"Depression"

KJacks

KJacks

Member
I have noticed over the last year a startling amount of teenagers claiming to be suffering from depression, as someone who has battled depression in the past years i usually ask what medications they have been on, those types of things. But now more often then not these kids are self diagnosed, because they feel sad they are depressed. Although some of these kids may be depressed i feel like this is really taking away from the severity of actual depression, making it worse for kids with actual depression...

Thoughts?
 
I am a very happy person. If you ask any of my friends who dont know i am sure they could never guess. But it has taken me a long time to get to that level
 
If this were facebook I would agree, but this is an anonymous ski forum so I don't think it changes all that much in terms of what people think of it.
 
Yeah kids are becoming huge pussys, you think that slaves in 3rd world country's are depressed? we all go through shit be happy you have a house to go home to, and food on your plate. waaaaaaaa i can't make friends so I'm going to sit in my room all day because no one loves me.
 
This isn't new.

People love to exaggerate/don't understand what they're saying. It's the same way people say things like "I'm so ocd"

Apart from that, yeah, there's a certain stigma attached to mental illness. Especially among younger people. How often do you hear teenagers making jokes about eating disorders and saying things like "i don't get it, why don't people with anorexia just eat? How can it be a real disease?" Fortunately, though, I think people are starting to take mental illness more seriously as we learn more about it and how our brains work.
 
I'm sure the problem is the style of parenting where you espouse the inherent worth of your child to him or her, and do not teach them to cope with the reality of life, which is that they are in fact, insignificant unless they work their asses off and make themselves worth something.
 
seriously man when did you get so smart, these last two weeks I've been seriously impressed by your posts.
 
Psychiatry is a fucking joke. So is clinical psychology. Prescribing anti-depressants should be illegal and the idea that they can say "oh you're serotonin or dopamine levels or whatever are low" is a crock of shit. You go to a shrink, you'll be a customer for life.

A little background...I first started seeing a psychologist in middle school when I was diagnosed bipolar/manic depressive. I've been on loads of anti depressants like prozac and was on lithium to stabilize my mood for years.

When I moved to NZ I decided I was putting all of that behind me. I made the choice that I was going to be happy every day, and even if I wasn't happy, even if I wanted to kill myself, I'd just pretend to be happy.

It didn't always work, and at the beginning of my journey I spent most of my time crying in the bathroom of the hostel. Slowly I started to feel a difference. For so long (all through HS and a little before) I had almost all bad days and so few good days. In HS I thought about killing myself several times and made one serious attempt (which landed me in the looney bin...). I would never do that now. Now I rarely have a bad day (they still happen occasionally) and I can generally keep my mood fairly well controlled and my anxiety etc down. I sleep better, I'm more active and I get along with other people so much better.

All the Doctors and shrinks I saw were completely useless. They pushed me deeper into my 'disease' and only made things worse. I'm NOT bipolar. I'm NOT a manic depressive. NO ONE is. These are terms that were made up to describe people who maybe think a little differently. I AM an Indigo child. I think way more than is healthy and THAT is what caused the depression and mood swings.

I now realize (this is only true for me and not advice I am giving to other people) that it doesn't matter if I have a bad day. It doesn't matter if I am convinced I'm worthless and it would be better to kill myself and end this meaningless existence. I still get days where I drop into these terrible terrible thoughts about once a month, and I think I probably will for the rest of my life. I've just come to the realization that the voice in my head isn't me. It doesn't matter if the voice in my head thinks I'm useless, or wants to kill me, that guy (the voice in my head) is a prick.

This thread kind of annoys me. The voice I'm getting from your post is like, "Oh so you have depression, what drugs have you used for treatment...AHHH naw man, that isn't really depression, that is just fake depression stop being such a whiny bitch." What the hell makes you think a Dr. can tell you you're depressed? They can't read your mind, they don't know the fucked up shit that is going on inside your head. And you don't know that these high schoolers AREN't depressed. Of course they are! Because they think they are! That is all depression is is thinking you're depressed. That's the problem. Shrinks cause more people to think they are depressed and make depression socially acceptable. The people who feel depressed and have suicidal idiations will fell that way for life. THATS FINE THOUGH. Just don't act on your thoughts and hope that it will get better. Pretend to be happy and one day you may feel it on the inside too blah blah blah....

