Anyone suffer from depression?

[Kiechi]

Title says all. Unipolar or bi-polar. I'm interested in anything you can tell me. Symptoms, medication how you attack depression. All that. Thank you. Oh also how one can tell if they have depression. Thanks.

[anachronistic]

My boss's wife has bi-polar. She is really antisocial. Before she quit at the office (due to a furious breakdown she had in the office, because of arguing with one of my co-workers) I think she often contemplates suicide.

I once thought I was bipolar. I got a counselor, and we talked about my last relationship (while it was still going) and he said I'm not bipolar; I'm just unhappy with that girl. I'm happy to admit that I'm not bipolar!

On another note, my mom is very insecure and could be bipolar. She often threatens to kill herself. It's sickening.

[The Great OV!!!]

I am depressed because life sucks, not because I am sick...so I don't need treatment.

[Gribble]

I was chronically depressed for a long time. My grades slipped, so my parents rushed me off to see psychologists and psychiatrists. The former pumped me full of mind-altering drugs which drove me to the brink of suicide and the latter gave me lots of really great advice I already knew, and like all great advice, it was utterly worthless to me. One day I decided **** it. I was sick of being depressed. I took a long hard look at myself and determined why I was depressed. Well, I looked like shit. So I busted my rump and lost the weight, put on some muscle, bought a new wardrobe. I also had way too much time on my hands, time I spent brooding. So I got myself a part-time job and I made it a habit to meet new people. You don't want to be depressed? Then quit moping about it and do something. Lonely? Meet people. Too anxious? Get a job that forces you to interact daily. Don't sit around waiting for a miracle pill. Don't expect someone else to give you all the answers. Find them your own damn self do something about it.

[Gigabitch]

Some depression is chemical, some is situational. The symptoms are similar, but the solution is not. Chemical depression requires medication, which is scary. Doctors just don't know enough about brain chemistry for my comfort, but they act like they do. I think meds should be a last resort.

Sometimes it a vicious cycle where you feel like crap, so you don't take such good care of yourself, which makes you feel worse, so you stop taking care of yourself altogether, which makes you feel terrible, and then you want to kill yourself.

I think some depression can be cured by diet and exercise.

[memoria vitae]

Some depression is chemical, some is situational. The symptoms are similar, but the solution is not. Chemical depression requires medication, which is scary. Doctors just don't know enough about brain chemistry for my comfort, but they act like they do. I think meds should be a last resort.

Sometimes it a vicious cycle where you feel like crap, so you don't take such good care of yourself, which makes you feel worse, so you stop taking care of yourself altogether, which makes you feel terrible, and then you want to kill yourself.

I think some depression can be cured by diet and exercise.

thank you so much, Gig! i have met far too many people who only know Gribble's view (Gribble, that is not a poke at you, merely using your personal experience as a reference). i know a lot of people who can only see depression as a person's fault, as though every person should take complete responsibility for every thought and emotion. but depression is not always an emotional or mental disability. quite often, as in my case, as Gig so kindly pointed out, it is entirely a physiological disease. my body does not produce certain chemicals, and this lack creates certain psycho-social deficiencies commonly described as depression. however sheer force of will cannot jumpstart my body into creating said chemicals anymore than it can change my eye color or my gender. my personal depression requires the assistance of medication. yet not all people benefit from medicine, just as not all people benefit from counseling sessions and so on.

...forgive me. this is a bit of a sore spot for me. i have had members of other message boards and such tell me i'm weak because i have to take medicine, that i am depressed for no reason other than i choose to be. and many of them said they had experienced depression at one point or another and they just pushed themselves out of it. so it was obvious that it should work for me, and if it didn't it must be my fault. fortunately i had a very deep understanding of my physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self and of my afflictions to realize my circumstances were vastly different from any of theirs. yet it scares me to think that there are people who might take advice like that to heart when they really need something completely different. for a year and a half i didn't realize i had depression, and so i tried to force myself to get over whatever it was that was holding me down. i am not exaggerating in the least when i say that course of action left me completely broken, and it very nearly killed me. it was the emotional, mental and spiritual equivalent of taking a cup of fine china and shattering it with a sledge hammer. i know first hand the dangers of underestimating and misunderstanding something serious like depression, and that is something i don't want anyone else to ever have to go through.

[Gribble]

Vitae, could you please adjust your font? I don't want to be a jerk, but it gives me a headache to read what you write. I'm sure you have some interesting things to say, I just can't bring myself to squint at the screen more than thirty seconds.

Depression is nothing but chemical imbalances. And there might be cases where nothing will bring you ought of the rut but a drug. However, I think doctors are too quick to prescribe their wonder-pills, and they don't bother doing enough research. In my case I was put on Paxil. Today we know Paxil screws teenagers up. Much as people bash it, I think there's a lot to be said for the John Wayne mentality. When I say I was chronically depressed I don't mean my girlfriend left me and I felt bad for a week. I mean I was down in the dumps for over a year. And one day I decided that wasn't acceptable and I forced myself to change.

