The rise of Depression

I agree pills should be a last option. However seeking help should absolutely come as soon as possible. Depression actually affects the neurochemicals in the brain. It's incredibly hard to break the cycle alone.

The thing is therapy takes a long time and pills is a relatively instant fix (albeit short term). I think it's more a symptom of society that we need that instant fix and are willing to subscribe to anything that offers it.


However there are people out there who literally could not function without pills as their depression is so so severe. For whatever reason, depression is a major issue and killing people everyday, and it's on the rise. If you need help, go get it. No one will think less of you, believe that

 

I didn't quite follow a lot of your post OP.

But coming from the Military, there are a lot of grown men - some of the strongest men I've ever met - dealing with depression every day.

It is disgusting that 'depression' is seen as some 'girly' thing and people shouldn't talk about it.

Go to anyone who gives a damn about you and chew their *****ing ear off about it.

One of those strong men I mentioned before, killed himself shortly before Christmas last year due to the depression that had taken a hold of his life after also being Medically Discharged from the Army.

He chose not to seek specialist advice. He was a grunt. He'd seen real problems over in Afghanistan. He didn't want to burden anyone with something as embarrassing as him feeling down and depressed.

That ended up costing his life.

If you're depressed OP - talk to someone. It's not a joke. It's in no way embarrassing. Who gives a ***** if someone thinks anything negative about you saying you're depressed.

They don't know a thing about the struggles you could be facing internally.

I was depressed for months after I was medically discharged. My only friend was the bottle. I put on 20kgs in nearly 4 months. Before my best mate from high school invited me over one night and asked me if everything's alright.

I sat there and cried my eyes out.

Thankfully I've managed to turn it around. And it's only because I have spoken about it.

 

I've been around awhile and either it's more prevalent than it was 40 or 50 years ago, or the medical profession is improving their ability to diagnose an illness that is generally referred to as "depression," but is actually a multitude of conditions. The effectiveness of treatment for "depression" in its myriad forms varies from individual to individual. Meds that work on one person may not work on someone else. Misdiagnosis is also a problem. All this is my opinion, to be clear. One of my best friends has been wrestling with depression for the 30+ years I've known him. I've stayed up until dawn with him more than once, trying to convince him that living was preferable to dying. He's doing well now, but I don't know how long that will last. He's had good stretches before. Everyone who deals with this themselves, or is close to someone who does, has my sympathy. It is no joke, not the least little bit.

 

As a society we are becoming more isolated, more sedentary, eating terribly and can be exposed to warped portrayals of reality that most people feel they don't live up to.

The simplest explanation of depression is when your expectations don't meet reality, with exposure of people 'living the life' in the media that most people can only dream of, you can see how people can develop depression. Diet and lack of exercise have also been shown to contribute to depression.

Obviously the reason for each person's depression is individual and unique but as a society I can see these contributing factors

 

I'm not really following your post?? I mean, sure, some people post on social media and are open about their depression/sadness (yes, there's a difference), and while some still hide it because of the stigma associated with being dx'd with depression/anxiety disorder etc. It really comes down to the reality that the stupid stereotypes associated with mental health issues are slowly starting to go away.

I really think ignorance to mental health still plays a role in people not understanding what depression is or not realizing it's not something you can just walk off (especially if someone is going through a lot harder time vs what's considered normal situations, and obviously there's more to it than that, but I'm not going to write a book here ). If you think your family or friends won't understand... Then maybe they need to be educated but that's not always easy, and in the end it really doesn't matter whether you take meds (I mean as long as they work for you and are rx'd correctly) or if you just try something else, it all comes down to everyone being different. I think in another 50 years (hopefully less) mental health will be dx'd even better, I mean look how long it has taken for the military to finally start accepting ptsd as a real thing, back in the day it would be viewed as being a punk/weak, and it's a lot better than it was... but it needs to go further. I mean if the signs were better understood the people that really need help might have more supporting family/friends, or understand that it's really okay to seek help.

I also believe more people should take a basic neuro/psychology class before even attempting to comment with "toughen up, my life sucks too, blah blah", I mean the reality is everyones brains/chemical balance can be different and what works for some, won't work for others. And There's nothing wrong with that.

On a side note, while the Internet has certainly lead people to self dx, it's better for your own understanding about your health, especially if you talk about it with your Dr. The Internet has also certainly help spread research/new treatments faster field (so that's a big win). The one thing I don't like about the Internet is people using confirmation bias or bad sources.... Just look at the cluster **** with vaccines... Even after the article cited was debunked (about the autism link), it unfortunately is still a regular topic of discussion. Hopefully the progress in the mental health sector isn't lost because of some bull**** articles that "claim" to be real research....

Anyway, tl;dr version: there's nothing wrong with meds/therapy if a person tries/needs them, everyone is different, and we're only here for a short amount of time... so you have to do what works for you to make the most of it (and really not worry about the ignorant, it's a losing battle, haha).

 

Also... I still think parents should parent... They can't rely on the meds to fix everything, or the Internet/video games to raise their kids Fortunately not everyone is doing that! It's just broadcast easier because of the net... I'm sure stupid **** was happening before, we just didn't get over saturated with info...

 

Are you married? Kids?

 

Yeah, my kids I have taught how to do a lot of life skills... I get them to go out and ride bikes or do other stuff outside. I've handed down a lot of understanding about how to work on cars, how to fix things/research on your own etc etc. I learned growing up how to help my parents out when asked, and fortunately was handed down a lot of knowledge about those areas (that I have built on from there, and it's not even the field I work in),that I've now handed down to another generation.

So... Fortunately all hope is not lost, but you're right, some kids are zombies to their screens and helicopter parents definitely don't help.

 

The more people know about depression . . the more people will at least think they are depressed

I think people have a hard time distiquishing between being Depressed and DEPRESSION

Rocket River

 

It took this thread, but I just realized how little I miss Swoly-D in the hangout.

I guess there will always be people who share his worldview though.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/opinion/a-great-depression.html

Back in the days, when there weren't constant bombardment of infotainment, I wonder what people do. Sit around and randomly read their mind? Nowadays, how often does someone really sit still and look inward for 15 seconds?

 

I think people are more inclined to label themselves sometimes I think just to be corky or whatever but that doesn't negate the fact that depression is a real thing and its much more than just feeling down. Its feeling like you have no reason to get out of bed.

 

this is true, lots of kids now have peanut allergies.

have you tried some natural supplements instead of prescription pills?

are you an outdoors person? i know australia is amazing