Poll: Depression.

[Jark212]

I'm 17, on Paxil, for the most part it's helping... I have so many psychological disorders I forget I have certin ones sometimes...

My Moms Bipolar so I know where this comes from. Advice that my Doc. gave me; if you feel like your going to harm yourself call the cops A.K.A. 911, just to be careful.

 

[Shivari]

I was depressed for a while a couple of years ago, but I think that's just one of those things that everyone goes through. It wasn't real depression, I guess I had an emo-ish mentality but I didn't dress like it.

I cry pretty often, but that's really just a way to get over small things. After I cry I usually feel much better. Music can also make me feel much better.

 

[Radelaide]

I'm starting to recover after about uh, 10 months? of medication and therapy.

I know for a while, from my own personal experience, admitting you've got a problem is hard and makes you feel weak, but as long as you've got truly supportive friends and family, you'll get through it.

It's sad how many people really have depression =[ *group hug*

 

[sneakypenguin]

Who does depression hurt?
Everyone.
Where does depression hurt?
Everywhere.

[sup]One trillion E-biscuits if you recognize that.[/sup]

Ha funniest thing I've read all night.(from that commercial with the bouncing circle thing
Wow lot of depressed people here, I never understood someone calling themselves depressed like it's an illness. Yeah I get mopey in the winter and when things get tough but that's not depression, just life sucking.

Like I always say to my friends Depression is just an excuse to feel sorry for yourself without doing anything about your situation. (though I do believe in seasonal depression that's just because of lack of sunlight)

 

[Flour]

I think I have a depression, but I can't be bothered to have it tested or something.(actually, HOW is it diagnosed?)
Not important really, my problem is that it most likely ends with some form of medication, which I refuse to use. I'd rather walk around all day with a headache than take something for it.

Spoiler: Few lines why I refuse any form of medicine

I was forced to use Ritalin for 2 years until I felt better, but HOW would I, 10/11 years old, in a town I hated, know if some medicine helped? When I was 11 I was using 30mg each day, every day, for nearly a year with a maximum of 60mg each day, a limit I don't think to have ever reached. My parents stopped giving me the medicine after some time though, but now I think about it, not fast enough.

 

[Smiles]

I'm Bipolar!

shut up

 

[Wyatt]

Ha funniest thing I've read all night.(from that commercial with the bouncing circle thing
Wow lot of depressed people here, I never understood someone calling themselves depressed like it's an illness. Yeah I get mopey in the winter and when things get tough but that's not depression, just life sucking.

Like I always say to my friends Depression is just an excuse to feel sorry for yourself without doing anything about your situation. (though I do believe in seasonal depression that's just because of lack of sunlight)

if only it were that simple. i used to be the kind of guy that didnt belive in shit like people being depressed either. but then again i didnt understand what i was talking about untill it happened to me. even then i didnt really belive it untill i was losing my friggen mind for real. i couldnt sleap, i didnt eat, stoped reading books, watchin movies, going to the bar's, didnt care if i showered or not, most days it was a 20 minute effort to just talk myself into getting out of bed.

and the thing is it wasnt like my life was bad or i had any reasons to be sad. i WASNT sad, i just didnt care, i walked around for months in a fog not even knowing what day it was at times. it was either that or pure rage, i would lose my god damn mind over the stupidist things, i found myself burning the curtians in my front lawn because i was sick of looking at them.

trust me, despression is real, and id rather lose an arm or a leg, id even say id rather have terminal cancer than live with depression, atleast with cancer you know its gunna end some time soon and can atleast try to enjoy your life that you have left. when you dont enjoy anything and i mean anything in your life, when the only emotions you actualy feel is rage or guilt or shame when you feel anything at all that is, its a bad situation, the only thing that makes it livable is the times when you dont care about anything at all and i ask you is that any way for a person to live?

i WISH it was as simple as taking a walk, id walk till my feet fell off, or spending time with friends, when you dont know from one moment too the next if your blow a fuse over something stupid, or your gunna cancel your get together because you just dont feel up to taking a shower and getting dressed your friends tend to bolt in a hurry, and i found that those that didnt spend all their time treating you like your a land mine and can explode and kill them at any second or they go the other way and treat you like your retarded now.

REAL depression isnt simple, it isnt imagined or made up, and its no joke.

 

[TerribleTerryTate]

Ok seems to me some people posting here either aren't actually depressed, or are people who have never suffered from it, but believe they know what it's all about. To those people who are saying, it's an excuse to feel sorry for yourself - please, either really study depression, or don't say such generalised, retarded comments.

This thread, was aimed at those actually clinically diagnosed with depression, sure I'm interested in how everyone is feeling, but the original question was aimed at those who are diagnosed, apologies if I didn't make that clear to start with.