Take a look at war veterans. My friend's dad used to do research on them. WWII you get a bunch of guys who march off to hell and back, then go on with their lives. Vietnam you have a bunch of people who come back and can no longer function in society. Both wars were vicious, horrifying affairs. The difference, at least according to this researcher, was all in mentality. Back then you had a bunch of duty-bound John Wayne's. Today you have a bunch of feminized tenderfeet. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and take a good hard look at yourself and enact the necessary changes. I believe that more often than not that’s the case with depressed people.

[Zach]

I think there is quite a bit to be said about depression. I for one am currently suffering from depression, and I can't figure out how to get out of it. I think everyone is different when it comes to this. I was perfectly happy in life before my girlfriend left, I know its natural to feel depressed after something like that happens.. but its gonna be march now and that happened back in October. I don't think I should feel like this anymore.

I have made numerous changes in my life to try and fend off this depression but Im losing. I noticed I had met this great girl and things seemed perfect but we were just friends. I was so happy when I was with her but that story ended rather quickly and needless to say she is not interested in me like that. As soon as I was rejected I went back to a depressed state like how I had felt back in October.

After going through these things I realized I have been relying on my girls and a romantic relationships to drive my happy boat around. After completely losing all of what I once had I was left with no means of happiness. I desperately sought out alternate means of happiness including everything I could think of... Dancing, Singing, Dating, Smoking, Drinking, Gaming, Reading, Tv, Exercise, Meditation, Martial Arts.. everything...

Nothing is working. I sit here about to cry right now because I don't know what else to do. My mother is on Prozac for severe depression... I can't help but feel like I am also naturally chemically imbalanced. But I refuse to take the medicine... call me stubborn but I share gribbles perspective and I have been kicking myself repeatedly to get the **** up out of this dark hole Im in but I can't do it.. Just doesn't work.

I know for a fact once I find a great girl who I can be with, my depression would subside and I would be happy again... but there is something VERY wrong about that, but then again I don't know what else to do.

Sorry for the rant I just figured I would get this out since it was brought up.

Good luck to everyone else who may be suffering as I am.

[Gigabitch]

Depression takes TIME to come out of, and it's a very long road. If you keep taking baby steps in the right direction, you will eventually find yourself in a better place. Expectations of blissful happiness are sure to kick you in the ass, though, and Zach's point about looking to love to save you being a bad idea is valid.

Medication can only do so much, and that's if it works for you at all. I'm becoming a big believer in structure- that's what's helped me the most. I suffered from situational depression when I got divorced and my entire life changed drastically. I couldn't take care of myself very well any more. Suddenly my daughter was gone to her dad's house half the time, most of my stuff was in boxes because I had moved, and nobody noticed if I didn't get much of my work done. I stopped eating right and that made it much worse. I had to treat myself like a retarded person- leaving myself lists of things to do that most people would never need- like:

1. Eat breakfast
2. Vacuum
3. Feed the dogs
4. Clean the cat box

This is all getting better since I've started adhering to a strict schedule. For a while, there, I had people checking on me every day.

Getting together with my boyfriend in the middle of all of this was a huge complication. I was plagued by doubts about whether or not I was even fit to be in a relationship and questioned my motivations for being with him. Fortunately, he's known me for many, many years and knows that my recent state of personal crisis is not my usual one.

[Off2College]

I believe everyone goes through rough times or depression. But for the most part it goes away after awhile.

[Tiay]

Gribble, I know someone who went through a similar situation as you. Though, I'd be careful telling a depressed person to "quit moping" because some types of depression really can't be helped by the person, and telling them that they *can* help themselves only makes them worse, because you're practically blaming them for everything and saying that if they wanted they could easily fix it.

[Tiay]

damnit, I see you guys already covered all that. nevermind -.-

[notxperfect]

I have suffered from depression in the past. It feels like nothing can go right and life is just one big black hole.
But you can get over depression - you just need to help yourself.
Heres some symptoms:

• You feel miserable and sad.
• You feel exhausted a lot of the time with no energy .
• You feel as if even the smallest tasks are sometimes impossible.
• You seldom enjoy the things that you used to enjoy-you may be off sex or food or may 'comfort eat' to excess.
• You feel very anxious sometimes.
  
• You don't want to see people or are scared to be left alone. Social activity may feel hard or impossible.
  
• You find it difficult to think clearly.
  
• You feel like a failure and/or feel guilty a lot of the time.
  
• You feel a burden to others.
  
• You sometimes feel that life isn't worth living.
  
• You can see no future. There is a loss of hope. You feel all you've ever done is make mistakes and that's all that you ever will do.
• You feel irritable or angry more than usual.
  
• You feel you have no confidence.
  
• You spend a lot of time thinking about what has gone wrong, what will go wrong or what is wrong about yourself as a person. You may also feel guilty sometimes about being critical of others (or even thinking critically about them).
• You feel that life is unfair.
  
• You have difficulty sleeping or wake up very early in the morning and can't sleep again. You seem to dream all night long and sometimes have disturbing dreams.
  
• You feel that life has/is 'passing you by.'
  
• You may have physical aches and pains which appear to have no physical cause, such as back pain.

i hope i helped and if you ever need to talk because ive been through this just gimme a PM!
Amy xxx

[Tiay]

though, you could have none of those symptoms and still be depressed, or you could have a lot of them and not be depressed. It's kinda hard to tell via a checklist.

the difficulty sleeping point is a very common sign.

[Kiechi]

Or sleeping too much.