Got Depression?

[IceToEskimos]

I have lost family and friends to suicide. Please don't ignore how you feel.

I'm sorry to hear this. Suicide is serious thing, but I'm not talking about suicide.

I think that being alive is probably more interesting than being dead, for one thing, and also I have a tremendous ego.

These two things make it impossible for me to even consider taking myself out.

I'm not in the midst of any kind of acute crisis, or if I am, it's one I've weathered so many times that it doesn't feel like a crisis anymore.

Either way, I'm not contemplating anything rash.

 

[pewep]

I'm not talking about "the blues" or "feeling sad", I'm talking about full-on existential crises that result in a complete and total lack of emotion.

Wondering if WF has any experience with this, and what if anything has helped to alleviate it.

I know some of you fat bastards are clinically depressed, so speak the fuck up.

Hope you read this ice:

Did you notice the words I underlined? People with a poor diet are hundreds of times more likely to develop depression as well as a slew of other illnesses. When I just recently turned vegan, one thing I noticed immediately was that not only was it a lot easier to cut down/kick my nicotine habit, I was happier all the time. Keep in mind this is in the midst of a withdrawal. I could still go around with the typical smile on my face .

Change your diet bro. It *WILL* help. Not saying it's a cure but it'll help a lot.

 

[IceToEskimos]

Hope you read this ice:

Did you notice the words I underlined? People with a poor diet are hundreds of times more likely to develop depression as well as a slew of other illnesses. When I just recently turned vegan, one thing I noticed immediately was that not only was it a lot easier to cut down/kick my nicotine habit, I was happier all the time. Keep in mind this is in the midst of a withdrawal. I could still go around with the typical smile on my face .

Change your diet bro. It *WILL* help. Not saying it's a cure but it'll help a lot.

Lots of good advice in this thread.

I'm going to get some sleep now, and wake up tomorrow and do it all again.

Thanks to everyone who posted, you all made a long hot summer night full of existential discomfort more bearable.

It's good to have friends.

 

[charlesmartel]

Antidepressants are mostly placebo effect. See this (Emperor's New Drugs) for more info:

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Emperors-New-Drugs-Exploding-Antidepressant/dp/0465022006"]Amazon.com: The Emperor's New Drugs: Exploding the Antidepressant Myth (9780465022007): Irving Kirsch Ph.D.: Books[/ame]

The author did Freedom of Information requests on drug studies. The ones that the drug companies conduct but don't publish. The FDA has the copies, so you can request them. For a drug to pass the FDA requirements, it only needs to have a minor change in the depression scale. I don't recall what the name of the scale is. Anyway, the change required is not clinically significant. Plus, a significant portion of the FDA budget these days comes from drug companies.

 

[fabo1]

Been there, I know how you feel. Of all things, I found that time helped the most. But hey, that's just me. Aside from time, I also found that keeping myself busy was pretty effective. I know it can be hard to get up and go out with friends when you're literally depressed, but you gotta do it. Sitting at home all day and such will only make it worse.

 

[crackp0t]

All a Dr. is going to do, aside from trying to sell drugs to Ice, is share their own experience, such as the people in this thread.

I've went to a head doctor before. The first thing I told him was I don't want to be on drugs. I just want help coping with what I'm going through. It did help and he never tried to push drugs on me. He taught me some valuable coping skills I wouldn't have learned without his help.

 

[p0ck3taces]

I can't shake the feeling that every gain, no matter how significant, is ultimately an exercise in futility.

Well after writing a long reply, I decided to just erase it and tldr.

Happiness is a choice, you make that choice now.

Why bother accomplishing X, doing X?

There is no inherent reason to bother doing anything or trying to accomplish anything.

The only real reason you have for doing anything is simply because you want to, or because you enjoy doing it.

 

[jacky8]

The side effects of strong anti-depressives are horrendous, so that would have been a last resort in my case.

Hit a new country, with a totally different culture & language, and it instantly awakens almost every sense in your brain, and for the better.

Just eat clean (steak + eggs + fruits + veg). Exercise HIIT in the gym. Oh and eat fish oil (it contains omega 3 that fight depression).

Have bareback sex with real woman you really like.

^^ This is all I would add here.

I would avoid any doctor recommended pills unless absolutely unavoidable. Philip P mentioned zoloft here. I would absolutely advise against it. Just check how much lawyers are paying affiliates for just a single lead for zoloft related defects.

Go live in a foreign country for a few months if you can. You don't have to spend a shit ton while abroad. May as well save some money while there

Are you taking any supplements? Check out whether other users have similar mood swings. Also, have some good japanese style sex.

Hope you'll get good soon!

 

[pewep]

When life sucks I just enjoy the head.

I'm so sick of these niggas I need medsssssssss

Smoking on a hallelujah, t-t-thank you jesus, help me focus on the future and not my previous.

 

[kingofsp]

I had a good friend from high school who seemed happy and normal and then one day decided to hang himself. No one saw that coming. Although I heard he was playing a ton of The Sims prior to it happening, so, maybe computers are fucking us all up? I don't know. Better take more walks or something.

Anyway, you know The Sound of Music? Yes, the faggy musical. You know that song, "My Favorite Things"? The one where she just thinks about shit like whiskers on kittens and rainbows and all the shit she likes when she's depressed and then suddenly she doesn't feel so bad? You just gotta replace those things with your favorite things and then do the same thing.

