I can sympathize with the dementia. My grandmother died about 2 years ago after suffering with Multiple Sclerosis that deterioriate to the point of parlyzation and dementia. I really did see her wither away over my life. I can only hope that we made life as good as possible for her in the mean time...CrazyGirl17 said:
Never have I encountered or heard about someone being diagnosed with depression by measuring their neurotransmitters. I don't even know if it can be done, as in whether there's a test available for it. But I'm no expert.Boudica said:
Why, Im not doing anything except trying to scare him shit-less. Every guy where I grew up goes through it. The only reason I didnt is because my girlfriends family knew mine before we started dating[footnote]That didnt stop her dad from grabbing me by the arm and basically saying "If you do anything to my daughter, I will break your spine." This guy works on bulldozer engines for a living. *shudders*His arms look like logs ;_;[/footnote]. Hell, its a tradition that has been immortalized in Comedy [http://brucecameron.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63%3A8-simple-rules-for-dating-my-teenage-daughter&catid=35&Itemid=63], More Comedy [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myd9TO_ZN4o], Song [jjO9kX4npVY], And even a Trope [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverprotectiveDad] or two. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwerpSweating] Its very much a rite of passage around here. Its for nothing other than scaring them into not rying anything. And you have to have nerves of steel to not be scared of This monster [http://home.earthlink.net/~sharpsshtr/TrenchGun/TrenchGun.jpg].J-meMalone said:
Who told you we were doing this out of religion. Because whoever told you that was lying. The reason is alot more secular then that, because we arent making them become any one religion.[footnote]To that end, we arent having them baptized. I can forsee my grandma and pastor giving me a hard time over this.[/footnote] No, the reason is that "No sex before marriage" is law to us. It will remain law as long as they live in our house on our money, and I have no doughts that my girlfriend/future wife would call her own daughter a slut if she was to have sex before she was married. Its really just a continuing of the rules we grew up under...her parents were even more strict than mine (and less religious even).Zing said:
I never claimed you were doing it out of religion, the bracketed part is talking about my own experience.BOOM headshot65 said:
I can understand that. Though it may not have been entirely necessary to the topic at hand which is why Blood Brain Barrier felt the need to comment on it.Boudica said:I'm talking about people simply feeling low, being a generally apathetic person, going through a dark and difficult period in their life, and claiming they have the medically defined depression disorder. I personally find it devalues the term if people do this without seeing a psychologist and/or psychiatrist (more than once a number of years ago). It's also somewhat offensive to me, as I personally suffer from depression and have been on medication for quite a while.
I didn't mean to imply any sort of medical test. I was just explaining what depression actually is as a medical condition, rather than the mood of being depressed. That's all
Well it's an important issue Boudica raised because it's something that I think the general population has issues with - thinking that, like one American politician recently suggested is the case with rape, that there is a 'legitimate' depression and a 'non-legitimate' depression. As I see it, if you're feeling low that's depression. There's no line to cross because there's no clinical test for measuring serotonin levels. No one can tell your feelings but you so no one else can tell you if your depression is legitimate.Vivi22 said:I can understand that. Though it may not have been entirely necessary to the topic at hand which is why Blood Brain Barrier felt the need to comment on it.Boudica said:I'm talking about people simply feeling low, being a generally apathetic person, going through a dark and difficult period in their life, and claiming they have the medically defined depression disorder. I personally find it devalues the term if people do this without seeing a psychologist and/or psychiatrist (more than once a number of years ago). It's also somewhat offensive to me, as I personally suffer from depression and have been on medication for quite a while.
I didn't mean to imply any sort of medical test. I was just explaining what depression actually is as a medical condition, rather than the mood of being depressed. That's all
I think many people actually do know the difference between actually suffering from depression and simply going through a rough patch or something. Most people in this thread seem to anyway. I know I personally can't think of anyone I know that I would say just tends to be a bit down but tries to play it up for sympathy or anything like that. Not that that never happens of course since anecdotal evidence is next to worthless.
I disagree with this etiology. The brain can have structural defects, but I would think what we call depression is caused by an unreasonable expectation of the individual by society. There's no defect in the brain's behavior. When an individual is genetically designed to operate within a certain framework and a culture demands that she things outside that framework - go to school, memorise huge amounts of information, get little exercise or sunshine and sleep for less than the body requires, and then punishes her if she doesn't, it's no surprise that depression results. That's the brain operating perfectly, telling us we should change things. In most cases, not all. If you place a wild animal in a cage and it gets depressed you wouldn't say it's a problem with its brain, so why humans?Boudica said:Well, the medical term "depression" is different from being depressed, and that's the problem. See, depression is caused by a defect in the brain's behavior, whereas feeling low or being depressed is caused by things like poor grades, social issues, being bored, family problems, etc.Blood Brain Barrier said:Well it's an important issue Boudica raised because it's something that I think the general population has issues with - thinking that, like one American politician recently suggested is the case with rape, that there is a 'legitimate' depression and a 'non-legitimate' depression. As I see it, if you're feeling low that's depression. There's no line to cross because there's no clinical test for measuring serotonin levels. No one can tell your feelings but you so no one else can tell you if your depression is legitimate.Vivi22 said:I can understand that. Though it may not have been entirely necessary to the topic at hand which is why Blood Brain Barrier felt the need to comment on it.Boudica said:I'm talking about people simply feeling low, being a generally apathetic person, going through a dark and difficult period in their life, and claiming they have the medically defined depression disorder. I personally find it devalues the term if people do this without seeing a psychologist and/or psychiatrist (more than once a number of years ago). It's also somewhat offensive to me, as I personally suffer from depression and have been on medication for quite a while.
I didn't mean to imply any sort of medical test. I was just explaining what depression actually is as a medical condition, rather than the mood of being depressed. That's all
I think many people actually do know the difference between actually suffering from depression and simply going through a rough patch or something. Most people in this thread seem to anyway. I know I personally can't think of anyone I know that I would say just tends to be a bit down but tries to play it up for sympathy or anything like that. Not that that never happens of course since anecdotal evidence is next to worthless.
So while I wouldn't brush aside someone feeling depressed (being sad or depressed is never a good thing, for anyone, ever) there is a very big difference between actual depression as a disorder of the brain and being sad. If you have depression, you simply cannot overcome it without therapy and/or medication, as your brain is legitimately in error. If you're feeling low or apathetic, it is still quite possible to cheer up. "Cheering up" is virtually impossible when suffering depression, because your brain literally cannot.
One is disorder, an error, a problem of the brain, and one is a mood, an emotion and a situation. The important difference is how they are approached and making sure people with genuine depressive disorders are given help that they really do need and given the tools to function with their uniquely unlucky brain. People that are simply depressed can and should be listened to, to find out why, and assisted in getting happy again.