Now, for those of you who think depression is some sort of 'Oh my god, my life sucks and I can't be arsed to do anything about it so I'll say I've got depression as an excuse' maybe there are a few things you're missing.
In my worse stages of depression I don't sleep. At all. I've went literally weeks without a minute of sleep, and to say things get strange, isn't even touching the tip of the iceberg. Hallucinations, extreme weakness, throwing up, not physically able to do anything at all other than sit still and have trippy daydreams about everything that makes you feel terrible.
Obviously, I'm not speaking for all depressives here, merely myself.

I didn't eat. At all. Lost 3 stone in under two weeks. Couple that with no sleep, and it's actually a very real health threat. Imagine what it's like having a stomach bug or a general illness, and multiply that bastard by 100 and you haven't even nearly reached the level of illness that can be reached.

Let's list the worst of all; you hate yourself. Imagine a suicidal person, who hasn't slept in 3 weeks, and has lost 3 stone in around the same time...what do you think their mental state would be like? Do you think they're making it up now?
It'd be great if those wanting to lose weight could claim depression then suddenly lose 3 stone in 2 weeks, imagine the commercials. Fuck weight watchers, and all the other weight losing products, get DEPRESSION!

It annoys me too, when people say they have depression when they are actually just experiencing general sadness. For those of you who have been depressed or who are struggling with it now, I wish you all the best, and I hope you overcome it soon.
For those of you who don't, please don't label it as some fabricated BS, some people genuinely suffer from this disease.

 

[DiamondJim]

I voted amongst the 'sometimes', because I can't really tell if I have the clinical depression or not. I can usually stave it off, just sort of look ahead to a better tomorrow. The other side of that is I have had some of the real, physical symptoms of depression (vivid dreams, loss of weight, panic attacks, paranoia). But they aren't usually that constant. It's aggravating.

But, I am finding more and more ways to keep myself afloat. Being a freshman in college, life has taken an abrupt u-turn from the usual (distance from loved ones), and it gets hard. I just do what keeps me sane: take it one step at a time and focus your efforts on a better you and a better tomorrow. I know there are certainly others with more severe cases that can't be helped so easily... but keep going. You never know what is around the bend.

Also, the Escapist (aptly named) is a great spot to get my mood up most of the time. The general humor I find here, be it from Yahtzee or the forum D) can make me smile at least for a little while. For all the arguing that occurs, it's still a good place to get your thoughts out, I think.

<3 everyone.

 

[manicfoot]

I get depressed on a daily basis, and anti-depressants have only made it worse. I was on prozac for 18 months when I was 17 (I'm 22 now) because I was hopelessly nihlistic. I couldn't do anything without over-analysing it in my mind and concluding that it was pointless and I was going to die anyway.

So, a few months into the prozac I was walking through a train station when I heard this voice in my head. It was telling me I was a useless piece of shit and I should throw myself on the tracks to rid the world of my sorry existence. It wouldn't stop and kept screaming "DO IT" louder and louder. I got out of there as fast as I could, got home and looked at the side effects for prozac - one of the side effects was suicidial thoughts.

 

[Wyatt]

its a hard thing to pin down. i almost wish there was another namve for it. 'depression' gives the IMpression that its just a person being 'down' or 'blue' or 'feeling sad'. clinical depression isnt any of those things. CD is so hard to really get a hold on because one of the first signs that you have it is you dont care that you have it. apathy is one of the first and worst stages. looking back i was depressed for 2 years or so before it got to the stage where i was losing my mind. i would wake up every morning with the dry heaves. i passed it off as a hang over even on the days i didnt drink the night before, i didnt get a good nights sleap for years, again i passed it off as trouble adjusting to a swing shift, when i found myself actualy ploting to murder my boss at work i knew that something was seriously wrong. i mean ive allways been on the hard core side. i can be a prick but the worst ive ever done is to end up swapping hands with someone in a bar parking lot but i was seriously thinking about how nice it would be to just kill this guy. and to make the point he wasnt all that bad, ive worked for WAY worse people.

too all of you that are suffering from SAD or just having a down time in your life take hope, that can and does pass with a bit of effort or just the times of the year, but when it goes beyond that your pretty much fucked.

look at it this way, your mind is your window on the world, its what governs every moment of your life, when it isnt working right how can you possable fix it? well, outside of drugs that is. im from upstate New York i used to be the kind of guy that would think NOTHING of hopping in the car with a few pals and heading to atlantic city for a weekend, now its a 3 day adventure to work up the effort to go to a grocery store, and i can literaly go days having panic attacks because i have a doctor appointment.

dont confuse being sad with being CD there is a world of difference.

 

[Hyzenthlay]

Ok seems to me some people posting here either aren't actually depressed, or are people who have never suffered from it, but believe they know what it's all about. To those people who are saying, it's an excuse to feel sorry for yourself - please, either really study depression, or don't say such generalised, retarded comments.

