Soldato
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Feeling a little down != depression.
Depression : State of mind or Medical condition
- Thread starter paradisiac
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Feeling a little down != depression.
It's not an easy answer really, particularly since (like many other ailments), people use the term without fully understanding its meaning. If I use a capital letter to differentiate...
- Depression is not the same as feeling depressed
- A bad cold is not the same as having the flu
- Feeling stressed is not the same as suffering from Stress
etc etc
There's no doubt that Depression in some cases is very definitely medical, since seratonin levels can be a measurable factor which can be pharmaceutically treated. In other instances it could be purely psychological, because the individual does not feel able to deal with a situation or environment that other people would cope with.
There's no doubt that these things are very definitely real, but the difficulties in diagnosing mean you will always get borderline cases muddying the waters.
- Depression is not the same as feeling depressed
- A bad cold is not the same as having the flu
- Feeling stressed is not the same as suffering from Stress
etc etc
There's no doubt that Depression in some cases is very definitely medical, since seratonin levels can be a measurable factor which can be pharmaceutically treated. In other instances it could be purely psychological, because the individual does not feel able to deal with a situation or environment that other people would cope with.
There's no doubt that these things are very definitely real, but the difficulties in diagnosing mean you will always get borderline cases muddying the waters.
Soldato
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This is not something that can be determined on the forums it however can be determined by your GP
The reason people are put on medicines is because the wait for CBT is generally long because the government refuses to support the services that are required.
but to be honest there is a lot of relevant advice you will get here that a GP will not tell you.
hell, i had severe foot pains for 2-3 years going for scans etc and seeing various doctors until i went to a podiatrist who informed me i had a corn and she cut it off. she was amazed 4 GPs hadnt spotted this. i had even been given medication for it!!
GP is general and basically a master of nothing.
Yep, I am shocked Dolph believes that maybe he'll qualify his statement later to explain what he meant. Despite my not seeing eye to eye with him on a few things he never struck me as someone would believe in something so backwards especially when he is always saying his thoughts are guided by evidence etc.
Soldato
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ah, suicide tuesday/wednesday. i think that is attributed to the body using up a lot of serotonin when using MDMA (ecstasy to you and me). it used to happen to many people who took pills. i rarely got that to be honest (mainly because i never went more than 3 days without dropping more pills lol)
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i think the point was, this is a good way of getting advice, but the only way you will get diagnosed would be via a doctor.
i get what you are saying though. i have been going to see doctors now for 11 years off and on coz i get really bad stomach cramps. the first doctor sent me to hospital as i had appendecitis. which after the operation i was told i didnt have but coz they have started, they have to finish.
then i have been told its colesterol, so was put on various diets. none helped.
then IBS so given different courses of tablets, none worked. so i have just learnt to live with it.
Just to clear things the difference between someone who feels 'low' and someone who is clinically depressed, is that the depression is severe enough to begin to disrupt the functioning of someones life to a severe extent.
A common 'pseudo-depression' that pretty much everyone has experienced is when you suffer from a bad cold or flu. That irritability and low is an equivalent to depression to an extent.
Yes typically GPs tend to throw anti-depressants too readily at the slightest sign, but it is a more prophylactic measure than a treatment as they typically use the 'wait and see' method to devise any further intervention. You also have to take into account the fact that something labeled as an 'anti-depressant' does not mean that is all it does.
A common 'pseudo-depression' that pretty much everyone has experienced is when you suffer from a bad cold or flu. That irritability and low is an equivalent to depression to an extent.
Yes typically GPs tend to throw anti-depressants too readily at the slightest sign, but it is a more prophylactic measure than a treatment as they typically use the 'wait and see' method to devise any further intervention. You also have to take into account the fact that something labeled as an 'anti-depressant' does not mean that is all it does.
In most cases it is simply people unhappy with their lives and being powerless to change it.
For example someone might be unhappy with their job or even just having to work full stop but a doctor is not going to tell them to quit their job and go live at the seaside to feel happier, it's not a realistic treatment in a socioeconomic system where you have to work 40 hours a week just to put food on the table.
Depression is simply a long term feeling of unhappiness and despair.
For example someone might be unhappy with their job or even just having to work full stop but a doctor is not going to tell them to quit their job and go live at the seaside to feel happier, it's not a realistic treatment in a socioeconomic system where you have to work 40 hours a week just to put food on the table.
Depression is simply a long term feeling of unhappiness and despair.
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if this is the case though, how do pills help? what i mean is, surely they just mask an underlying issue and will not ever stop you feeling this way. or do they give you that bit of motivation to sort yourself out?
