Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If people who were depressed liked being depressed, wouldn't that make them, in some odd way...happy? Sometimes it's really hard dealing with someone that's depressed and one comes to the conclusion that the person doesn't want to get better and that they like being depressed. I get it. On top of dealing with my own issues, I have a partner that's going through depression. It's easy to label someone "lazy" when they don't have the energy to go through regular activities, like showering or reading the mail, or when all they want to do is sleep. It's not "spontaneous", and depression can be brought about by a number of things: it could be biological, environmental, or a combination of things.
What some people don't understand is that depressed people aren't being lazy when they don't have the energy to do anything other than sleep. Sleep is an escape, not a luxury. They're afraid they can't even get through the day so the easiest thing to do is sleep.
Cannabis is the best treatment for depression for most. Docs knew this in 1800s. US Dispensatory of 1851 listed cannabis as good treatment for all mental health issues. Cannabis was first suggested as depression treatment in 1700s. By 1840, 100 medical papers about cannabis were published. Best wishes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivorytickler
What are your medical qualifications? Do you have research to back up your claims? It's easier to take a post like this seriously if you actually have done the leg work to become qualified to make a declaration like this.
My niece is a psychologist and she'd disagree with you. (I've discussed what depression is/is not with her before) She'd tell you that it's a difficult condition to treat and that they have not found the perfect combination of drugs that works yet but not being able to cure something doesn't make it not a disease. It makes it a disease/condition they haven't yet figured out how to treat. Unfortunately, there are lots of those.
In which case it is called "situational depression." That is not the same as clinical depression, which is a chronic condition. Only a trained therapist or a doctor is qualified to know the difference. When we tell someone who is CLINICALLY depressed "take it easy, your problems will probably resolve themselves," we may be doing them a great disservice. If you're wrong, they could get in real trouble.
If anyone out there knows a person who has shown depression symptoms for months and it is interfering with their life, PLEASE tell them to get evaluated by a professional. They are NOT going to get better. People with clinical depression sometimes do experience a temporary lift in their mood disorder ... but it comes back.
But in spite of all those trained therapists, doctors, and mind-altering drugs, the suicide rate and SSI dependency for depression are just going up. Yes depression exists, but if all those therapists, doctors and drugs were effective the suicide rate would be dropping. If diabetics were being diagnosed and given drugs but their death rates soared, everyone would question the effectiveness of the doctors and drugs.
Cannabis is the best treatment for depression for most. Docs knew this in 1800s. US Dispensatory of 1851 listed cannabis as good treatment for all mental health issues. Cannabis was first suggested as depression treatment in 1700s. By 1840, 100 medical papers about cannabis were published. Best wishes.
So let the depressed move to Colorado or Washington, give them some pot seeds, cut off oll the expensive drugs and disability checks. If pot cures them, then no more disability and no more prescription drugs. We could save billions of dollars for taxpayers and insurance companies.
I used to think like the OP and some of the others. I was always thought it was just a string of bad luck, bad relationships, boredom, hating my job, etc., etc., etc.
Then it happend to me. I tried to deny it. Shook it off. Went out for long walks in the sunshine. Played with my dogs. Hugged my beautiful wife. All of it.
It didn't help--none of it. I had absolutely no reason for wanting to crawl into a hole and pull the dirt in around me, yet that was how I felt. As I drove around, I often wondered what it would have been like to veer slightly to the right and crash into a pole/tree/whatever. But because of wife, etc., I just couldn't do it to them even though I knew they would be better off without me (or so I thought).
Then I got help. I have better days and worse days, but on the whole, things are pretty even. Now, that said, my highs aren't nearly as high as they once were, but my lows aren't nearly as rock-bottom low either.
I was a staunch doubter. "Shake it off", "it's not real", "things are great". Well, no, they should have been great, but in my mind, that didn't help.
It DOES exist.
There is nothing like the voice of experience.
Thanks for sharing yours.
One positive thing to come out of your depression is new awareness and compassion for those who truly suffer, so good for you.
So let the depressed move to Colorado or Washington, give them some pot seeds, cut off oll the expensive drugs and disability checks. If pot cures them, then no more disability and no more prescription drugs. We could save billions of dollars for taxpayers and insurance companies.
Actually Washington D.C. does enable PTSD. You know the funny guy that said our troops were pulling out of Afghanistan in sixteen months, back in 2008? Well, I am certainly not a pot smoker but mary jane is no miracle drug. But it is better than most zombie drugs.
Last edited by thegreenflute334; 03-03-2014 at 07:30 PM..
Reason: adition
Cannabis is the best treatment for depression for most. Docs knew this in 1800s. US Dispensatory of 1851 listed cannabis as good treatment for all mental health issues. Cannabis was first suggested as depression treatment in 1700s. By 1840, 100 medical papers about cannabis were published. Best wishes.