This thread, was aimed at those actually clinically diagnosed with depression, sure I'm interested in how everyone is feeling, but the original question was aimed at those who are diagnosed, apologies if I didn't make that clear to start with.

Now, for those of you who think depression is some sort of 'Oh my god, my life sucks and I can't be arsed to do anything about it so I'll say I've got depression as an excuse' maybe there are a few things you're missing.
In my worse stages of depression I don't sleep. At all. I've went literally weeks without a minute of sleep, and to say things get strange, isn't even touching the tip of the iceberg. Hallucinations, extreme weakness, throwing up, not physically able to do anything at all other than sit still and have trippy daydreams about everything that makes you feel terrible.
Obviously, I'm not speaking for all depressives here, merely myself.

I didn't eat. At all. Lost 3 stone in under two weeks. Couple that with no sleep, and it's actually a very real health threat. Imagine what it's like having a stomach bug or a general illness, and multiply that bastard by 100 and you haven't even nearly reached the level of illness that can be reached.

Let's list the worst of all; you hate yourself. Imagine a suicidal person, who hasn't slept in 3 weeks, and has lost 3 stone in around the same time...what do you think their mental state would be like? Do you think they're making it up now?
It'd be great if those wanting to lose weight could claim depression then suddenly lose 3 stone in 2 weeks, imagine the commercials. Fuck weight watchers, and all the other weight losing products, get DEPRESSION!

It annoys me too, when people say they have depression when they are actually just experiencing general sadness. For those of you who have been depressed or who are struggling with it now, I wish you all the best, and I hope you overcome it soon.
For those of you who don't, please don't label it as some fabricated BS, some people genuinely suffer from this disease.

Yeah when I had it I reached under thirty kilograms and I was 17. That almost killed me and now I have osteoporosis from it and Im 19. I couldn't sleep and if I did I work up every hour. I tried to pretend I was ok and still go to school but I became a shell of a person with no feelings except despair. I didn't even feel fear or fright it was like half of me was dead. I get really angry when people say they are depressed to get attention when in fact they are just feeling a bit down. Also depression is a disease you get a chemical imbalance in your brain when you have it and the latest research indicates that it has a genetic component. Highly intelligent people are also more likely to become depressed although there are exceptions.

 

[IronDuke]

I got depressed pretty early and for quite a long time, at about 14 I became really introverted and avoided as much social contact as I could, lost friends and confidence as a result-been an effort to get them back and get back to being a happy guy but im pretty much there now. I'm guessing its from a chemical imbalance thing as much as a result of my environment, because I was the fuck up kid in my family of genius's and well formed bodies, and a quite late bloomer (saved only from ridicule by the fact that Ive got decently manly features to begin with) but I wouldnt be surprised if chemical problems was just another problem with my body. I swear my mum was drinking when I was in the woomb.

Yeah been there, tried antidepressants which were ok besides the awful side effects. Felt kind of like being on weak extacy sometimes, but If I have them when Im feeling fine they make me feel depressed... weird.

Oh and to whoever said they had to convince the doctor, I got that too. I don't get it, he's like "Do you cut yourself?" and I say no, im depressed, not an idiot, how will that make me feel better? He writes something down. "It may be depression, there are a few symptoms but not all" he says unconvinced like you have to hurt yourself to feel bad. grrr, eventually convinced him but it felt dodgy having to convince the dude, since I just wanted help.

Since then I've been on sodium valproate from a different doctor, its a mood stabiliser, actually meant to treat epilepsy but it works for mood swings as well. That worked PERFECTLY, no side effects, no mood swings as long as im on it, just sometimes a bit too tired to study and things after taking it. It didnt give me that spaced out effect I got on anti depressants though. But I'm not sure it works for CD itself, only manic depressive.

EDIT: oh yeah, in agreeance on being annoyed at normal people who claim depression, damn them stealing my thunder. Ive got a friend who is really popular and gets so many girls, then he cheats on his gf and when shes angry at him he will tell me "OH im really depressed , i just feel so bad at the moment." then he goes about laughing like a clown and going on with his life. Mine eventually became Bi-polar, so I know I was never just sad, it was actual depression.

Depression is not having the motivation to get out of bed, to talk to anyone, bursting into tears for no reason when you are lying in bed late at night, not sleeping or sleeping only a few hours a night (had a period where I was sleeping only every second night), having no sense of self worth and hating yourself even if you cant pinpoint why, and questioning why couldn't I be that guy, or him, anything has to be better than this. It's being manicly self concious and hiding away from other people just to avoid faking happiness, it's wanting to die but caring too much about your families wellbeing to do so. Worst of all, it compounds on itself; because you act the way you do, people find you weird and talk to you less, making you feel more alienated and alone. It isnt just feeling sad, it's feeling sad for extended periods of time without a break, even when you should be happy.