EDIT : which brings me back to my original question, is it something medical that means pills will get you through it, or is it your frame of mind (made by your lifestyle) that is the issue. if its the latter then surely no amount of pills will make it go away without the backup of changing the negative side to your lifestyle.
just like its pointless an obesse person eating slimfast but never excersing, they will not get themselves thin (well not long term).
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I've suffered from depression, and have relapsed into it a couple of times already and I'm only 23. It all started out when I was getting stomach pains, eating made me feel ill etc. Kept going forwards and backwards with GPs/consultants, until one day I was able to see my normal GP who had been off for a very long time. As soon as he saw me and all the notes he was able to tell it was depression.
The awareness was the main factor that helped me recover from it, but until that happens it's hard to realise that it's actually your mind causing these issues within your body which aren't really there. I'm still on Citalopram now, but that's for severe anxiety which stemmed from depression, I've been through CBT but it's been part of me since around when I was 19 so it's extremely hard to shift. I know what's going on, I know the body process of anxiety/panic attacks, but as of yet it's hard to find the actual trigger. It comes on at any time, it's a massive pain in the arse, neither are nice to go through, but anxiety is bloody awful.
The awareness was the main factor that helped me recover from it, but until that happens it's hard to realise that it's actually your mind causing these issues within your body which aren't really there. I'm still on Citalopram now, but that's for severe anxiety which stemmed from depression, I've been through CBT but it's been part of me since around when I was 19 so it's extremely hard to shift. I know what's going on, I know the body process of anxiety/panic attacks, but as of yet it's hard to find the actual trigger. It comes on at any time, it's a massive pain in the arse, neither are nice to go through, but anxiety is bloody awful.
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this again is something i never expected. i knew people would throw in their opinions, but for people to be so open about their own experiences is suprising. not that its a bad thing, just i assumed it was something people liked to keep to themselves (apart from those which im sure try to use it to their advantage to get out of working etc).
its also interesting that people that have depression also display other signs like stomach pains, back pains etc.
To be fair, I'd rather people were more open about it. Personally, I find a lot of day to day activities very hard, yet people don't know because it's one of these mainly unnoticeable conditions. If I was aware that other people were in the same position as me I might be more relaxed.
I'm not ashamed of it, just happens. Although it has definitely affected my life greatly, I don't want to be egotistical about it by any means, but from getting solid firsts at University, I'm now faced with trying to scrape a 2:1 overall which I know if I was in a healthy mind I'd be extremely capable of achieving it.
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yeh the more i look into it the sadder the condition is, as it seems to take over peoples lives. i just kinda thought (and this is going to sound bad, but im just going on the people i know that have it and dont mean it personally against anyone on here as i do believe there is more to it than i understood from the bits i got from them.) people with 'depression' are nothing more than just people with a less than perfect life using their permanent low as a reason to do nothing about it. but from this, and other bits i have read, its more of an underlying problem that seems hard to control. maybe the people i know that claim to have 'depression' dont, they just knew how to work the system to their advantage.
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State of mind without a doubt. Just because drugs can treat it doesn't mean you should use them.
Most people who fall into depression do so for certain reasons in their life but if they suddenly won £1mill I highly doubt they'd still be depressed.
Of course there's the loss of loved ones but Grieving and depression are two different things.
Most people who fall into depression do so for certain reasons in their life but if they suddenly won £1mill I highly doubt they'd still be depressed.
Of course there's the loss of loved ones but Grieving and depression are two different things.
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are you sure about that? im sure there are a lot of millionaires out there that will suffer from depression too, money cant buy you happyness.
Winning a lump sum of money is no cure to anything, there's no quick fix. I'd be inclined to say if someone won £1mil and suddenly weren't depressed, then they weren't depressed in the first place.
I agree garriec but the vast majority these days just use depression as a ticket off work for a week.
I realise money can't buy you happiness and that millionaires can be unhappy, we've all seen the deaths due to drugs countless times. IMO a lot of people's depression though is due to lifestyle and just generally not being happy where they are in life.
I realise money can't buy you happiness and that millionaires can be unhappy, we've all seen the deaths due to drugs countless times. IMO a lot of people's depression though is due to lifestyle and just generally not being happy where they are in life.
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i would have to agree with this after looking into it more. and to be honest, i wouldnt class myself as depressed, just going through a rough time, and winning a lot of money, although it would make me smile, it wouldnt solve my problems in the slightest.
which is what led me to make the thread, as i found more and more people i knew were being diagnosed depressed and managed to sign off work and live a relativly easy life (although it would drive me crazy personally not working). this then made me think is depression just something in someones head which can be cured by changing your lifestyle or is it an actual condition that runs deeper. and from this it would appear its a condition, but as the symptoms can be so vague it can also be diagnosed to those that are just on a huge low point in their life.
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Not to sound offensive but you have no idea what you are talking about.
Depression is scientifically measurable.