Generally just hanging about with people helps me loose track of tme and forget things. Spose thats just me.
Count, I think we're talking about clinical depression, the kind that wears down your soul and eats at your self worth. Not the kind that you can get over with a few beers...
Check out the book "Natural highs" by Patrick Holford. Has a lot of great information.. can show you what to do with diet, lifestyle, and supplementation to help your brain chemistry along without subjecting yourself to downregulation and dependence. Jack
Running seems to produce a natural high. I think it's something to do with endorphins and stuff. It was hard to get started though, as my motivation was at an all time low (I experience avolition as a negative symptom of schizophrenia. It's fairly pointless to ask where the schizophrenia ends and the depression starts. It's a bloody mess, basically.)
http://www.mcmanweb.com/article-15.htm http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsSupplements/Omega3FattyAcidscs.html Maybe
I've had the misfortune to suffer from 'proper' depression a couple of times, most recently last summer. It's a lonely, lonely thing, and as much as people tell you they understand, they don't unless they've been there. St Johns Wort as mentioned previously is a well-known herbal helper, but it can make you feel worse (it did for me). The trick for me was just constantly occupying my mind. My depression was brought on via anxiety from a health scare, and I could think about literally nothing else from the moment I woke until I went to sleep. I remember having things like puzzle books with me constantly, to occupy my brain. Get up and out though, force yourself to do something, even just a 30 minute walk around the block. It gives your brain something to do (even if it isn't much), helps with your natural endorphines, and if nothing else kills half an hour. I was on very mild anti-depressants (the same dose given to kids to stop them wetting the bed), but found that once I was getting better, they were keeping me groggy in the mornings and making me feel worse.
Exactly! Pet hate of mine is people saying they are depressed when what they really mean is they are having a bad day/week and just feeling a bit down about it! It’s not the same thing people! :bang: :bang:
For me, its Sex, Coke, Booze and lots of partying. Obviously it doesnt work, but what you going to do?
You're right there (for once ) There's a big difference between feeling down, and depression. Depression is one of the most over used words in the dictionary. And over diagnosed too. All you have to do to get a few weeks off work is go to the doctors, explain you're feeling down, and bam, you're depressed - a couple of months off work and a bottle of pills. :Alien:
Feeling down is just that, you feel down. You feel tired, lethargic and ****ed off. You get over it pretty quickly and go back to normal. Being depressed is completly different. You feel there is no hope, no way to get better. You are in a hole of dispaire that you cant climb out of. You know how to fix yourself, but dont know how. Its a complete paradox. There are always ways to fix depression. Though, the depressed person is the last person to know how to do it. Maybe they are drinking too much, because they are deperessed, and are in fact causing a worse spiral. Now they are getting sick, weak, and unable to change. That is what depression is in my book, the inability to change.
All part of the Whine Culture we seem to be seeing far too much of these days. Funny how every second person you meet is "depressed", but manages to cheer themselves up whenever they feel like.
Well, when I was in my angsty, emo teen phases, I just went into a room, threw a tantrum, cried, whatevers, got tired, fell asleep, and then woke up feeling refreshed and new. (I don't like having other people know when I'm sad, so I take care of it myself in the privacy of my room.) Letting out your frustrations is good! And it's better to get it done quicker so you can get over it and move on, since there are lots of other things to do. Take care to anyone whose been feeling down!
I have bipolar disorder which includes serious depression. The psychiatrist put me on depakote, lexapro, and risperdal. Depakote is a mood stabalizer, lexapro is an antidepressant, and risperdal is an antipsychotic and antimanic. I now refuse to take my antidepressant and antipsychotic so I'm only on depakote. I feel the effects of coming off the other two but I'm faster in the head for it.
Things that work for misery Exercise Socialisation Going to the movies....doing all the things that you normally enjoy However - these do not work terribly well for depressive illness For depressive illness/clinical /major depression Antidepressants and sometimes other meds, especially if you are 'treatment resistant' Psychological treatments - the ones that have the most evidence are cognitive behavioural therapy; interpersonal therapy (if you are in the USA); problem solving (if you are in the UK) A/Ds are widely available and easy to access. However, they don't address in themselves any problems that may have lead to the depression. For most people the treatmetns are more or less equivalent in terms of efficacy - which means in clinical trials, mabe a 75% chance of benefit. In real life, it's nearer 55-60%. Google National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence for a review of evidence.
