Depression - who has it/recovered?

Hey guys,

Just recently been diagnosed with depression, which was brought on by alot of negative rumination after a couple of very hard, stressful events in my life. Now the events have cleared up, im still stranded in this (seemingly) never ending cycle. Anti-depressants dont work (id imagine theyd work for more chemical type depressions).

Anyone here have depression, or has recovered from depression.. i'd love to hear your stories

reply to post by James23


I've got it. I don't think it is something that I will ever really be able to "recover" from. I think that some things help me cope better than others. And like you, the meds didn't work for me either. They worked on the short term but that's about it. Thankfully, I was able to quit using them before I became too dependent upon them.

Depression is different for different people though. For some people it is the result of some bad recent events that once they come to terms with them, they are able to move on. For others, like myself, it is just a constant that I always have to deal with.

To be honest, the most helpful thing that I have done for my depression is finding the right person to talk to about it. I have had someone really help me quite a bit recently and I am very grateful for it.

Anyways, good luck to you.

I have been depressed. In fact it is documented right here: (that was the beginning of it. I got MUCH worse).

As a Christian or Human... What is the point in living?

I found it rather interesting to go back and re-read or re-live what i posted in that thread. I guess what i got out of the re-visit is that i am happy now. Things do get better. Roller coasters actually have to go back up after they plummet down.

The things i also realise is by saying that things will get better, it actually doesn't help you. I know how infuriating it was when people would tell me it will get better and to hang in there. I bloody well knew that. I needed help NOW to get to the future where everything smells like roses again AND i needed to get there fast.

One thing i would like to say. I never took the pills. I went to a doctor and got the anti-depressants, i had them sitting on my dresser but i never took them. I looked at my friends that were on them and friends that had been on them and were now off them. THEY ARE DANGEROUS! Not being able to regulate moods was a massive problem they all suffered from.

I realised that in order to make sure i did not require taking those pills forever i had to learn how to pull myself out of the depression.

How did i do it?

When i started fantasising about how simple it would be to drive into a pole and end it all right there. I knew it was serious. I had to actually stop driving because i was worried that i didn't have the self control not to kill myself in a vehicle.

So i stopped. I just decided i didn't want to be depressed anymore. I then had to trick myself and form an un-depressed self. I started eating lots of healthy foods with vitamins and minerals. I identified something i loved to do before the depression and tried to fall in love with it again. I started to excercise again. I got myself a pet, started getting out of the house and visiting others and i started to listen to classical music.

All of which were SO hard to do because my brain was hardwired into the depression and wanting to do NOTHING. I was still heavily depressed and somedays i slipped, just like a diet, but i kept it up until eventually i would wake up and be excited to do and eat the things i was. It took a long time but i made it. Even writing this now it seems such an odd thing to say i did but it was true. I decided not to be depressed anymore. It took intense willpower and i did slip even further into depression when i started (extra energies being used that didn't actually exist).

Anyway i am at the end of a long day and so i hope some of that drivel made any sense.

I'll have to agree that anti-depressants did nothing for me, however, ant-anxiety medications changed my life. Anti-depressants are usually made for long-term use, whereas anti-anxiety's (benzos) are only for single days or hours of really bad, intense emotion.

Having said that, they are even worse for you, and I learned the hard way.

I'll agree with the above post. Its really hard to do, but you just have to flip your life around, even if it is unwilling. I'd be lying if I said I thought I could be fixed.. I can't. I'll forever be a cynic and I will always have a pessimistic view on life. I kind of like it this way though, it makes me a funnier person and a little more clever I think.

The benzos helped me get past the first step... The rest I am still recovering from. I'd say I'm about a quarter of the way there.

I have not been diagnosed, I will be honest here and say I'm afraid to go see someone...I know I will be diagnosed with clinical depression. I have all the symptoms...but I do not want to be medicated. So, I'd rather just try and deal with it on my own...

I mean, what's the point of being diagnosed if you refuse to be treated....

Major Anxiety to top it all off....

[edit on 23/01/2010 by jinx880101]

reply to post by SilentShadow


Excellent post SilentShadow. There are so many people dealing with depression (no doubt on this forum as well), that can use posts like yours as priceless motivation that recovery can be done and achieved, even when it seems so hopeless and impossible.

I have always had a care-free, happy life coming from a good upbringing. It was only the last 12 months that my dad committed suicide, and then my girlfriend of 3 years decided to mess me around for several months that i slipped into depression, and now although things are back on track with my girlfiend, this hard-wired depression-state is still here. I have tried 2 anti-depressants, which both have done more harm than good. I am seeing a psychologist, however some days its hard to go through with the things he is telling me.

I have decided to come up with my own plan of action of beating this.

It involves exercise, CBT (cognitve behaviour therapy), and meditation.

3 books that i cant recommend enough include 'Feeling Good' by David Burns, which sets out a CBT program for you

Undoing Depression by Richard O'connor, which is written by a guy who is a psychologist as well as going through and defeating depression himself

The Mindful Way Through Depression - Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness, this book is revolutionary in the treatment of depression. It focuses on a new practice called Mindfulness-Based Cognitive therapy, where it teached you to live in the present moment, rather than focusing on the symptoms of depression.. already i am seeing small benefits of this and i havnt even started the program yet. It is pretty much a cross between Buddhist meditation and Cognitive therapy and sets out an 8-week meditiation program specifically for depression.

Anyway, I can not recommend these books enough to everyone in the midst of depression and hopefully I can break free of this Demon in the next year or so.