 

[usernameistaken]

Sport, proper nutrition, sunlight.. no depression. Money in the bank might help too

 

[mattseh]

I had a good friend from high school who seemed happy and normal and then one day decided to hang himself. No one saw that coming. Although I heard he was playing a ton of The Sims prior to it happening, so, maybe computers are fucking us all up? I don't know. Better take more walks or something.

Anyway, you know The Sound of Music? Yes, the faggy musical. You know that song, "My Favorite Things"? The one where she just thinks about shit like whiskers on kittens and rainbows and all the shit she likes when she's depressed and then suddenly she doesn't feel so bad? You just gotta replace those things with your favorite things and then do the same thing.

How could whiskers on kittens and rainbows not be anyone's favourite things?

 

[Jeeta]

I found some of the principles out of Buddhism helpful. When I was a kid and I'd fallen off my bike and badly scrapped my knee, I used to use nothing but my mind to totally block out the pain. It works but it takes concentration, if you lose focus the pain come back again strength away. Every thing thing you feel, see, touch or smell is just a butch of electrical signals that can be manipulated.

I became interested in it after watching a Steve Jobs documentary, and it's been one of the few things that's actually altered the way I think now on a day to day basis. Over all I'm a lot happier, and more at peace then I've ever been in my life.

 

[Your_Pal]

Depression is a state where we want to achieve something in our life and can't get it done or are in the process of achieving the same. This state makes us to focus on just one goal which we want to achieve in our life (everything else is of less importance) if it being richer or buying a nice house or a car.. All these real life things are emotionally connected to us and it pushes us to achieve these things/goals badly.

We keep hustling hard to get these and at the same time we start becoming lonely in our self made world. We don't enjoy anything other than achieving the set goal in our mind. This state makes us permanently/temporary depressed and we are disconnected to the outer world.

If one want to get out of this then he/she should go on outing with friends, be social, leave his/her working place for atleast 1 day every week.

 

[mituozo]

I've gone through periods of depression, the biggest of which have been where I've felt directionless, no set path ahead of me, etc. In fact though those moments should have made me feel amazing, because I could craft my life into literally anything I wanted. It was only me and my comfort zones which would stop me.

One thing which helped me a lot was getting to the gym regularly, and lifting. It just picks me up and changes my outlook on things subtly, I'm not sure why or how. I'm always working towards new goals in the gym and then no matter what else is going on in my life, good days, crappy days, I'm making progress there.

In the end though it's not simple, and you've got to find what gives your life meaning. Everyone derives meaning from their lives differently. For some, it's having kids and a family, for others it's becoming the best at something in the world, etc etc.. Whilst it all may seem futile when death/eternal nothingness waits at the end - if you become the greatest at something you live on in history books. If you have a family your family goes on for generations, and you've had an impact on the direction of civilisation and humanity itself.

Get out there and meet people, travel, see the world from hundreds of points of view, and determine what it is that you want from life. It's never too early or late to do it.

 

[wezcountry]

Everyone's different, but the one thing that's always shocked my mind for the better is traveling. And I don't mean to a campground a couple hours away, but another country on a different continent.

Pack a bag of clothes, grab your laptop, book a hotel for a few days over the internet so you have at least somewhere to go, and head off to the airport. Take a few days to scope out the area, and find a decent place for a few weeks, or however long.

Hit a new country, with a totally different culture & language, and it instantly awakens almost every sense in your brain, and for the better.

This is good advice. I relocated myself to Italy post-divorce and other disasters and the challenge and joys of living in a different culture really energised me.

 

[IceToEskimos]

Anyway, you know The Sound of Music? Yes, the faggy musical. You know that song, "My Favorite Things"? The one where she just thinks about shit like whiskers on kittens and rainbows and all the shit she likes when she's depressed and then suddenly she doesn't feel so bad? You just gotta replace those things with your favorite things and then do the same thing.

This actually is one of my favorite things:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTAwmvZQkzs=embed[/ame]

 

[wezcountry]

One thing you could do for now is absolutely cut-off everything from your life that makes you feel worse or feeds your mood. Don't listen to the Blues, don't watch the news, don't read books that will depress you.

Instead, do anything that makes you feel good, makes you laugh, makes you feel happier

If it doesn't serve you throw it out.

 

[turbolapp]

I don't think I've ever had depression but I have had long stints of having difficulties dealing with nihilism and the meaningless of life.

For me it was a change of scenery that helped a lot, although I still have problems dealing with nihilism from time to time.

This used to get to me too. A lot. Try to find people that believe the same as you but don't get depressed about it and pick their brain. For me this happens to be my husband.

Something about: Even though there is no point to life and it doesn't matter what we do, he still strives to bring happiness and a sense of purpose to every moment because it makes him feel good when he does and we all want to feel good.

I'm not saying it works all the time, my brain is just wired differently than my husband's. I get depressed; he doesn't. But thinking like that helps.

 

[SEOFrog]

Fortunately I haven't experienced depression. I do have an OVERLY positive view of the world. Some argue that it only leads to disappointment and disillusionment. My experience is yet to validate their claims. When life sucks I count my blessings.. because chances are, someone out there is having it a lot harder.. and when you wallow in self-pity.. it's easy to forget that.