Self Diagnosing Depression ( Archived) (37)

To elberate on what I was saying before, I belive depression is like a parasite that somehow worms its way into people, and then starts feeding on their negitive emotions. I've noticed that bad feelings are more intense than good ones, atleast that this point.

Then again, my struggles on depression are well documented by my rants on this site lol.

Allen

I'm depressed...gimme some drugs..hehe!

I'm a fellow depression sufferer and was put on anti-depressants myself against my better judgement... I gotta tell you though that I do agree with you to a certain extent. I think the pharmacutical companies are overstepping their boundaries along with stuffing their pockets full of money with their constant intimidating advertisements to get perscriptions for their drugs. I've never seen such an explosion of this, and it's all over the place! What I do find though, clinical depression is not just mental, but physical as well. It's caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain due to intense trauma, constant bad circumstances or a complete change in lifestyle for the worse. It causes sleeplessness/or sleeping too much, stomach problems/ulcers, heart conditions, anxiety disorders among many other physical symptoms that can lead to much worse physical conditions. It also depends on a person's ability to cope with their situation... everyone's coping skills are different.. some can cope better than others. Some need help to cope. True depression is not just having a "bad day" once in a while... EVERY day feels like a bad day.. and that's a horrible feeling. People who have depression have to take each day at a time with a constant hope that tomorrow will be better, and usually find that it isn't. Things they used to do that they really enjoyed doing before isn't important anymore. They kind of just sit around doing nothing.. feeling every move is exhausting to them and not worth it. Every aspect in their life is affected... job, children, household, finances... etc. It can and WILL get worse if they don't seek help, either through therapy and/or therapy with drugs. Mine started after my seperation... and now everything is much better because I did seek help.

Hope this helps you understand a little better..
Love,
Ann

Must be an American thing. Here we don't have much depression commercials or advertisements for anti-depressants. I think we had one and it was for Zoloft. Of course I am in the maritimes so maybe the rest of Canada is different I don't know lol

I know here you can not self diagnose yourself. You need to see a doctor who will diagnose you.

I suffer from Moderate depression myself and was on Celexa for a few years. Because I am pregnant I had to get off. But will be be put back on once the baby is born because I have a higer risk of PPD right now.

I know your not trying to slam anyone but there is a difference between having a bad year and feeling crappy and down all the time. Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Not because of something that has happened in your life. You can't control depression. It controls you.

Tracy :o)

Here we do.. they got a commercial now for just about every drug immaginable.. it's disgusting to a point... all the way from Acid Reflux "disorder" <-- (they call it now.. it used to be heartburn) to male impotency.. They are making the public determine if they need the perscription instead of leaving it to the doctors themselves! Imagine going to a doctor and telling him/her.. "Well, I saw this commercial on TV about a perscription that I want... perscribe it to me because I have the symptoms". Ridiculous!!

One thing I have to disagree though, what happens in your life can cause depression, which causes the trauma, which causes the imbalance in your brain to begin with. It's gotta start somewhere, for some reason... it just doesn't happen on it's own like a birth defect or something like that. But I DO agree, it can and will control your life if you don't seek help.

Love,
Ann

Depression can be hereditary too...if your mom or dad has been diagnosed with depression, there's a chance the offspring can have it too years down the road. I don't agree with the docs prescribing a pill for everything. I strongly disagree with kids being put on drugs!! Unless it's life threatening. But that's another thread and subject. I have stated my opinion (in another thread) about kids and ADD and ADHD and the drugs.

Yep, I know what you mean... there's a line between chronic depression and just those that feel sorry for themselves from time to time and want attention. Depression is a heck a of a lot deeper than that... something we WANT to control, but just can't on our own. None of us WANTS to be depressed. It's like being in a deep well that you can't get out of on your own. It even has nothing to do with self pity.. it's deeper than that.. much deeper. And you know what? Your terminology is more correct than mine... Trauma TRIGGERS depression, doesn't "cause" it. You are right about that. That imbalance in the brain could be there beforehand (I just never was told in that way by my doctor), but now that you mention it.. that is possible. And it sounds more plausable. That would explain why some have better "coping skills" than others... Thank you for that correction. :)

Hopefully those that don't understand how truly horrible depression can be, now have a better insight on it... it's nothing to be ashamed of, but should be looked at as any serious physical ailment. Maybe it's not like cancer, it's not life threatening (to an extent-sometimes it could lead to that though), but it's something that should be noticed as serious like any other ailment, like MS, or diabetes.. etc. It may have some tendancies to be part-psychological, but even in cases of other serious physical ailments, they could affect the person psychologically as well.

Love,
Ann

I know this is alil late, but I just got back home...but acid reflux is a disorder, I have that too =X I take horse pills for it too...think Zantac, only 500 times bigger!

Allen

I agree too.. my 8 year old kid has a "sensory disorder", which basically means that he has a need to be constantly stimulated by something... whether it's physical or mental. The kid is extremely smart because he pushes himself for that stimulation. By me reading to him, he actually learned how to pronounce words on his own by the age of two and was able to read by himself. What offsets that is his immaturity, he talks out in class, gets bored extremely fast, very fidgety, etc. I get a call from his teacher at least once every two weeks despite how I explained to her what his condition is and how to handle him using simple excersises and NO DRUGS!! How I agree with you? I do because for some reason nowadays they put "labels" on kids when in our days, they were just known to be hyper. Now right away, everyone wants to put these kids on drugs, not really for the kids own good, but for the PARENTS and the TEACHERS who don't want to take the time to cope. I remember when I was in elementary school, we did "jumping jacks" to relieve that built up hyperness that happens not only to kids like mine, but every kid has some form of a "sensory disorder" in one way or another..
Teachers don't do that anymore... So when his teacher calls me because of his hyper activity, I refer her back to the book (called the "Out of Sync Child") I lent her at the beginning of the school year.. and encourage her to read it... at least the chapter referring to teachers and how to cope with children like this. Simple excersise that take a few seconds. Don't get me wrong, when my son DOES something wrong, etc.. he does get punished.. I take priveledges away... but also realize that I know why he's doing it, and now that he is getting older, trying to teach him more ways to control his behavior on his own.

Love,
Ann

I'm bi-polor, I got it from my father and passed it to my daughter. It's a horrible thing to have to deal with every day of your life and yes bad things are huge to a person with depression or bi-polor, but bi-polor is a little different because the good some times is just as bad. My mood swings are horrible, when I'm depressed it's like a black hole I can't get out of. When I'm happy I could take the world on and not get hurt....only in my mind though. There are many different levels to it also. Mine is the middle, I become suicidal very quick, my daughter on the other hand is a cutter. When her stress level goes up she cuts to make herself feel better. This is something you can only really understand if you have it or have been through the real thing. You CAN NOT just get over it or pull yourself out of it. I've been dealing with this for more than 20 years, hospitalized more than 2 dozen times, tried many different ways to kill myself, seen many docs and therapist, you name the meds. been there done that. What works for one doesn't always work for the next and sometimes doesn't work for very long on yourself. The things that keep me sane most of the time are my kids, grandkids and my friends. Changing my way of thinking has helped too, before my feet hit the floor in the morning I tell myself today is going to be great. LOL It doesn't always work but for the most part it helps me start my day off in a possitive way.