Would be great to hear of more peoples stories with depression

I'm a bit like Jinx...
my doc is trying to get me in therapy for the last 3 years for depression and anxiety. I won't do it because I feel I can cope on my own perfectly fine.
Unless you feel like you are about to do stupid things, you can battle depression without medication.
Change your views on life and find meaning, do a lot of self-analasys (why do you do what you do and think what you think? what is the cause and how can you change that? Most important: what do you want? How do you want your life to be? etc...) Once you figured those things out you can slowly start to make changes. No matter how small the change, remember that it IS a start.

Secondly: know that it is alright to take some time out, to cry or shout or get things out of your system.
and know that it's alright to not have a solution, we are only human...
also, know that it is alright for other people around you to not understand what you are going through.

Originally posted by Karlhungis
reply to post by James23

 

I've got it. I don't think it is something that I will ever really be able to "recover" from.

Depression is different for different people though. For some people it is the result of some bad recent events that once they come to terms with them, they are able to move on. For others, like myself, it is just a constant that I always have to deal with.

This describes exactly how it is for me too! the cycles are so unpredictable and I can't talk to anyone when i'm down can't do a thing, just shut down, I just have to hide away and try and deal with it, this is the best way of coping for me!

Medication never worked for me, only took it for a year then stopped, and a therapist is really not for me, I don't do talking to people well, you try and cope in your own way, sometimes with silly little rituals!



[edit on 15-2-2010 by valiant]

What the hell is depression?

What the hell is anxiety??

Maybe I should google these things... Ah what's the point.

Time to self medicate....... Oh look the little drinker emoticon is no longer on BTS

I think, that after years of battling myself, understanding depression isnt exactly what I needed.

What I needed, was a positive way to cope with the feelings I have. My grandmather used to call me "soft hearted". I feel hapiness extremely, but I feel sadness the same way.

I was diagnosed too. But after taking the medication, I felt sluggish. I didnt want to play piano. My usually vivid mind was very dull. So i quit after a while.

What i did, was learn to cope. I signed a peace treaty with myself.

Im sorry if that sounds cryptic, but I dont know any other way to put it.

Is depression simply 'shut up and be happy like them them those happy ones, no don't go and ask them - admire them from here'

Or is depression thinking they have a nicer stereo that your piece of fast food wallet can shake?

Or is it to do with height, taller people seem to be calmer, smugger and less able to realise subtle piss take... I think their brains are to far away from the ground. But the dress nice and have sexy partners, sexy passion devoid partners, partners that like the 2 second pick up line... (shallow people are easy - just suggest daddy a few times and make eye contact yes the jester can dance)

Or is depression the steady art of realising more and more people are actually tits - (can I type t@ss£rs?).

Or maybe it's extended periods of watching television.

Originally posted by jinx880101
I mean, what's the point of being diagnosed if you refuse to be treated....

Major Anxiety to top it all off....

[edit on 23/01/2010 by jinx880101]

You don't have to take anything you don't want to.
However, perhaps seeing someone will help in other ways.

I think depression is quite good actually.

To every depression there is a bottom, it's just understanding your self - 'a voyage of discovery' some over paid idiot may tell you.

I don't know anything about the meds they give depressed people, I won;t let them talk me that far, I'd rather talk to someone without a career to worry about.

edit - I know I have tinnitus, anyone else?

[edit on 15/2/2010 by Now_Then]

I'm very depressed lately. I cry almost every day, which for me is a whole lot. I don't think I have clinical depression though because it's from circumstances in my life that are draining me. Even if they said I did, I still wouldn't want anti-depressants. I want to be happy for real, not because some drug is making me feel good. I think it's fine for some people who have a chemical imbalance in their brain, but it's not for me.

I was diagnosed a year ago. I was on a drug called mirtazapine, which actually has very few side effects. Much better now though. The drugs arent as bad as some people claim, all they do is change the hormone and chemical levels in your brain which control mood (i think its mood)

Never stop taking your anti-depressants, last guy I knew that did that ended up hanging himself

If you have concerns about your anti-depressantrs, see a mental health specialist and see if you can get a drug which will actually works, and even do your own investigation into the best ones and bring it up with your doctor

Anyone that has the symptons should really get checked out. Its not something that should be taken lightly at all, even if its simply anxiety. I implore people to get themselves checked out, its the only way you can get better.

To add, HarvestMoon, the drugs dont make you happy, they balance the chemicals in your brain, to gradually get you out of that mind set.

reply to post by SilentShadow


Hey SilentShadow just have a question regarding your depression. Was yours mainly due to situations in your life which were making you depressed or was it more of a long-term depression-state, regardless of what was happening in your life at the time?

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

There is no known cause (as defined in the DSM), so just anybody who tries to say 'just get over it' either has apathy, is into sadistic narcissism, or is the cause.

At this time, I decided this be the last time I buy food unless some miracle happens. Too many people think I don't deserve my kids, which is a narcissistic attitude. The ones that actually take my kids away or have let my kids be taken away are a cause. I'm tired of fighting about it, what lost can never be had again. Kids only grow up once.

Use exercise and positive thinking as a way to combat depression. No doubt follow dr's orders but exercise can play a very important roll in the management of depression.

Depression - who has it? Yes.

2nd line. Pained to talk about it but I will read.

Originally posted by James23
reply to post by SilentShadow

 

Hey SilentShadow just have a question regarding your depression. Was yours mainly due to situations in your life which were making you depressed or was it more of a long-term depression-state, regardless of what was happening in your life at the time?

Hey James23. My depression started off due to a number of situations in my life. That is what caused it in the first place, then, those situations made me start thinking about what the point of life is etc and quickly turned into something a little more deep rooted. From there it meant regardless of what was going on, i was still depressed.