Understanding https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases will alleviate your anxiety/depression
Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
151–160 of 281 posts
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
But drugs are awesome :D Completely depends on the drug, person and context. The painkillers when I dislocated my shoulder and they had to reset it? Wonderful. The antidepressants that after several weeks (so once they'd started "working properly"), made me feel "not unhappy" but like a robot and then also gave me vivid, real nightmares in which I died horribly over and over again? Not so great... I'd never touch ant…
Yet your experience doesn't necessarily match the experience of everyone. It's just a anecdotal to say that your issues with anti-depressants (all of which work differently on different people; even drugs within the same "family") are the same for everyone as it is to invalidate someone else's depression with some BS "I was depressed once, but I pulled myself up by the bootstraps and got better, so that's what everyo…
I think what they're saying is: "side effects are real"
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#153This is a terrible article that completely treats depression as the fault of the individual. Pretty irresponsible frankly.
The way I got out of those sorts of issues was by noticing that the medical system is inadequate. It is geared towards hiding symptoms with drugs - to get people back into work, even if those people are a mess inside. It's all down to personal responsibility. You have to find the drive inside to constantly push. To forget the victim mentality that society encourages. To fix one problem at a time. To fight the hellish…
Honestly that is lot of BS. I get what your saying to a point, but I have never used my depression as an excuse to dismiss any of my normal duties, and I think it's pretty bad that you would assume many would.
By all accounts I have a great life, I have friends that have been with me for over 20 years, have a wife who by all my accounts is the greatest person in the world, have an amazing job that I completely love going to every day. I'm truly blessed with what I have, and could never argue otherwise.
I am a diagnosed manic depressive and I treat it like alcoholism. You're not going to see an alcoholic stand up in an AA meeting 20 years later and say "I'm not an alcoholic anymore". I treat depression the same way, you have to confront it head on each day and admit what is happening to you mentally. 10 years from now, 20 years from now, whenever. The great irony of that is that alcoholism is recognized as a disease where this article is arguing that depression isn't the same.
You can have the best life, the best people in it and still want to top yourself. To "fight the hellish mode" is such a radical oversimplification it's comical. I seriously have some of the best and most longstanding relationships with my friends that makes it most people jealous. Most people don't understand how a group of people could still be with each other after 20+ years. Yet I'm still depressed every day. It's never going away, it will always be there no matter what I do. To characterize that as victimization or lack of effort is exactly what leads people to kill themselves, because whats the point after honestly? You are literally saying their inability to foster positive relationships is what is the problem. Having nothing but positive relationships in my life I can tell you that's bullshit.
It's not interaction that fosters the problem, it's fucking depression, the disease. Get off you high horse or were going to have more Aaron Swartz's on our hands. The stigma is a 100% real, and garbage like this just makes people with depression feel more alienated.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#154Amen to this article. As one who myself once believed my depression "came out of nowhere" (but which, in retrospect, was an obvious symptom of my emotionally destructive family and school environment) and who tried for many years to smother those feelings with antidepressants, I feel strongly that this article presents a wiser path. Evolutionarily speaking, it seems likely that depression/anxiety are there for some p…
> Evolutionarily speaking, it seems likely that depression/anxiety are there for some purpose, and yet we treat them both like meaningless pain meant only to be banished using drugs. I believe both are signals that something in our environment is not working for us. They indicate emotional or physical needs unmet---needs for safety, autonomy, connection, etc. > Often the individual suffering is fundamentally unaware…
Therese are degrees of chronic pain. In its acute form painkillers are helpful. In its mild form there is always danger of suppressing a useful signal. The signal gives clues how small changes affect it allowing one eventually to find a remedy that works.
Similar with depression. Unless it is severe, it gives a hint to try to change something. Those changes can be really small, like getting enough sleep, or going to sea once in a while, or talking to an old buddy, or joining some volunteer activity. The key is to try and recognize the feedback that is impossible under antidepressants.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
The biggest issue I take with the article is a classic chicken and egg problem. The article takes the stance that your depression is there because of your life choices and some factors that aren't in your control. I'm of the very strong opinion that the exact opposite is true.
What really is the exact opposite here? That depression has nothing to do with your environment and only to do with your body?
> That depression has nothing to do with your environment and only to do with your body?
Yes. Exactly. And until you experience such a thing for yourself, or interact with someone like that you will 100% never believe it to be possible.
