Depression is NOT a Real Disorder

reply to post by navione


to suggest that being medicated for depression and taking a pill is like alchohol is utter nonsense!

firstly the medication is there to help with the horrible side effects of depression such as anxiety and panic, these symptoms are the worst as they make u feel completely helpless and the fear of imminent death isnt something i would wish on my worst enemy, also medication is controlled alchohol is not, alchohol may numb the feelings or exasibate them further, however only in the short term eventually alcohol will worsen the condition as well as your health.

i was prescribed fluoxetine which is a low dose non addictive anti-deprssant and i was on it for about 4 months and in the time i was on it, i gained energy and WANTED to go walking and jogging, i lost wieght and kept walking and walking and felt great , i stopped taking the pills a year ago, but i still exersise and have had no recurring symptoms.

so medication isnt always necassary but in extreme cases it is, but dont say that being medicated for an illness is like consuming alcohol thats the most stupid thing ive ever heard!

How do you think visiting a conspiracy site is helping out your depression? ATS has depression built into it just on the basis of what is discussed here. If you are really trying to get better than stay away from here. Only saying that for your own good.

When you take a good look at the world around us, how can anyone not suffer from depression? We have the knowledge and the resources to make this world better, if not almost ideal, but yet we sacrifice that future to hang onto an antiquated belief system that only serves a few. We allow a small group to corner all the resources of the globe for their own personal enrichment while engaging the masses in what is really a meaningless competition to provide for themselves and their families. The system is set up so that the majority are doomed to fail.

Only the mindless and the selfless are not depressed at this point.

Whatever you do, do NOT use your brain to try and think clearly about this. Do not try to deal with your problems yourself, you NEED help!

Take these pills and you will be happy again. This is the only way.

Nevermind those countless horrific adverse side effects.

Once you take this pill you will be happy again, unless of course you have the side effect that Increases your suseptibility to suicidal tendancies...but nevermind that!

Just take these pills, shut your mouth, and smile.

But whatever you do, DO NOT change your thinking. Do NOT change your perception of reality. Do NOT try and deal with this through common sense.

The only solution is to enter the medical establishment and get pills.

/sarcasm

Anyone ever though the reason their depression never goes away and they constantly need more Pills to remedy the "symptoms" is because they never dealt with the root cause of their ailment in the first place?

Merely cheating and throwing in the happy chemicals into your brain does NOT fix your life. In fact it makes it harder to fight off the depression and it will always come back because you refuse to deal with it face to face, and instead choose to cheat and pop pills to pretend you are happy for just one more day...

reply to post by zelaar

so agreed with you: no clear definitions of mental disorders make fertile soil for different quack-Drs to take buckies of air

reply to post by muzzleflash


No one is saying that one should ignore therapy and only take medication. In fact all the research suggests taking meds while going through therapy at the same time. This provides the highest percentage of successes as well as the lowest relapse rates. The thing is even people who forgo medication and only choose to go through therapy are at a risk for relapse. It's also possible for someone to take meds for a short period of time and when they come off of them never experience symptoms again. Everyone responds to treatment differently.

reply to post by PETROLCOIN


I think that clinical depression due to a chemical imbalance, certainly is a mental disorder. But people like me, who might build up negetive energy without any realization, can easily just, analyze their lives, and move on, just keeping a positive prespective. Not all people who take anti depressants are taking them for a chemical imbalance. People who dont have such an imbalance should use mental, and natural means of relieving depression.

reply to post by PETROLCOIN


I think that clinical depression due to a chemical imbalance, certainly is a mental disorder. But people like me, who might build up negetive energy without any realization, can easily just, analyze their lives, and move on, just keeping a positive prespective. Not all people who take anti depressants are taking them for a chemical imbalance. People who dont have such an imbalance should use mental, and natural means of relieving depression.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


The world now, with society and all, is depressing, day to day. But to keep in mind the bigger picture, of where things may turn in the next 5 or 10 years, helps alot.

I do not have an issue with clinical depression. However, I did at a couple brief points in my life. The specific biological cause at those moments is not clear to me, but one thing IS clear: chemical depression is not situational depression, no way no how. Not even close. They shouldn't even have the same label they are so different. Chemical depression is YOUR BRAIN not just a mood. Suicide seems like a positive because everything is so completely hopeless and horrible. It is not based on circumstance. The number of people who survive horrible situations, vs. kill themselves in their upper class neighborhoods, ought to make that obvious.

At least a decade since my last brief run-in with chem dep I discovered that a substantial (like 5K+ iu) dose of Vitamin D3 fundamentally improved my sense of well-being, and that full-spectrum lights on my desk all day while I worked seemed to help some as well -- but I didn't have those during the worst points, so I have no idea if they could even take the edge off the serious stuff.

Using the term depression for both is misleading. It's like the difference between acne and cystic acne. The first is something on and within the skin which is annoying. The second is basically an auto-immune disorder [appears probably to be caused by reactions to foods particularly gluten-grains] which just happens, like chicken pox and some other issues, to be so severe the body pushes it right out through the skin (except it's too freakin huge to get through it well). People with C.A. reading articles about 'clogged pores' probably just feel black and not even amused. Like depression, using the same word for two things which "in symptom" appear kinda the same but which both in cause and in profound degree are radically different, is misleading to other people.

