Do We CHOOSE to be depressed? (page 4)

Mimilly

I CHOOSE to go and do some housework. I CHOOSE to not let this nonsense of Crystal's upset my night.

But - I did not EVER ..... CHOOSE ... to suffer clinical depression. Ever.

Mim

How do you feel right now? You are not depressed, you are pissed. Why are you pissed? You are pissed because you think some stuff written here is utter bullshit. Now, if you had said to yourself, "this is nonesense, and whoever wrote it is a fool", you would have been amused, not angry. The point is that what we say to ourselves when we interprete stuff has a powerful effect on our emotions.

Now, my wife and I have to go to the store, so I will be gone for awhile. I wanted to state that, so that you don't interprete may absence as rejection.

Mimilly

Larc - you're too damned funny, and a mind reader to boot. Golly. I'm not pissed. I'm not angry. I AM presently suffering depression and seeing a therapist, taking my meds, exercising, reading positive literature etc.

The reason I'm not amused (which doesn't mean I'm pissed or angry btw) is that someone might actually take her nonsense seriously - which is dangerous. I care - so shoot me.

Absence as rejection? Again. You're too damned funny. Not that you were even minutely serious about that. But... darling... come back... I need you! I'm nothing without you larc! Why don't you ever listen to me? (sniff) You don't care! That's it! Isn't it! You don't care! (I'm having quite the gigglefest over this)

And yes, I'm well aware of how cognitive distortions affect our perceptions.

Mim

Satanus

Ok, i've rethought my post, and here is what i have come up with.

The depressions we suffer at this moment are a redult of a seires of perhaps thousands of decisions that we have made. Each of these decisions by itself was not to be depressed, but altogether, that was the result. Here is a very simplified example. The very first decision in this chain could have been something as simple as a decision about a quick look from a parent. The decision about what the parent meant by the quick look could have been misenterpreted. The parent could have been stressed. The quick look could have been merely to check how one was doing. As a child, one could have misenterpreted it as a dissaproving glance. Misenterpretations like this could develop into a habit. It could lead the child to feel inferior/put down. The inferior feeling leads to a low grade complex. The low grade complex influences more decisions that lean to the negative side of things. Then, years later, poof, we are depressed, even though we never consciously decided to be.

Is my second name carl jung, or what?

SS

Mimilly

Saint Satan.... that pretty much sums up cognitive distortions and their affect on our perceptions, but what about chemical imbalances in the brain that cause depression (hence the need for meds) ?

mim

Sabine

Crystal, I read a very good book last month...Prozac Nation. I have dealt with depression on and off most of my life. But after reading that book, wow clinical depression is nothing anyone would choose.

larc

Hey Mim,

OK, you are not pissed, but you are not amused. So, you have an emotion right now that is different than depression, because of how you are interpreting stuff. While you may be chronicly depressed, you are not right this minute, so that's a good thing. Believe me, I am not making fun of depression. It only happened to me once and it was awful.

Now, I do know that you can't live without me. That is why I am here for you. I am glad I gave you a case of the giggles. Giggles are a good thing. Humor and giggles is one of my main ways of dealing with dark moods, hence the name Larc which implies a humourous attitude.

Hey Mim, my daughter is named Miriam but we call her Mimi, pretty close to your name.

Satanus

Mimill

Good question. I won't argue that the chemical imbalances do start, all on their own, without any input from the brains owner. The question is how often do the thinking and the activities of the person have an impact on brain chemistry. I know that if i take a long ride on my bicicle on a nice day, i end up feeling better than if i sit in front of this farkeling computer all day.

SS

Crystal

Positive and Negative Thinking
By Dr. Gay Lynn Saunders

Our bodies run on positive and negative influences. Each impulse that is input has its effect upon body chemistry and determines the kinds of messages that get sent to the brain. Chemical substances run our bodies. They tell our organs what and how to do things. Nerves transmit and transfer messages through chemicals known as neurotransmitters. These are aided by other chemicals. Drugs work on the body by altering these chemicals or blocking their actions.

motions of man are are shown by scientists to be the flow of chemical charges moving through different portions of the body and brain. When emotions become uncontrolled or even slightly unbalanced, the chemical transmitters in our bodies become unbalanced, destroying the harmony of the body and mind. These imbalances cause our glands to generate inappropriate hormones and enzymes - chemical poisons that can cause pain, illness, and even death. For instance, anger and fear suspend the process of digestion, acidifying the blood and drying the glandular secretions. The result of these reactions show in our health and appearance; people can actually see when these things are happening to us. These effects are often felt in pain. Sometimes we feel nothing at all for years, but suddenly our bodies turn on us with disease and dis-ease.

So, if wrong thinking can tear down the human body, the opposite should be true of positive thinking. Good thoughts will harmonize and build up; in fact, the positive is constructive and infinitely more powerful and easy to see on people's faces and bodies. When body and mind are balanced, chemistry balances and all parts of the body are normally fed and nourished. Nothing will be under- or over-active and no negative thought messages are generated. So, we should think just as though our thoughts were visible to those around us.

The Gate Control Theory of Pain is an explanation of how chemicals translate into messages that turn pain on or off. The "gate" part of the theory is this: as impulses travel to the brain, they have to pass a "pain gate". This is made up of a collection of nerve cells in the spinal cord. When messages get through this gate, they wind up at the pain centers of the brain. This gate can be opened or closed by various factors. Among these factors are nerve messages coming from the skin, brain, muscles, and organs. These nerve messages use a chemical language. If our chemistry is unbalanced or poisoned, our messages are negative "gate opening" messages. We then have pain.

Opening the gate is an easy thing to do. Changing our chemistry in a negative way is easy. Trauma, bad food, illness, and overwork all stimulate messages to open the gate. Excess of something, even a good thing, can cause an imbalanced chemistry that opens the gate. You've all heard the saying, "too much of a good thing..."

Our mental attitudes are an extremely powerful stimulus to the nerves for sending messages to open or close gates. The most important factor in blood pH is negative thinking. Long-term attitude or huge blasts of negative attitude will make the body prone to disease and infection, especially the degenerative processes of arthritis and cancer, and Candida and virus infections. Pleasant, positive thoughts and situations, humor, pleasing sights and sounds can act to "close the gate" and relieve the pain. We are stronger in our bodies in this phase and more resistant to disease and illness. Stress-reducing techniques and meditation help to keep us in these positive states.

We can always find situations in which we find ourselves hopelessly negative and nothing we do will change that. We may not even be able to identify the negative situation. It's possible that we don't realize we are in a negative state. We may feel badly and can feel our bodies feeling more at dis-ease minute by minute. We can do all the stress-reducing we want, but the problem is still there. It is at these times when we must seek outside help. In my practice, I use several techniques to help you release negativities. Some of them help you identify the problem; others simply release gently without knowing or having to wade through the issue. Body workers also do many things to release emotion: Myofascial Release, Heller Work and Feldenkrals are just a sample. For the larger picture, counselors are invaluable.

No matter whether you are healthy or not, the important point here is that positive and negative attitudes, emotions and thoughts will make you weak; positive attitudes, emotions and thoughts will make you strong. Remember to keep watch over them and deal with the issues instead of creating an illness or dis-ease situation.

WildHorses

I think it all depends on how deep the depression is. If severe, then I think only therapy and meds can help.

Do We CHOOSE to be depressed?

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