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One Road Out of Depression

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Re: One Road Out of Depression

#81

Post by Mz »

rickdale wrote: post #65

I am going to suggest something that is not usually suggested. But I have seen it work wonders. Find a place where it is legal, and grow marijuana. If it suits you, smoke it, but ultimately start a garden and grow the plant. People refer to the medicinal values of marijuana, but the one fact that is scientifically proven that is often left out is that having a garden and working in a garden is good for your mental he…

FYI: It is still illegal at the federal level. This is causing all kinds of headaches for people growing it legally as part of a medical marijuana business (such as difficulty getting a bank account). So, this advice is not good advice anywhere in the US.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#82

Post by at-fates-hands »

agumonkey wrote: post #35
at-fates-hands wrote: post #29

My "road out" was pretty severe. I had to move on from my social group who were not healthy (some of my closet friends at the time), I stopped drinking and partying entirely, I started working out, and started to plan out my goals for the next two years. I completely closed ranks on my life - which was a major decision and started from scratch again. Probably the hardest decision I've ever made. Two years of being cl…

> I had to move on from my social group who were not healthy (some of my closet friends at the time), I stopped drinking and partying entirely, I started working out, and started to plan out my goals for the next two years. I suppose you mean closest. Even though closet could explain depression too. It's far from easy to express yourself [1] in your traditional circles when the inner self distance is very large. I sp…

yeap one "s" can change the whole meaning right?

Thanks for the good laugh this afternoon.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#83

Post by rickdale »

rickdale wrote: post #65

I am going to suggest something that is not usually suggested. But I have seen it work wonders. Find a place where it is legal, and grow marijuana. If it suits you, smoke it, but ultimately start a garden and grow the plant. People refer to the medicinal values of marijuana, but the one fact that is scientifically proven that is often left out is that having a garden and working in a garden is good for your mental he…

Apparently people failed to read in my initial comment, "Find a place where it is legal".

Also, not sure why there is opposition. But for the banking, places are figuring that out, and its totally legal to recoop costs from YOUR patients in plenty of states, just can't sell to everybody.

One more note: Obama< "If another state passes legalization, prohibition won't be an option."

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#84

Post by rickdale »

rmwaite wrote: post #77
rickdale wrote: post #65

I am going to suggest something that is not usually suggested. But I have seen it work wonders. Find a place where it is legal, and grow marijuana. If it suits you, smoke it, but ultimately start a garden and grow the plant. People refer to the medicinal values of marijuana, but the one fact that is scientifically proven that is often left out is that having a garden and working in a garden is good for your mental he…

Just want to say, this is terrible advice. If only because marijuana is illegal in most states. I can buy the gardening advice, but I would suggest something legal.

Not true. 25 States and DC currently have medical marijuana laws AND more to come after today.

http://medicalmarijuana.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourc...

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#85

Post by bpchaps »

chrisper wrote: post #47
curun1r wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> that I couldn't WILL myself better (not for want of trying I can tell you). Trying to will myself better didn't work for me either. But medication made things so much worse. I was emotionally numb for a decade because I bought into the thinking that the medication was helping. It allowed me to get back to work, but I lost 10 years in the prime of my life that I'll never get back. Ironically, having so many regrets…

What did the people who told you to take the medication tell you about the issue of feeling numb?

I used to take lithium and brought up to my doctor that it destroyed my creativity, which affected my job. His answer was, "Then the medication is doing its job."

Psychiatry has been a very unempathetic field in my experience (across 4-5 doctors), so a "deal with it" response would be unsurprising.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#86

Post by rednerrus »

balabaster wrote: post #46
petercooper wrote: post #7

My "road out" was having kids and taking on a lot of responsibility (both family and business). It's worked for 7 years now and I've never felt happier and mentally healthy, even if I am super busy and under a lot of pressure :-) I never thought I'd be the sort of person to thrive on pressure but it turns out I am.

I've taken this path of distraction for most of my life... It's presently as bad as it's ever been... I'm currently of the mind that the only way to cure it is to stop running and face it head on. Rip out everything that triggers it, rip out every source that adds to it. I understand that there is an element of brain chemistry that is presently considered the root cause of depression. I'm of the mind that this chemic…

Try starting with something simple, like 15 pushups a day.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#87

Post by crispweed »

I experienced some depression, as a teenager, and remember eventually finding a kind of 'logical' (or perhaps 'philosophical') way out of it.

A key part of this was that, for me, depression is linked to lack of purpose. So there was this question hanging over me, 'what is the purpose of it all'. Well the answer to that question was then essentially 'why are you asking?'.

Putting it less glibly, if you are unhappy about your life, and need some purpose, then introspection about your unhappiness (exactly what are you unhappy about?) can be a way to find for yourself a kind of implied purpose.

And then, another part of it was the realisation that depression can actually make you more powerful, in some ways. To explain this a bit more, if you find yourself in a state where you are not so much able to be motivated by simple desires, then you are also not constrained by them. So, you are able to do do/achieve things that you might not normally be able to do, because you would get bored, for example, or be distracted by the need to do things that make you happy.

And I kind of liked the idea, and aesthetic, of 'just getting your head down and moving stolidly forward'. And, 'if you can't find something to do that will make you happy or interested, maybe you are then free to do something that is right'.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#88

Post by manmal »

There's lots of good advice here already - let me add one, for the supplement lovers: Find a good probiotic and run with it for a few months. You might feel some benefits for mood after only a couple days. I've tried a lot of supplements in the last few years (any kind of vitamin, and some broadest-band multivitamins, even methylation stuff like Methyl-B12, Folate, active B6) - but the only ones that really made an impact were probiotics. My favorite probiotics are Mutaflor and Prescript Assist, both costing ~€1 per day - but they are so worth it. Call me a lunatic, but they affect my mood in different ways. Mutaflor makes me grateful for things, and P.A. gives me focus and a sense of purpose in life.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#89

Post by swimorsinka »

Author here. Thanks for all the comments, I'm surprised to see so much interest here on Hacker News. I figured this would be one of my posts that collected dust.

For the record, my way out of this happened to be psychological, but that doesn't mean I'm against medication. It just didn't happen to be my experience, so I can't comment on it. I try to avoid topics I don't know anything about.

Re: One Road Out of Depression

#90

Post by marxidad »

costcopizza wrote: post #74
mistermann wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, so are you saying it is or is not a chemical imbalance?

I think depression is a beast with many intersecting roads. The chemical imbalance seems like it could be more the result of something than the root cause.

Even if that is the case, if the root cause is just some triggering event, then the chemical imbalance can still remain even if the cause is no longer present.
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