Depression Revisted

[jonesg]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

Joe, meds don't work long term for most people. I was just reading an article about this that was basically saying the medical community really needs to do something else because the long term benefits in meds for depression just isn't there.

Having said that, here is the cold, harsh truth.

Only you can solve your depression.

There is no magic cure, no magic pill, no just do this one thing and presto, you are cured. It doesn't exist.

It is a long, continual road of slowly but surely chipping away at it and improving your life.

You drew the short straw in life and are prone to depression. Some people are blind, some people are deaf, everyone at one time or another has to deal with a challenge. This is yours.

The only way to cure depression is to get yourself back involved in life even when everything in your being is screaming no. We humans have the power to override our minds. We can stop taking stuff we are addicted to, we can lose weight when it seems impossible, and yes, we can win when it comes to depression.

Once you take responsibility for your life and get back into action with the right attitude, you will win.

Start small and work your way up, step by step, slowly but surely, it will happen.

Bad stuff happens, even stuff that is completely out of our control, but how we respond to it is completely in our control and 100% our responsibility.

It is up to you Joe. Sure, there is lots of help, advice, therapy etc.... but none of that is going to help you unless you get into action, even when your mind doesn't want you to.

You have to think outside yourself, learn how your depressed mind works and tricks you, out smart it, tell it what it is saying isn't true and even though you tell me not to do something, I am going to do it anyway because I KNOW it is the right thing to do.

You have to embrace your challenge and accept it.

Yeh, all that.
Although the truth isn't cold or harsh, it merely seems that way to a sick mind.
For some the light of truth shines, for others it merely burns.

I got well when I stopped listening to my own thoughts. I found zoloft to be temporary and that's not a bad thing , my own life is too short to be lived on a half azed basis, staring off into space , drooling while people were talking to me.

There simply is no mix of chemicals that can be ingested, through the stomache , into the blood and across the blood brain barrier that can make a dishonest mind change its way.
There is no way to affect the will when the will resists change.
The best zoloft did for me was to create a respite, a window of opportunity, but its temporary. If nothing is done to uncover the truth that is concealed by the lies a sick mind tells itself, nothing will change.

I had to act my way to good thinking because my thinking only led to bad actions.
There is no God pill.

[jonesg]

Originally Posted by High Altitude

I am not assuming a level of functionality at all. I did encourage therapy, meds, exercise etc. and I said that meds and exercise will give you a temporary reprieve (i.e. Functionality to do the things you need to do) and that is when you need to put in your most work of reprogramming your brain, but those meds and exercise are temporary for a large majority.

There are always levels of functionality. If you aren't at the point of being able to catch your behaviors at the time it is happening, then keep a log and write it in a journal after. As you keep that log you will one day catch that big troll depression telling you something that isn't true and you will have a light bulb moment.

I learned a lot in therapy but the problem is it only showed me how sick I was, there's a difference between knowledge of self and know thyself.

[jonesg]

Originally Posted by zentropa

Joe, have you considered using a light-therapy lamp or light box? It can't hurt to add it to your arsenal.

Depression can have many causes and just as many solutions. Usually a combo. Don't dismiss all of High Altitude's suggestions, just add the ones you like to what you are already doing. Like with your diabetes, you're not trying just one treatment are you?

Please be good to yourself. I lost my first-born to depression a few years ago. I wish she had tried more things to help herself.

It wasn't until I had exhausted every method that I finally surrendered to what I knew I had to do. I knew it all along. I think everyone does.

[jonesg]

Originally Posted by tranquildreamer95

Joe, if you want some help, you should talk a little more about the problems your facing, I deal with some depression at times to. Depression is usually linked to anxiety and sometimes your self esteem. In order to live a happy and prosperous life, you have to force yourself to be happy and productive in whatever it is you want to do. Sometimes you have to start by faking being happy and not depressed. When you fake it long enough, eventually you will train your mind to actually be happy. Hence the saying, "fake it til you make it" In order to have a happy mindset, we have to train ourselves and our mind to be what we want it to be.
Always remember, you control your mind, your mind does not control you. So hang in there and keep fighting. There's a quote I really like that says "if you're going through hell, keep going until it gets brighter".

Fake it til you make it is a saying heard in AA, only ever repeated by still sick alcoholics.
There is no recovery in faking.

[jaminhealth]

I have two good friends, both very holistically inclined but both deal with life times of depression and other mental issues. Talking to one friend this morning and we're trying to put dinner plans together she is talking about how down she's feeling. Often when I'm feeling more down I take an extra dose of potassium..yesterday I took 500mg and know that low sodium V8 juice gives me a great lift when I drink a glass of it. Another friend who is challenged with CFS/ME will take some times 700mg for a good lift.

Many of us probably don't get what we need with many nutrients including potassium.

https://www.livestrong.com/article/2...low-potassium/

I'm working on myself to get thru this life and looking at everything that could help me so pass this on for others. I'm not talking about overdosing. Avocados are a great source of potassium but one does not sit and eat avocados all day. I eat a half almost every day.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by jonesg

Yeh, all that.
Although the truth isn't cold or harsh, it merely seems that way to a sick mind.
For some the light of truth shines, for others it merely burns.

I got well when I stopped listening to my own thoughts. I found zoloft to be temporary and that's not a bad thing , my own life is too short to be lived on a half azed basis, staring off into space , drooling while people were talking to me.

There simply is no mix of chemicals that can be ingested, through the stomache , into the blood and across the blood brain barrier that can make a dishonest mind change its way.
There is no way to affect the will when the will resists change.
The best zoloft did for me was to create a respite, a window of opportunity, but its temporary. If nothing is done to uncover the truth that is concealed by the lies a sick mind tells itself, nothing will change.

I had to act my way to good thinking because my thinking only led to bad actions.
There is no God pill.

This is true. You can even have the most effective pill ever, but it works in a way it the problems just dissapear. So long as you take your pill, that side pathway the brain prefers is shut out. But it effects a lot more things. And you yourself, as a conscious person, have to look at the situation.

Meds didn't work on me. I didn't absorb them right to begin with. Stimulants tended to hit all at once and I had a wonderful rush, but was just left tired. Before a doctor gives you a script of something you are supposed to take forever, they need to try it and see what happens. I could have told them but after the first appointment, saw whoever was there. I did tell them but assume it went no further.

I've found that I myself must make a goal, and determine the best way to get there, and use or NOT use the 'tools' they assume you need. And I've found strenghts which got buried in the rubble. I finally explained to a real medical psych guy. He got it about how the pills work randomly and was impressed that I'd found alternate means. He even appreciated that I was very particularly careful with health effects.

I haven't changed, but how I approach bending the odd pathways has and I do feel despite my own version of therapy that I'm doing as well as I will, and I don't think that we are *all* intended to take that same pathway.