I wrote that really fast so it probably doesn't make much sense and isn't very coherent but I could write a book on why depression as a medical condition is the biggest joke there is, and just don't feel like spending the time on an internet forum.
 
What we would call depression has been around since at least the ancient Greeks -Hippocrates wrote about patients with 'melancholia' that we would clearly call chronically depressed today. So the answer to the rhetorical question about whether slaves suffer from depression... the answer is that yea, pretty much every culture since the beginning of civilization has had people that suffer from depression and other mental illness - with variations on triggers like stress and ability to diagnose/treat them accounting for most of the variation in prevalence.

The idea that depression is the result of Gen Y being a bunch of sissies isn't based in reality. Lots of people take on the label when they shouldn't, and Facebook gives them a platform to broadcast it whereas in the past everyone would have ignored them. But there is still a baseline rate of people who have brain disease causing them to feel depressed, that has very little to do with their 'trying harder to be happy' (whatever that means).

Also, there is a big difference between grief/feeling like shit because something happened, having the mental illness of depression, and having the character flaw of annoying people trying to garner sympathy by posting on Facebook.
 
Yet prescribing antidepressants to anyone should be illegal? It's great that you managed to learn coping skills so that you don't need them. But, that doesn't work all that often. Psychiatry is not 'a joke' - there are changes anybody can see in patients who have mental disease - docs can prescribe drugs and give psychotherapy and it sometimes makes patients better. It's not perfect, but neither is the rest of medicine.

It's great you didn't need it, but that doesn't mean that nobody does. I got over a sinus infection once without taking antibiotics.. does that mean that infectious disease treatments 'are a joke'?
 
I have anal-glaucoma, I can't see my ass being at work.

Really though, I deal with a depressed person every single day. She has been diagnosed from a young age but her mother never did anything to help with it. She recently, since turning 18, has gone to the doctor and been given Celexa and Xanax. She has taken the xanax but refused to take the Celexa and is now not going to the doctor to refill the xanax or find another solution. Apparently she doesn't care how depressed she is?

I'm thankful to wake up everyday. Brush my teeth, get dressed, go to work, play with my kid, go outside, etc. I've tried helping her for the past 3 years but nothing changes, she doesn't do anything to fix it other than moop around and cry about it.

After a certain point a person can only do so much for someone else before they need to wake the fuck up and help themselves.

I'm not a depressed person and never have been but after dealing with one I see how they are and how it can bring someone not depressed to the point of being depressed. I've come to the point that I've stepped back and redirect my focus from her to me and my son.

It's tough, but it's up to the depressed person in the end to help themselves.
 
But just because it didn't work for you doesn't mean it can't work for other people. If it didn't work, shrinks and antidepressant meds wouldn't exist.
 
i only quoted part of your post to save scrolling, but im referring to the whole thing and not just that part.

I didnt think i was gonna agree with you, but your post does make sense. That being said, i think psychiatry has different results with different people. You obviously didn't buy it, and maybe its because you started relatively young. It's awesome you found your own solution and figured out what works for you. that being said, I know a lot of people who have had results from therapy. not from anti-depressants or pills, but from the active process of talking to someone about it who has a deep understanding of depression in general (you cant say they don't. they cant read minds but they understand the concepts and in many cases have personally experienced mental health issues close to them or even depression themselves)

having someone to talk to is key. whether its a therapist, a close friend or family member, it helps. So i agree that clinical psychology is not for everyone and anti-depressants also seem ridiculous to me, but therapy does help a lot of people.

And to refer to others in this thread who say teenagers just whine and complain because they have no friends or whatever... mental health has nothing to do with quality of life. rich people are depressed and suicidal all the time depsite having materialistically excellent lives. judging anyone outright who feels depressed is frankly, shameful IMO
 
Damn dude, that made me think.

