very soulless way,in a very industrialised highly ordered,reasoned society and taught to do nothing but work and consume.I think the majority of cases are not due to broken brains,but the result of our society.
I will leave you with this study on tribal groups.
"Modern-day hunter-gatherer bands—such as the Kaluli people of the New Guinea highlands—have been assessed by Western researchers for the presence of mental illness. Remarkably, clinical depression is almost completely nonexistent among such groups, whose way of life is similar to that of our remote ancestors. Despite living very hard lives—with none of the material comforts or medical advances we take for granted—they’re largely immune to the plague of depressive illness that we see ruining lives all around us. (In perhaps the most telling example, anthropologist Edward Schieffelin lived among the Kaluli for nearly a decade and carefully interviewed over two thousand men, women, and children regarding their experience of grief and depression; he found only one person who came close to meeting our full diagnostic criteria for depressive illness.)"
And there you have it!
Thank you for posting this.
Yes, Western civilization is absolutely soulless . . .
So your grandma was depressed because she had to care for a special needs child, with no outside support. Anyone would be depressed under those circumstances. The point I was trying to make is that people who believe in the medical model, often say that "real" depression (which they call "clinical depression" - I assume because it sounds more official) has nothing to do with a situation. They claim that this "special" depression just swoops down and overtakes them, with no apparent cause.
Yes, sometimes it can. It's not special. It's just depression. And some people can handle the same tough situations and not become depressed. It's all in the way the brain works.
Yes, sometimes it can. It's not special. It's just depression. And some people can handle the same tough situations and not become depressed. It's all in the way the brain works.
Yup. There's growing evidence that one of the major factors in the level of resilience to these sorts of stressors are the early childhood experiences of the person. Basically, early childhood traumas and early childhood neglect train the brain to overreact neurochemically to stressors. This means that as adults, even if they've outwardly recovered from the early issues, the person is more vulnerable to psych issues such as depression and anxiety. But underscoring the fact that mental health and physical health are not two distinct categories - the brain is an organ! - they're also at significantly higher risk of cardiovascular disease and several other physical ailments.
A useful metaphor I've heard used is that you see two people drowning. One is drowning in four feet of water and one is drowning in seven feet of water. "Just stand up" would be great advice or the first person. It's dangerously useless advice for the second person. But from the vantage of the boat, you cannot see how deep the water is.
For those of you who have been around for a while, have you noticed than in today's world that depression and anxiety is so common? I look at my current situation:
My mother is depressed and anxious. Four of my best friends are dealing with anxiety and depression. I can continue on with how many more people I know in that situation. It just seems like it's grown so much in some of the last few years.
It seems like so many people nowadays need validation, have very low self esteem, are insecure or overworked. Part of it makes me sad to see this, and I try to help as I can, but it just feels as if a lot of people are suffering now. I am 33 and 10 years ago, I felt like things were different and people weren't like this.
What gives? I wonder if this is how it's always been and I am just noticing now, or if we really have seen in the past decade an increase in depression and anxiety?
BEATS ME!
I think people exist in one of three groups. There are those who never grow up. There are those who grow up and stay that way. And then......well, in some of the worlds I am around, there is this saying,
"The Fae: this is what happens when you find out that growing up SUCKS!".
Me, I am not part of the Fae (yet), but I do let my creative energies freely flow, day to day, on how I interact with people, with the world. Such as recently when I told a hander of leaflets "No, thank you".......in Russian. It confused the heck of them, of course, because they had no clue to what I said. It did give me a moment of joy, of release.
Getting back to the Fae for a moment, one will find adults who view such activities with total distaste, who will say, "I gave up dress up when I was twelve!" and think they have the superior position because they are adult, through and through.
I think that's an incorrect approach to life. One needs to know when to be an adult and when to be a child.
After all, as they said in ST:TOS........"The more sophisticated the mind, the more the need to play.".
OMG people! Depression is a clinical, diagnosed, real disease, just like diabetes or measles. It's not something that can be cured with God, money, more things to do, more support, rest, or certain foods or vitamins. It's not caused by modern society or too much sugar or a bad childhood. It's a chemical imbalance in the brain. It also isn't something that's always with someone - it can come and go causing mood swings that are quite different from the mood swings of bi-polar disease. It's also not something new. It's been around for centuries. Winston Churchill famously suffered from depression.
There are the regular blues that most people get from time to time, and then there's serious depression. You can have depression in the same way you have any other disease. You can go along and feel fine for days and months, and then wham, out of the blue you feel down, worthless, unable to function for no real perceived reason. It's hard to get out of bed or care about anything, including yourself.
Depression can run in families, like migraines or certain types of cancer. That means that some people have a predisposition to getting depression if everything aligns wrong. Many people can be predisposed to getting something but not ever experience it because it isn't triggered.
I ought to know - I have diagnosed depression. I was like this 10 years ago and I was like this 20 years ago and 30 years ago as well. I've had depression my whole life. On a good day (and there's not too many of those) I can function with the best of them, I'm upbeat and able to plan ahead and I get excited about things to come. But when depression hits me - and it can whack me right out of bed in the morning for no other reason than a bad dream - I don't get dressed, I don't talk to anyone, I don't do anything constructive at all and I stay holed up inside my room for a week at a time.