Who promptly give their completely ignorant (and more than a little immature) pontificating advice about how nothing exists except what their tiny little reality (and sometimes, their tiny little minds) have allowed into their own experience.

May they learn vicariously, and not through the horror of actual experience.

RC

reply to post by atlguy

and a lifestyle most would dream of.

when your doctor figures out it, he lusts to heal you over & again

Those of you saying that us whom disagree have no legit opinion, are exercising your failed logic.

So only the victims and the enablers-drug dealer have a legit opinion on this? Yeah right. That is an illogical assessment. Being a victim or a drug dealer does not make you right. It does not automatically qualify you for the truth.

The victim has a motive to continue playing the victim card and getting sympathy and attention.
The drug dealer has a motive to continue increasing profits $ and thus must defend the legitimacy of their drug perscriptions while increasing their customer base.

Therefore the victim and the enabler are both mentally compromised, and thus their opinions are skewed by that.

Honestly what we really need in life, are therapists like this.
Behold, the only good therapist on Earth.

reply to post by muzzleflash

The victim has a motive to continue playing the victim card and getting sympathy and attention. The drug dealer has a motive to continue increasing profits $ and thus must defend the legitimacy of their drug perscriptions while increasing their customer base.

nicely done explanation

The next time you see a Zoloft, Prozac, or Paxil commercial, watch carefully. You will see that, when the drug company explains that depression is a serious medical illness caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain, it will be prefaced with the word "may" i.e., "depression may be caused by a biochemical imbalance in the brain." They must preface this statement with "may" because this theory has not been scientifically established. This unproven theory has been propagated by the pharmaceutical industry in order to sell psychotropic (mind-altering) drugs.

Although each of the SSRI manufacturers admit they do not know how their respective drugs work, each claim that they help to correct a chemical imbalance of the brain. The assumption for each of these drugs is that if a person is depressed (each and every depressed person), they have a reduced number of neurotransmitters in the brain called serotonin. As one well-known psychiatrist put it: “[SSRIs] are not correcting a biochemical imbalance, these drugs create severe imbalances in the brain. ... The idea that human suffering, psychological suffering, is biochemical is strictly a promotional campaign, perhaps the most successful in the history of the world, created by the drug companies. We do not even have a technology, a scientific technology, for measuring what happens inside the brain ... it is literally a fabrication.”


www.drugsandyourmind.com...

A wonderful and informative thread. I see that there are still people who don't or won't understand. I have anxiety/depression too, though not as bad as many others. Bravo for making this thread!!

Thank you for this thread....S&F

Depression took over my life many many years ago and it has been an agonizing life of pure hell....emotionally.
Add severe OCD to that and you have a very bad mental cocktail...

I have been to the lowest low with depression. You know you have hit the bottom when you can't hold down a job, clean your house, take care of your kids , bathe, or function on a daily basis...Been there!!!

When you can't control your racing thoughts and panic attacks overwhelm you and fear controls you it will lead to suicidal thoughts...Been there too....I was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown because of this emotional turmoil and It wasn't nice....
But people who say we are weak or are just trying to get attention or just can't face our problems needs to shut up and get educated on the subject. If it were possible I would love for those who don't understand and put down the illness to step into my shoes when I was at my lowest and worst for just ONE day...

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Whatever you do, do NOT use your brain to try and think clearly about this. Do not try to deal with your problems yourself, you NEED help!

Take these pills and you will be happy again. This is the only way.

Nevermind those countless horrific adverse side effects.

Once you take this pill you will be happy again, unless of course you have the side effect that Increases your suseptibility to suicidal tendancies...but nevermind that!

Just take these pills, shut your mouth, and smile.

But whatever you do, DO NOT change your thinking. Do NOT change your perception of reality. Do NOT try and deal with this through common sense.

The only solution is to enter the medical establishment and get pills.

/sarcasm

Anyone ever though the reason their depression never goes away and they constantly need more Pills to remedy the "symptoms" is because they never dealt with the root cause of their ailment in the first place?

Merely cheating and throwing in the happy chemicals into your brain does NOT fix your life. In fact it makes it harder to fight off the depression and it will always come back because you refuse to deal with it face to face, and instead choose to cheat and pop pills to pretend you are happy for just one more day...

Have you even read through half the pages in this thread? I recommend that you do so you will find your answers.

I have not been diagnosed with depression once in my life. I don't need a doctor to tell me what I feel and why. I don't need a medical degree to realize that something is wrong in my head and it affects everything I do, think, and feel.

I am still an adolescent at 18 years old, so I know my emotions will be eratic, but sometimes I feel like I am even more so down the dark road of depression than a lot of people my age. I am bashful yet respectful, knowledgable and aware. I have embraced the fact that I am an emotionally-charged individual and my thoughts run my life, but that only makes it that much harder to live my life to the fullest when I do feel down in the dumps.