Yet it is.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#156> Or if you are outside for a long time in the cold with no jacket, upon feeling very cold, you don’t say that you have "a coldness disorder". A better example for anxiety or depression would be standing inside in a warm room, and despite everyone else in the room being comfortable, you are unable to warm up at all. When you complain, you are told that "everyone gets cold sometimes". This article doesn't seem to have…
The problem with using a purely neurochemical explanation like this is the rates of these disorders differ dramatically between societies and within societies geographically, demographically and over time. It is clear that the United States in particular is, especially in recent years, churning out unprecedented numbers of severely psychologically ill individuals. The idea this is solely due to previously undiagnosed…
> organic robots
Where does diabetes fall I to this argument? I'll concede that depression is frequently misdiagnosed, especially as a misdiagnosis for other conditions (e.g. MTHFR) and even more frequently as a self-misdiagnosis. However, this does not change the struggle of people who genuinely suffer from it.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Rofl! These are interesting points, and honestly, cause for deep thought. If these premises are sound, one might argue that a large part of the rise of clinical depression as the problem is presently constituted coincided with the phasing out of the so-called 'opium cure.' XD (I'm so not willing to commit to that position, but I mean, just looking at only those facts you've popped in right there, it sure looks like a…
If you're interested in studying the closest thing to it, look at the rise in popularity of Kratom, a Southeast Asian plant containing opioid alkaloids. It's commonly used by opiate addicts as a replacement therapy, and also by others as self-medication for anxiety, depression, and pain. I'm not recommending anyone try it... nobody's entirely sure if it's safe, or if it could function as a gateway drug to harder opia…
About three years ago I tried kratom and a few hours into it I decided to start an exercise habit and I haven't stopped. I should try kratom again some day.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#158Amen to this article. As one who myself once believed my depression "came out of nowhere" (but which, in retrospect, was an obvious symptom of my emotionally destructive family and school environment) and who tried for many years to smother those feelings with antidepressants, I feel strongly that this article presents a wiser path. Evolutionarily speaking, it seems likely that depression/anxiety are there for some p…
My favorite pet theory is that depression is the equivalent of autoimmune reaction for the brain. The same way we need some exposure to dirt to calibrate our immune system to not go berserk with some food allergies or lupus, probably we need something in our life to calibrate our brains' loopback feeds.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
each year 19,000 americans die from prescription opioid overdoses and another 10,000 die from heroin overdoses which often start with prescription opioid use. In my experience (as an anaesthesiologist), people who use opioids as a response to non-pain problems are some of the most miserable people there are. It might work for a couple of weeks, but soon you're tolerant, addicted, intermittently withdrawing and your l…
Saying that prescription opioid use is a cause of heroin overdoses ignores the fact that the reason people move to heroin is because of the paranoia about addiction which causes their prescriptions to be cut off in the first place. In the same vein (no pun intended) I've been looking for stats but not being able to find anything about what percentage of prescription opioid overdoses occur while the patient is being a…
> afraid they'll become addicted.
Someone who isn't addicted to highly addictive substances doesn't engage in risky behavior, disregarding consequences and their well-being, by seeking out undosed, more potent and potentially adulterated highly addictive street drugs.
Maybe their doctor has a valid concern. Opioids are rarely an effective treatment for non-cancer and chronic pain if taken regularly for a variety of reasons.
Ideally, if a doctor is going to stop refilling a prescription of an opioid addicted patient, they should be referred to appropriate services. Detoxification, pain management and mental health specialists should be all be involved for the patient's well-being. The patient should never be cut off cold-turkey like that.
Re: Anxiety and Depression Are Symptoms, Not Diseases
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
each year 19,000 americans die from prescription opioid overdoses and another 10,000 die from heroin overdoses which often start with prescription opioid use. In my experience (as an anaesthesiologist), people who use opioids as a response to non-pain problems are some of the most miserable people there are. It might work for a couple of weeks, but soon you're tolerant, addicted, intermittently withdrawing and your l…
Saying that prescription opioid use is a cause of heroin overdoses ignores the fact that the reason people move to heroin is because of the paranoia about addiction which causes their prescriptions to be cut off in the first place. In the same vein (no pun intended) I've been looking for stats but not being able to find anything about what percentage of prescription opioid overdoses occur while the patient is being a…
contrary to popular opinion these days, I think pain is undertreated and routinely so. quality of life should take priority over dependence concerns especially in the elderly.