I would like counseling - not affordable for me. I would do better with a psychiatrist but I'm not exactly rich. I do best on the real Prozac, but that isn't affordable, either. So I'm stuck on generic Prozac (yes, I've tried other drugs) and it keeps me from jumping off bridges, but not much more.
So please don't trivialize depression. Don't say "Just try..." whatever magic potion you think will work. Don't tell depressed people it's all in their heads or to snap out of it. Don't complain about how someone who is depressed won't even try to work their way out of it. Because that's what depression does. It makes you not want to do or try anything.
OMG people! Depression is a clinical, diagnosed, real disease, just like diabetes or measles. It's not something that can be cured with God, money, more things to do, more support, rest, or certain foods or vitamins. It's not caused by modern society or too much sugar or a bad childhood. It's a chemical imbalance in the brain. It also isn't something that's always with someone - it can come and go causing mood swings that are quite different from the mood swings of bi-polar disease. It's also not something new. It's been around for centuries. Winston Churchill famously suffered from depression.
There are the regular blues that most people get from time to time, and then there's serious depression. You can have depression in the same way you have any other disease. You can go along and feel fine for days and months, and then wham, out of the blue you feel down, worthless, unable to function for no real perceived reason. It's hard to get out of bed or care about anything, including yourself.
Depression can run in families, like migraines or certain types of cancer. That means that some people have a predisposition to getting depression if everything aligns wrong. Many people can be predisposed to getting something but not ever experience it because it isn't triggered.
I ought to know - I have diagnosed depression. I was like this 10 years ago and I was like this 20 years ago and 30 years ago as well. I've had depression my whole life. On a good day (and there's not too many of those) I can function with the best of them, I'm upbeat and able to plan ahead and I get excited about things to come. But when depression hits me - and it can whack me right out of bed in the morning for no other reason than a bad dream - I don't get dressed, I don't talk to anyone, I don't do anything constructive at all and I stay holed up inside my room for a week at a time.
I would like counseling - not affordable for me. I would do better with a psychiatrist but I'm not exactly rich. I do best on the real Prozac, but that isn't affordable, either. So I'm stuck on generic Prozac (yes, I've tried other drugs) and it keeps me from jumping off bridges, but not much more.
So please don't trivialize depression. Don't say "Just try..." whatever magic potion you think will work. Don't tell depressed people it's all in their heads or to snap out of it. Don't complain about how someone who is depressed won't even try to work their way out of it. Because that's what depression does. It makes you not want to do or try anything.
I didn't mean to say that brain chemistry depression was anything but. I was speaking otherwise.
Otherwise, it is my fantasy life that probably does not allow the pressures of the world to collapse me. I say my diaries are my anti depression drugs.....and given how much I write in them, how many volumes I have, one might say that I am very depressed? It would be a reasonable observation, for one not in my world.
But the diaries, the way I look at life, keeps me positive and going when it might be so easy to see the negativity of things. The alarm goes off and "Oh, God, it's not the weekend yet?"? No, I roll to, "Another Day, another peanut", greet the cats that sleep with me, call to those others in other parts of the house, turn off the alarm, reflect, pet, write a few notes.
Enter into being someone else here and there. Bridgett Rollins. Stevie Nicks, a dusty cowgirl, Aja. Use their mirror reflections, if in my own interpretation, in my mind to draw my energy from, keep me going.
And when things get too hectic (but not too desperate like Operation: WHIRLWIND)? Well then, there is "compression lift", seeing myself like "Bird in Space".
It does have its disadvantages, this way of life, its occupational risks. It produces an energy wave that has its limits to how much it can build, that at its crest, is disrupting to the protocol controls I have developed. At those extremes, one can be too much of a cheerleader and there needs to be a release, that is not easily done, of some sort.
In answer to the OPs question, non brain chemistry wise, I think our world tries to be too serious, doesn't play enough, or that our forms of relaxation are defined by "others" and not enough by ourselves.
IMHO.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 02-21-2019 at 06:36 AM..
There are true cases of clinical depression, and there are instances of reactive depression.
However, there are also those who 'say' they're depressed so they'll appear as a victim (too common a trend these days). And doctors can be too willing to dole out antidepressants like candy - perhaps the drug companies give out bonuses?.
The days of telling the fakers to "Get over it" is long gone. Now people want to be coddled and fawned over like babies.
Let me just say something about brain "chemistry" and depression. It is a known fact that we can program pathways in our brain. We do it by repetition and we call it learning.
There is a strong and quite credible theory that people who permit themselves constant negative thoughts and emotions can condition themselves into a state of chronic clinical depression. They are reinforcing a negative outlook and building pathways in the brain that produce an uncomfortable feeling state. Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness become habitual.
If a person is in an unpleasant situation long enough and doesn't develop healthy coping mechanisms in response a case of situational depression can become a stubborn case of major depressive disorder.
I've had depression since childhood...and it is in my family history.
As a child, I did not "permit" constant negative thoughts and feelings...
I was only aware of how miserable I was without knowing the reason, clinical depression.
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