Yea...and they treated with arsenic, organophosphates and mercury back then too.
MJ is a hallucinogen and has been proven to trigger schizophrenia. Just because it makes YOU feel good, doesn't mean it's a cure-all.
Depression is a real condition, not one for others to scoff at.
Just like arthritis---I've had rheumatoid arthritis for ~ 30 years, and had to endure much disdain, disbelief, mockery, etc. You're too young to have arthritis, you need to exercise more, its all in your head, etc.
Also, recently I was diagnosed with depression. Funny, I really didn't feel "depressed", but, feeling depressed isn't necessiarly a symptom of depression I'd lost my balance, or sense or orientation. I literally couldn't walk more than 10 ft without "circling'.....when I was dx with depression and placed on meds, my sense of balance came back.
After battling a chronic disease for 30+ years, its bound to take its toll on one, physically and mentally. Am I taking the "easy way out"? Well, why not, if it works. Better than endlessly chasing someone else's ideas of what I should do---go swimmming, go to therapy, take vit A-Z. get religion, then, if it doesn't work, its because I didn't want it to work. Look, if I have a health condition that's seriously affecting my ability to live a productive, quality life, and there's something out there that can help, why am I the "weak person" for using it?
Just like I have high blood pressure, which is well under control with metoprolol. Sure, I do the other "good stuff" too, like watch diet, exercise, etc, but its important to maintain my BP on a consistent basis, and if the meds help, I'm not apologizing for it!
Interesting - Rheumatoid Arthritis and Major Depression both also run in my family. I actually have a minor case of rheumatoid arthritis, but a severe case of major depression. Exercise and nutrition practically cured both, though (as long as I keep both up). But I have to be very careful. If I don't lift weights for a week, or do high intensity interval training for a week, or let myself eat too much sugar, my depression AND my rheumatoid arthritis will flare up. Just goes to show you that sometimes what is good for the body is also good for the mind. I'm lucky though. One of my uncles was a very active person, but when RA hit him, he couldn't keep up his active lifestyle, no matter how hard he tried. After a couple of years of battling it, he went into remission, but his body has never been the same. RA aged him 10 years in a matter of probably 3.
Depression manifests itself in many different ways, for different people. In my family, major depression has often been accompanied by other mental disorders, like ADHD, OCD, and SAD (social anxiety disorder)
Interesting - Rheumatoid Arthritis and Major Depression both also run in my family. I actually have a minor case of rheumatoid arthritis, but a severe case of major depression. Exercise and nutrition practically cured both, though (as long as I keep both up). But I have to be very careful. If I don't lift weights for a week, or do high intensity interval training for a week, or let myself eat too much sugar, my depression AND my rheumatoid arthritis will flare up. Just goes to show you that sometimes what is good for the body is also good for the mind. I'm lucky though. One of my uncles was a very active person, but when RA hit him, he couldn't keep up his active lifestyle, no matter how hard he tried. After a couple of years of battling it, he went into remission, but his body has never been the same. RA aged him 10 years in a matter of probably 3.
Depression manifests itself in many different ways, for different people. In my family, major depression has often been accompanied by other mental disorders, like ADHD, OCD, and SAD (social anxiety disorder)
Well, you say you have a minor case of RA, I'm glad for you. I was stricken with a MAJOR case when I turned 21, I went from a helathy, active young lady to someone who could barely walk in a matter of months. It truly depends on the severity of the individual case and has nothing to do with one's "attitude", etc. While first DX with RA, I completed (as in Graduated), from a major university, worked part-time, got my first job, etc, etc, more than many so-called "able-bodied" people my age who were sitting on their butts in their parents' homes while I literally battled life with a major, major disease. Unfortunately, there wasn't much they could do about RA back then, except asprin therapy. It has nothing to do with muscle weakness, muscle weakness is an effect, not a cause, of RA.
Fortunately, many powerful drugs have been developed since I first began my long battle with RA, including biologics such as Enbrel, Humira, to name a few. They truly get at the cause of the RA, not just the symptoms.
Now that I'm in a relative remission, I do find mild exercise does help, but when you're in a major state of inflamation, exercise just further aggravates the situation. I was so bad I had to be hospitalized 2x for steriods by IV, and my kidneys almost failed, due to the rampant inflamation the RA caused. I couldn't even chew food for about a week or so, due to RA in the jaws.
I also now find B-vitamins help, but truly nothing helped the state I was in, about 30 years ago. Major depression often accompanies such conditions, the constant pain and lack of mobility does take its toll.
Glad to hear you're doing ok, keep up whatever helps!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'd lost my balance, or sense or orientation. I literally couldn't walk more than 10 ft without "circling'.....when I was dx with depression and placed on meds, my sense of balance came back.