I'm thankful that I'm a naturally upbeat, happy guy. I have trouble understanding people with depression, simply because my "bad days" are probably better than some people's good days.
 
yeah apparently not, I've gone through some rough times in my life. it got so bad at one point after a full day of being locked up in my room i said to myself. I can stay in here and keep crying like a little bitch, or I can move on with my life because i have shit i need to get done. i got through it, but no i can't cope or understand people who live in america or another 1st world country, and are so sad they mope around all day feeling sorry for themselves. I wounder what those people would have done if they lived 200 years ago.

I really do not understand it
 
I've been there, done that. Got a diagnosis, not going to tell my life story though. Props to Matt_D for sharing, that was a good read.

Just want to say that there is a new and interesting trend in psychology called "positive psychology" that will prove to be very valuable when it comes to curing minor affective disorders like depression. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of depression, it simply focuses on fixing the problem by making peoples' lives more fulfilling and happy. Sounds incredibly obvious but its gaining huge momentum and is proving to be far more affective than putting someone on medication for the rest of their lives. Simple things like exercising on a daily basis, spending time outside, having a shorter commute to work, doing things you love, meditating.

As Matt_D said, depression is a bitch but its all in your head. You can increase your serotonin and dopamine levels by having a great day of skiing once a week, and although not everyone can afford to get out to the mountains every week, there are other things that can give you the same feeling, like playing an instrument, building something with your hands, photography, film, drawing, whatever. Not everyone is the same though, and not everyone will become depressed for the same reasons.

Good psychiatry is finding a way for people to deal with their unique problems with the resources that are available to them.
 
i see what youre saying, and how you dont understand why people in nice lives can be depressed. the reason you dont understand it, is that you dont understand what depression is to begin with. its not being sad about particular things that happen in your life. its an unidentifiable, haunting sense deep within everything that crosses your mind that fills every bit of you with a lack of hope, interest in life, desire to do anything productive and motivation to feel better.

the "depression" you are describing is like an injury. something that has a known source and an obvious path to recovery. real depression is more like a disease - you feel it just as badly (or worse), but the cure is not obvious, or in some cases, even existent.
 
Obviously I don't really think it should be illegal I was being a bit sarcastic as this is the internet. I just wish my doctors didn't give me meds. They prescribe these things like they're fucking advil but they make such a huge difference on your life. And yeah, psychotherapy etc can work for sure, and that will definitely help people in the short term, but then when they start feeling that way again, (cus you will. It's in your brain...you can't beat it) you will just have to go the doctors and try again.
 
The amount of stupid fucking idiots in here is unbelievable.

Yes, there is an over amount of people who self-diagnose, and and claim to be depressed. But have you ever been to a psychiatric hospital as a in-patient? That is scary shit. People with absolutely no fucking feelings, other than homicidal/suicidal.

But to say that depression is a joke, or psychiatry is a joke your a fucking idiot. If you think the entire reason of psychiatry is to become a customer for life, your seeing the wrong fucking doctor. Ive been working with my therapist and psychologist for the last 3 months. We went from weekly, to every two weeks, to every month, and this next time, were doing a final evaluation/discussion, and if so, I wont be going anymore. Counseling/therapy isnt meant to be a life long solution.

Oh, and Im not self diagnosed. I was diagnosed in the psychiatric hospital after I tried killing myself for the second time. And trying to get over a self-mutilation problem.

But your right. Im glad you know the mental state of being for every person on earth. Im sure that there is no sort of difference between development, dopamine levels, etc.

 
This defintely works to an extent. For my Panic Disorder I was taking Divaloprex, and Kolnopin, and realized that I was developing an addiction to Benzos, and couldnt sleep without them.

So now I just goto the gym, workout hard as I can, and it helps amazingly with my anxiety. Getting anxious about an ex, or someone that pissed you off? Go lift some heavy shit and get angry, and lift heavier shit.
 
