[Closed] Depression

Really ?
I think this is a very cool place for miserablists. Me included .

Which people? How old are they?

IMO/IME older people are more likely to have a "stiff upper lip" attitude, but younger people are far more open about depression.

Of course, the early treatments for depression (vicious ECT, zombie-strength meds, etc) could be worse than the original illness. So I think the "recoiling in horror" might actually be fear.

Why do some people recoil in horror at the mere sniff of the word.

Because for years there's been a stigma around it, and misunderstanding. Depression in the past was a Very Bad Thing, leading to terribly unBritish things like suicidal thoughts and not Maintaining a Stiff Upper Lip.

Mainly it's because a lot of people don't understand it (what it is, how it affects people, how it doesn't affect them); and have no idea what to do or say when presented with it.

Because people (well... mainly blokes) who've generally had a very, very easy life always say 'why can't you just pull yourself together?!' as though it were that simple.

Basically, a large perccentage of the population are arrogant, emotionally-retarded ****-nuggets, totally devoid of empathy or compassion

One of the biggest advances of late is having Tyson Fury, who is the living embodiement of a certain type of machismo, being really open and outspoken about his depression.

Good on him!

People are scared of what they don't understand. I've had depression since I was 7, 41 years. The friends you do manage to make turn their backs because you can't go out & socialise. The stigma from the Victorian era is still strong in the general public too.

Basically, a large perccentage of the population are arrogant, emotionally-retarded ****-nuggets, totally devoid of empathy or compassion
One of the biggest advances of late is having Tyson Fury, who is the living embodiement of a certain type of machismo, being really open and outspoken about his depression.

There have always been characters who talked about depression, whether society listens to them or not is the question. Plenty of the wartime lot talked about it, Spike Milligan, James Jones etc. Then there were movies and tv dramas like M*A*S*H. People forget it though.

I wrote this, some of my thoughts and musings on depression almost exactly a year ago. I’ll post it and then read it for the first time since writing it. I recall it was cathartic to be able to be firmly in the observation camp, I hope it chimes with some.

Depression, complicated and very personal to the individual but until dealt with, just recycles.

There is no magic answer, no catch all solution to enable people who live in a depressed state of dis-ease, to actually deal with their demons. Therefore, medication will help some, but not all. By the same reasoning, counselling, CBT, mindfulness, exercise et al will also work for some, but not for all.

We each need to find our own way out, a way that is right for the individual. Which requires a certain amount of get up and go to start looking for our own way. I used to feel that my get up and go had got up and ****ed off without me, which used to start the spinning downward spiral and I used to describe my world as being grey, bleak and desolate.

I termed myself as a cyclical depressive, with what I termed as major bouts occurring every seven years or so; my last major bout of deep depression was over 10 years ago. Am I fully recovered? Possibly, yes, it's up to me, like any behavioural addiction, I could now make the familiar and well trodden mental connections and whizz down the rabbit hole again, but I choose not to. I make my own world, I might as well make it good for me.

Coming to terms with and actually accepting my mental state, rather than fighting it and being angry with myself for having no real right to be pissed off with me and my world, was one of the major turning points in my recovery. There were many others too, it was like a jigsaw that finally came together. The pieces materialised following lots of reading, lots of being actively curious about how I could choose to think differently about my beliefs and more importantly for me, my expectations of myself and my world around me.

A combination of many diverse ingredients has helped me enormously, which I sum up with three words: Mindfulness, acceptance and attitude. They work for me, they may well not for anyone else. I choose their definitions too. In my frame of reference they work. Find your own frame of reference, the Buddhists talk about the Right Effort. If something is too much effort, is it really helping you? Find the ways that feel good, they generally will be.

Be brutally honest with yourself and your dis-ease. There may, more likely, will, be difficult decisions and home truths that you'll need to tackle along your journey, be brave, be true and remember that in spite of the current love for labels and excuses, we can only be truly responsible for our own happiness and dealing with our chattering minds.