Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's the easiest part technically.
Then you don't understand depression if you believe that
That's the typical response isn't it?
When You Are Depressed, Make Something
311–320 of 370 posts
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#312A lot of people have pointed out how real depression makes it difficult to do the very things that would help alleviate it. In some cases, medication can be the crucial tool that helps you escape this cycle. At the same time, I have mixed feelings about psychiatry. The field has done a lot of good, but I also can't help but feel that modern antidepressants are seriously lacking. They help some people, but they don't…
A bit of a digression, but possibly a useful one for anybody wondering if amphetamines or other drugs might be an easy panacea for depression. The answer may well be "yes, and then very much no."
I had my first (and so far only) ecstasy pill a year or so ago, and it was wonderful - lit my brain on fire, caused me to experience the best music festival I've ever been to, and gave me the kind of intense connection with my friends I'd been missing from years of crippling depression. The following week was hell, and caused slight but permanent damage to my family relationships. It took a couple more weeks to recover to even my low standard of 'normal'.
It was only later that I learned that ecstasy, amphetamines, LSD, and basically anything that acts on the seratonin system can cause severe depression lasting a week or more - and if you've already got depression, that can get really bad.
It's worth being careful with these things.
On the other hand - a similar experiment a couple of months later with a small dose of synthetic psilocybin yielded a week of the best mood I've been in for years, with no obvious side effects.
I'd love to see more research on these things. I'm probably not going to do much more research on it using my own brain ;)
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#313The accuracy of this struck a chord; when I was at my lowest point during depression one of the worst symptoms was that I no longer enjoyed what I thought I liked (making things, in my case particularly with tech).
What helped me slowly find my way out of that place was forcing myself to do those things regardless of whether I was perceiving enjoyment anymore + taking on a new hobby (coincidentally music). It took a lot of time but the things that made me enjoy it in the first place started to become more clear and I got over that slump, with a new interest to show for it.
The depression certainly hasn't disappeared completely but the fear of losing passion for certain things is more manageable given that I've gotten it back before. Not to minimize the negative impact of depression but the understanding of that fear has often pushed me harder towards progress than I would have pushed myself under normal circumstances.
Might not be the standard experience but this post still this resonated with me.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#314Bring nature to your own place, Thats what helps me. I do gardening to help myself. Just seeing them growing everyday, Give me some kinda of hope and makes me feel i'm not alone. Its so easy to start with and so rewarding, Just get some pots and soil and start planting your own vegetable or flowers! I promise you'll be happiest person on earth when your chilli fruits! You can try to make your own coffee/tobacco or me…
Heh. That's fine until the plants die :P Living things can be tricky sometimes.
It's good advice in general though. Having plants that depend on you to do something - even if that something is so simple as watering them - can mean the different between doing nothing on a day and doing one useful thing. And perhaps that one useful thing is enough to not have to write that day off as useless.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#315When you are depressed, see if there's a serious problem in your life that is causing you to be depressed and devote as much time and energy as you can muster towards exploring solutions to that problem, even if they entail dramatic life-changing decisions, because that's the kind of problem we're dealing with here. Examples of such problems: you hate your graduate program. You have no friends in your city and no ide…
I completely disagree with you. I believe you are describing solutions to problems that can make someone sad or frustrated, which is a fine thing. I'm all about being real about your life situation and doing something about it. However, depression is a disease independent of external factors. I had it when I had arguably one of the coolest jobs in my life up until that point. I treated it with medication, got out of…
"However, depression is a disease independent of external factors."
Blanket statements like this (and quite a few in the article too) should be suggestions at best. That might be your experience but it sure as hell isn't mine. I think we can agree to disagree on this and possibly recognize that depression is not a one size fits all disease. What works for you might not work for me. Thus presenting any analysis or solution as fact simply confuses people and can be quite dangerous. Presenting the chemical imbalance theory as fact is especially misleading and extremely dangerous. It's much harder to admit we know a lot less than we actually do, but it's also much more helpful.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#316Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sorry. I tried to be careful to say 'see if it's this' - I think people who have spent time depressed either completely agree with what I've said, or completely disagree. Probably there's two distinct things we're calling depression.
> Probably there's two distinct things we're calling depression. If you haven't been formally diagnosed, please for the love of god stop talking about "depression". You have no idea what it actually is.
Even a formally diagnosed depression can be many different things. Depression (in the formal and clinical sense) can have myriad causes, symptoms, and cures. Everyone who reads about any of these causes, symptoms, and cures needs to be aware that it may not apply to their specific depression. That doesn't mean we should stop talking about the various causes, symptoms, and cures that are out there, just because we fear giving someone with depression the wrong information.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it is a fact. If you actually spoke to people with depression you would know that. > Quantifying that nothing in someones life (or their past) is causing them sadness I didn't say sadness, I said depression. They are not the same. > This charade Wow. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you've never experienced depression, and don't know anyone with it. If that should change you'll quickly realize ju…
Because peoples interpretations of the situation are believable enough to call fact. Subjective interpretations are not reality. If you think they are then we dont have much to argue here. I have experienced depression for most of my adult life.
Is your username based on your depression?
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#318When you are depressed, see if there's a serious problem in your life that is causing you to be depressed and devote as much time and energy as you can muster towards exploring solutions to that problem, even if they entail dramatic life-changing decisions, because that's the kind of problem we're dealing with here. Examples of such problems: you hate your graduate program. You have no friends in your city and no ide…
> When you are depressed, see if there's a serious problem in your life that is causing you to be depressed You are under the common delusion that depression is caused by something in a person's life/environment. This is NOT TRUE! Depression is often caused by nothing whatsoever. Someone is simply depressed with absolutely no reason at all. Depression that is caused by something is not strictly depression, it is a se…
> "Depression is often caused by nothing whatsoever.
I don't agree or like that statement. You're alluding to something approaching a faith-based illness, whereby you fight against anyone looking for causes, insisting there is no cause. "It just is".
But that doesn't fit with what we know about how stuff works in this universe. If the brain is not functioning as it should regardless of good life circumstances including health, family, lifestyle, then something is definitely causing that malfunction. Don't shoot down someone looking for causes to a problem.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#319When you are depressed your reward seeking behavior (dopamine) basically shuts down so it's really hard to get excited and do something.
Re: When You Are Depressed, Make Something
#320I have decades of experience with depression. Two insights have helped greatly. One was noticing how I'm typically either on an upward emotional spiral, or a downward emotional spiral. Maybe that's because I'm bipolar. Anyway, as the article argues, I've found that it helps to make things. Or more generally, to accomplish things. That's often enough to put me back on an upward spiral.
In saying "accomplish things", I'm not focusing on the issue(s)/problem(s)/etc that triggered the downward spiral. Those are often too difficult. Rather, I find it useful to accomplish something that's easy, and enjoyable. Sometimes that does involve making something, manually. Cooking. Repairing stuff. Whatever.
The other insight is that emotions reflect what I'm thinking about. Part of a downward spiral is thinking about what went wrong, how I screwed up, etc. And also, thinking about all the previous times I've failed, what's wrong with me, and how it's hopeless.
So I've trained myself to notice when I'm doing that. And now, that awareness always brings a smile to my face. Because it's funny how someone would get into such a stupid loop. Often there are epithets that come with that, classics involving Jesus, chain-link fences, and razor wire ;)