Good days, bad days. Everyone gets depression in different ways, and really the only one who can help you is yourself. The rest will make you feel insane and fall further into the pit. Everyone has felt like painting the walls at least once in their life, so just try and put a smile on your face it doesn't matter if it's fake as fuck. Whatever you're doing while you're depressed do the opposite.

Maybe it's just me, but whatever. I'm still here.

 
This is a really fucked up term an I doubt you would use it if you really understood how traumatic suicide really is.
 
Again, there is a difference between going through rough times (ie. grief) and having depression. Going through rough times, you feel shitty because something shitty happened and you're dealing with it. In depression, you feel shitty because your brain isn't working correctly. You "do not understand it" because you're trying to make two different things sound like the same thing, even though they aren't.
 
I have a friend who lost her sister 2 years ago, this shit is not made up. Depression is chemical, I believe out of 100 people who believe they have it, maybe 3 actually do. She didn't think she was depressed until people around her noticed she was just not herself anymore, and had absolutely no enthusiasm for life like she used to. I think it's something you find out through the help of a therapist, family and friends, not that you self diagnose and try to convince yourself that you have. It's really heartbreaking, because it's not as simple as "just be happy". I used to feel that way to, like how could these people with terrific support of friends and family be so sad? Like someone else said, I think one of the best therapies for it is doing things you love, rather than isolating yourself because you feel horrible every day. That is what worked best for my friend. Props to all those that can work through it and have a great outcome, because some people get lost in that terrible cycle for the rest of their lives for mentally refusing to help themselves.

Sorry, I love psych, it's my major, had to comment.
 
That friend had a reason to be sad though...

I remember the first time I told my parents I was depressed...I can't remember if I were 8 or 9 years old but I was in 3rd grade...I hardly even knew what the word meant. It doesn't mean it was real, it didn't mean it was as strong as what other people felt, and it didn't mean I had a hard time. All it was was that I wanted to kill myself (yeah, at 8/9 years old) and I was in my room crying all day instead of going to school (the first time I ever ditched). They brushed it off, and I felt better the next day. But that was just my first bad day I can remember. I've had thousands since and the times in my life that it got really bad it made a huge difference in my day to day dealings.

I've had an incredibly blessed life. I have nothing to complain about. I've had two bad things happen to me ever. And of those two things neither of them were really that bad and one was completely my fault. Does that make a difference to my depression? No. You're supposed to feel sad when bad things happen. Depression (at least for me) is when you feel bad for absolutely no reason at all. You can't control it.

I think it's great if you can feel better by talking to a shrink or taking drugs, I just think that its bullshit and momentary belief. So you've been seeing a psychiatrist for three months and you're confident you're better? Wait a year, then get back to me. I don't think I'll ever stop having days when I want to end it all and feel that I'm unworthy of the air I'm breathing but now I just ignore those days and wait for it to get better. I understand this is different than depression where everyday it is a struggle to get out of bed, but I just don't believe that 'mental illness' can be 'healed.' It's just your personality, and if you have been depressed your whole life (like so many people who suffer from depression have) there are only two options. One is to make a drastic change and decide that you won't let your negative thoughts dictate your life anymore, and I won't say the other because if you deal with depression you already know it and think about it constantly.
 
There can definitely be a brain chemical cause of depression. One of my closest friends was the happiest person I had ever met, always positive, always smiling until she got a major concussion that left her in hospital for a few weeks. This disrupted her brain chemicals and all of a sudden she became suicidally depressed. She is the type of person I believe suits going on anti-depressants to fix her brain chemicals.

CBT, I believe is more a coping mechanism rather than a cure for depression. It teaches you how to combat the worst thoughts in your depression and how to start feeling feelings and thinking positively again. It's not going to stop you being depressed but it will help you manage the darkest pits of your depression.
 
Quoting first section for no scroll bomb. But I agree with you about psychiatry. It's always better to try and figure things out on your own, at least that's they way it for me, but maybe other people are different. But another thing about mental diseases is that everyone has that side of them, a schizophrenic side or depressed side. My theory is that when someone starts thinking about, say, depression because they just went through something bad, they start to take on a whole mindset convincing themselves that they are depressed. This effect can build on itself, the more they think about it the more depressed they feel. Sorry about this rambling of ideas with no structure, just trying to get my thoughts out there.
 