I have suffered from depression on and off for several years, namely due to my mental-growth in adolescence; however, recently I have been pushed so far over the edge of severe depression that I attempted suicide twice and told no one about it. Not a single person. I went on with my life, depressed and feeling alone. And what caused this?

Myself. My thoughts. My inability to cope with the loss of a loved one, someone I held more dearly than anyone else that has ever been in my life thus far. Moreover it was the utter betrayal that loved one brought about out of the blue. That loved one tried, honestly tried, to get me to commit suicide by using my trust in said loved one against me, and they almost succeeded.

And the worst part is... that person is still a loved one, and the fact that she is depresses me further. I am at the crossroads, about to begin a new chapter in the novel that is my life, but the author is either on coffee break or has a severe case of writer's block because nothing is being written. I go on each day doing the same thing, watching as my life passes me by. I am stuck in my own world, I am the prisoner of my own mind.

And yet I refuse to take any sort of medication.

Though I feel broken down to the foundation of my being, the one thing that keeps me going is my will to carry on. That... and the fear of leaving this world and realizing there is nothing else thereafter.

I am not on the brink of suicide any longer, though things look grim nevertheless; but I guess a rose in the midst of wilted weeds is still a beautiful sight to see.

I need help, but I am not asking for it. I know what I need, but I am not looking for it. I know this is not a healthy way to live, but I cannot help it.

Depression is my prison and I have been an inmate for far too long.

reply to post by atlguy


Both of you are right and wrong.

sarKOY-
Certain situations DO require a supplement of some sorts ( ie-drugs). EXAMPLE- You were born with an abnormal sequence of DNA (hereditary), your brain/body cannot produce a certain chemical, thus you have to take a supplement to make a certain chemical compound to achieve the desired effect. ( Alas, this statement is also not entirely correct but to explain has the potential to derail this thread)

altguy-
My two cents on this so-called 'Change' cure-all.
Changing one's job, home, relationship, lifestyle, etc... CANNOT and WILL NOT work as long as you have the same frame of mind/thought process. PERIOD.

I just 'c&p' my post from a previous thread that relates to this one-


www.abovetopsecret.com...

[QUOTE]
Very interesting.

Reading the OP and the other post above, one thing keeps coming to mind. As for myself, I'm an ex-addict of alcohol and 'Recreational' drugs.(addict, ex-addict? please no comments on my terminology). If you substitute your perscription medication with any illicit substance, ( i.e.- coc aine, meth, heroein, etc.) and your doctor with 'Drug dealer', what does this senario sound like now? I see no difference whatsoever.

Granted, there are medical issues involved. As explained to me by my sister, who has a PhD in Clinical Phsycology and a BA in Veterinary Science ( I know, try and figure that out ), our thought processes, reactions, emotions, etc, are nothing but chemical reactions produced from our brain.

Now, when these specific chemical 'valves' get stuck open, shut or just not enough either way, the chemical reaction changes thus producing an undesireable effect. Okay, that's how the brain works in a nutshell. ( no pun intended )

Phsycology relies on the belief that there are multiple ways that your brain can produce these certain chemicals and the trick is to find an alternative route for a said chemical reaction to produce a desired effect. Let me try to give an example, let'say as in the OP's case that your always depressed but you really enjoy apples. Your brain is producing the correct amount of certain chemicals for for the feeling of enjoyment for an apple. A Phsycologist is going to try and train your brain to think apples when the urge of depression arises.

Now Phsychitry(?) on the other hand, figures that if your brain isn't producing enough or producing too much of a certain chemical for a desired reaction, you can juct induce the chemical thru the body to react or counter-react with the oither chemicals involved.

Now the MD doctor, I feel should not even get involved when it comes to phsycological events since he's trained mainly in the body and not the mind. Why go to a mechanic if your computer needs fixed.

Hopefully with all this you can grasp at what is going on with our brains. Now to get back on track with my train of thought-

If you take any external source of 'additives' to produce a desired effect, your brain will eventually find that it does not need to even try to produce certain chemicals, which is an effort, because they are already there.( Universal Law: path of least resistance ). When you deplete this external source, guess what? You're an Addict! Such a nasty word. Your brain hasn't even tried to produce this certain chemicals for so long that it has pretty much forgot how. Since its had not needed a supply for demand, that recipe was sent to the archives.

In response to this, your desired effect is lacking something. Do you know what this is? Withdrawal. All is not lost, our brain is a remarkable phenonomon of a biological piece of equipment! It knows how it should function and will never lose it's original programming. It's just hasn't had to do much lately and gotten lazy.

Now the hard part. Tuning up the brain to run smoothly again. This is done by a multitude of ways as mentioned above and I'm sure to follow (nobody's brought up the 'Have Faith' method yet ) and I don't perscribe that one way is better than another for the simple reason that your brain is producing its own chemical reaction that are different from mine.

I know the journey all too well. I hope that this can help all that are confused (Is that a chemical reaction?) on the 'What the heck is going on with me' syndrome. Good luck and 'HAVE FAITH!' in yourself.
[END QUOTE]

I have been able to cure all of my depression through cognitive therapy...

Just saying.....