by Crystal 53 Replies latest watchtower medical
SS - it's also inherited - the chemical inbalance kind.
Larc - darling - you came back to me! I can be happy now. (drying tears of laughter) See, I just knew in my heart that you loved me, as I love you, because you named your daughter so closely to my online nick. (hands over heart...) *sigh* Oh dream of dreams! (ok, this is where that icon with the lil dude rolling back and forth in laughter goes)
Mim of the fabulous sense of humor class
Mim,
I think I am in love. (With you, of course. I don't want any confusion here.) You have turned my life around. I have decided not to blow my brains out with my father's 45 (gun that is.) You have saved my life.
I think we must be soul mates.
larc---- Mim has reached her posting limit and begged me to post this for her:
......... runs across room with arms outstretched and plants a really great kiss on his lips the monitor.
....... takes a sip of rum and coke poured by bartender daughter and asks soulmate, "want one?"
Mim, of the "glad I could be of help and keep you from blowing your head off with your father's 45 (gun that is).. class"
XW- of the "I'm just the messenger" class
Xena,
Thank you so much. I appreciate you sending the message. I think there is a rum and coke, and a wonderful kiss in my future.
Life is good and getting better.
I think we need to make a distinction between situational depression and clinical depression.
Situational depression might improve with a change in attitude. Situational depression might improve with exercise and with time.
Clinical depression on the other hand is not so easy to treat. No amount of positive thinking or exercise will make it go away. Inheritied depression falls into this class of depression. So does the depression stemming from PTSD. And depression stemming from childhood abuse also falls here. In each of these types of depression recent research has found a neurochemical basis for the depression. However drugs alone will not cure it. For some there is no cure sadly. For others medication, therapy and time (along with a lot of very hard work) will bring about long term change.
As a point of interest for those who have suffered abuse since childhood - recent studies have shown that abuse in childhood during the sensitive developmental changes in the brain actually alters brain chemistry and the way the brain develops - often resulting in clinical depression. This is the reason that depression that results from trauma and abuse is so difficult to treat.
And even though abuse might be considered situational the long term effects of abuse on anyone can create clinical depression. And as long as a person is in an abusive environment the depression will not go away
LadyLee - I'm glad you graced this thread with your intelligence.
Larc - sweety pie sugar stuffins.... ..... hands you a rum and coke. Drink up my love. Cos my cup runneth over and waste not, want not
Mim.... of the climbing the stairway to her bedroom cos she's sleepy class
I'd like to offer an alternative view of how one might deal with depression on a cognitive level, you can consider it for yourself and try it if you think it sounds reasonable, it's up to you.
Somewhere along the line self-esteem was mentioned by Larc, I don't know what specifically was said about it, but how something is interpreted being an important factor was also mentioned. I'm going to speak to those two points.
Frankly, I don't have any use for self esteem, because to me it's just another self concept, and I'd rather see the real thing as it is in the moment rather than build up some artificial construct that's supposed to identify me and make me feel good and get me through the day. I'm sure that's not for everybody, but I mention it for a reason. This is connected with the point about interpretation. Something happens, perhaps it is something someone else did "to" us, but often times it can be interpreted in a negative way and the result is we feel depressed. Well, you might say my approach is to keep it simple and cut out all the non-essential stuff. Maybe I can interpret things in a positive way, but then that may not be what the other person intended either. (if indeed they intended anything toward me at all) So my approach is to drop interpretation and simply observe what's going on and take it in fully. Of course, in order to do that you have to drop your self concepts too, because people do tend to react from there, and largely from self esteem. "This makes me feel good, that makes me feel bad" is the common reaction. But whether it's the result of something that you had worked on or the opinion of some other person or whatever, what does that actually mean? As far as people go, I really don't care what people feel about me or whether they like me, I DO care about the reasons they might have for feeling that way, but sometimes people just don't like you. If I failed at some task miserably, then I failed at that task miserably, it doesn't mean I as a person am a failure at everything or is even bad at that task, it only means exactly what happened - I failed at that task at that time. (so the same thing applies to people, one person doesn't like you doesn't mean everybody or that you're not a likeable person) Any other interpretation is simply things we add on to it, and doesn't actually reflect the truth of what has happend. I've found that not only does viewing things this way help with depression, it makes your thinking process in general clearer too. I mean how simple can you get? Just don't make up anything, and when you do just recognize that it's just something your mind made up. Maybe this all boils down to a bumper sticker I saw the other day, which simply says "Don't believe everything you think." I think that might be a reminder worthy of being framed on a wall sometimes.
Do We CHOOSE to be depressed? The answer to that question is YES!!
That must be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read.
I must admit that I didn't understand it myself but have had some these past 2 years. And I've always been a very positive person never thought I'd have a problem with that, I was too strong for that, WRONG, I didn't have a clue.
I think they way to treat depression depends on what causes it. There's no right or wrong way what works for one person won't always work for someone else. Sometimes it might take meds, or herbs, or counseling. Other times it might take friendship or good polka music (you really can't feel blue listening to polka I swear ). Maybe it's just a phase in your life, or how your body chooses to handle stress or problems. Some people get ulcers from stress no one tells them to 'think positive' . I think it's great to think positive and it doesn't hurt and can probably help to some extent, but it has to be something that comes from inside, you can't be told it.
I don't know about you but when I'm 'depressed' (and I realize mine was not that severe) I just wanted to be alone, and to think things out and the more people pushed me to 'come out of it' the deeper I went I rebelled against it. IT's like throwing water on a grease fire it DOESN'T work with that kind of thing, with certain people. If you want to help someone don't tell them what to do (ie think positive, get over it yada yada yada) but just be there to give them a hand if they need it, or someone to talk to or cry with. Encourage them and help their self image, but don't push them and don't ever thing you 'know' what another person is going through, that's not possible.
I think depression is a personal issue and is a way for someone to grow, to understand themselves and why they feel or think the way they do. Only you can prevent depression or come out of it, I think it's an internal thing. I don't think it's 'wrong' to be depressed. I think it might have saved my life, it just shut me down, when I was overloaded. Because of it I rested and went to bed and that's how I started to heal. It should be viewed as a growing process. What doesn't kill ya, makes you stronger, and this board is full of the strongest people I know. I'm so proud to be one of you.
Ven
Crystal that has to be the most assinine thing I've ever heard, yep it's about choice, yep people choose to have chemical imbalances, and how many PHD's do you have? Oh hey why don't you tell a schizophrenic, they choose to hallucinate.