It's weird that you can say this stuff, which is actually a very good distillation of what depression feels like, and still have such cynical viewpoints on treatment and the illness in general. Of course these conditions exist, and if you feel the way you describe it sounds like the diagnosis was right and you do have them. Mostly when I hear people skeptical about the existence of mental illness it's people who just can't grasp what it's like to have that feeling be a day to day part of your life.
 
Off topic but I'm curious to hear about how you settled on the realization that you were an indigo child and how this is defined in your mind? I was under the impression that indigo children were thought to have supernatural abilities and be pretty alien and was most commonly a diagnosis settled on by parents who didn't want their child labeled as mentally or socially challenged. You're the first person I've heard self-identify as indigo so I'm curious what implications this carries for you?

Not intending to sound critical, it's just a concept I find interesting but it can be hard to find information about it that doesn't involve psychics and spirit guides and the like.
 
apparently depressed people are actually like mentally fucked up. so saying they should just sack up and get over it is kind of like saying a paraplegic should just man up and walk or someone with down syndrome should just get over it and be smart, etc.

I don't get how people can't understand it is a sickness of some kind. like it makes no fucking sense to us because we can't understand it. but why would anyone in their right mind be sad all the time unless they had actual real problems?

 
Okay don't get me wrong, I am 100% sure I'm bipolar by the medical definition of being bipolar, I just don't think telling someone they are bipolar will make there life any better.

Another thing, I wouldn't have written anything I wrote in this thread a month ago. I had a life changing experience at the beginning of September and I feel like I have to tell people my story now. It's not that I'm skeptical that these things exist, of course they exist, I just don't think we should talk about them the way everyone talks about it now. I also think that the history of clinical psychology and psychiatry is kind of fucked up and filled by greedy perverts who exploited their patients. I know it isn't like that now, but I think if you accept the fact that you 'need' to talk to a shrink, you will be a customer of the mental health industry for life. I reckon it's more addictive than smoking....
 
depression :

inability to construct a future

been in a 2 year stagnant non motivational non social binge

i do nothing but smoke bud and shred everyday

for the longest time i thought i was super depressed.

I heard this defenition and realized i am not the least bit depressed

i'm going through a rough period and it's going to make me stronger in the end.

 
This is too true.

More often than not, brain injuries can trigger chemical changes. My younger sister had two concussions (severe) within a year. She, like the majority of family, has struggled with depression.My entire side of my fathers mothers family has struggled with various mental illnesses (depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, addictions etc.) so we are very careful with what we do. However, in the past 6 years, we noticed a change with her. Slight changes like moodiness, lashing out, stuff you attribute to being a teenage girl. However, upon entry to highschool and her first concussion, we noticed it became more severe. Fast forward a few years, and she has her second and third concussion. She now struggles every day to get out of bed, and do anything. She tells me "what is the point of doing anything if nothing I do makes me happy?" or "There is nothing I can think of that makes me happy or even neutral. Everything makes me sad."

For her, the medications prescribed are to balance the chemical changes most likely brought on through the combination of concussions and family history (most changes according to my father came post-puberty). So, I do not think medications and shrinks are a farce, I think they are the exact opposite. I personally have battled bouts of depression, but found what works for me to get over them. A shrink is great, because it is nice for me personally to get things off my chest and let everything fall out. For my sister, she needs the medication side of it because its beyond an emotional level of depression. There is no cure all solutions for this disease, hence why everyone has their own methods of coping.

The biggest issue with this whole situation though is the stigma attached to depression. People either doubt you and ridicule you for it (as seen in this thread), or overreact to it and make it even worse.

Here is an interesting video

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There is a lot of misinformation in this thread. Yes there a lot of people who use the word depression lightly are misuse it all together. However depression is no joke and is very real. I have had multiple friends impacted by depression and have lost someone to depression. People need to educate themselves before talking shit.
 
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