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The Depression Thing

zachholman.com

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Re: The Depression Thing

#51

Post by owebmaster »

SonicSoul wrote: post #35
iamleppert wrote: post #31

If we're supposed to be happy all the time, why are there so many sad songs? Seriously though it irritates me how people have been brainwashed to think depression is somehow abnormal. Here's something I've learned in life: Depression exists for a reason. There have been times in my life that I've been very depressed. Sometimes it was due to some event that happened but more often it was pretty random. During these pe…

It's pretty sad when my friend tells me his doctor diagnosed him with a lack of something in his brain where only way to go is anti depressants for the rest of his life. He didn't even suggest aerobic exercise or diet, nope straight to prescription drugs. I'm not a doctor but based on my experience with depression and health, lifeStyle is so much more important than drugs no matter which disease you have or don't hav…

And the most depressing thing about this is that people with depressions don't wanna hear that their solution is so simple as diet, exercises and lifestyle. Depression comes with existencial crisis and (ironically) excess of entitlement so people think their situation is different, is biological, pathological, spiritual...

Re: The Depression Thing

#52

Post by owebmaster »

DanBC wrote: post #40
SonicSoul wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty sad when my friend tells me his doctor diagnosed him with a lack of something in his brain where only way to go is anti depressants for the rest of his life. He didn't even suggest aerobic exercise or diet, nope straight to prescription drugs. I'm not a doctor but based on my experience with depression and health, lifeStyle is so much more important than drugs no matter which disease you have or don't hav…

What your friend deserves is evidence based treatment. For depression that's a talking therapy (CBT), maybe combined with meds. The evidence for exercise as a treatment for depression is poor. http://www.cochrane.org/CD004366/DEPRESSN_exercise-for-depre... > Exercise is moderately more effective than no therapy for reducing symptoms of depression. > Exercise is no more effective than antidepressants for reducing symp…

Ex-depressed people that got out of it with exercises are a better reference than this "studies". Even more when you compare with depressed people currently taking drugs.

Re: The Depression Thing

#53

Post by taurath »

ElatedOwl wrote: post #15

I was diagnosed with "major depression" when I was 14, did the medication and therapy thing for a bit but the medication made me a zombie. Therapy helped me learn to cope a little better, but I was never "cured" of my depression. My 20s have been pretty bad, but in the last year and a half I've lost 100+lbs and have been running and lifting. It turns out the common sense advice to depression was really what I needed…

All along, or after 10 years of physiological/mental changes from your 20s? Just because it takes when you're 30 doesn't mean it would have taken in your 20s.

Re: The Depression Thing

#54

Post by owebmaster »

gblain23 wrote: post #11

Cutting gluten out of my life basically "cured" my depression, which sounds crazy, since it is just something I'm eating... I'm not allergic, but probably intolerant. I ate wheat for most of my life. I'm pretty sure it is related to inflammation, and how eating wheat products probably screwed my digestion up. I also rarely get sick anymore. Not trying to suggest that medicine, therapy, etc. does or does not work, jus…

> Not trying to suggest that medicine, therapy, etc. does or does not work, just that there may be some other things that people can consider and experiment with.

Why not suggest this? It is so funny to see people been so skeptical about religion and always so believer in anything called science.

Re: The Depression Thing

#55

Post by DanBC »

Domenic_S wrote: post #25

Meta (sorry mods, feel free to delete): Is anyone else getting insta-downvoted on every comment?

I don't know why all of your comments are getting heavily downvoted. You're making reasonable points, politely. I've upvoted them.

Re: The Depression Thing

#56

Post by SnowingXIV »

ElatedOwl wrote: post #15

I was diagnosed with "major depression" when I was 14, did the medication and therapy thing for a bit but the medication made me a zombie. Therapy helped me learn to cope a little better, but I was never "cured" of my depression. My 20s have been pretty bad, but in the last year and a half I've lost 100+lbs and have been running and lifting. It turns out the common sense advice to depression was really what I needed…

It's also a viscous cycle once you stop doing these things. I had everything going well for me, but then a bunch kinda blew up at once and I stopped eating healthy, quit working out, and was losing sleep because I was trying to solve all these other problems and felt those things were pointless. "Oh, I can't get in the mindset to lift today I'm too stressed out and depressed/hopeless." That led me from only skipping a few days to skipping months.

I ended up going into some escapism mentality where if I'm not working I'm going to play video games/watch TV. It was a terrible rut until one morning I looked in the mirror and realized I'm letting life slip away. I'm not growing (well at least not in the productive way). Mind you most of those "explosive" problems were solved, but I wasn't. I freaked out, threw on some gym clothes, went to the gym, and ran. I don't even know what I was running toward. But I was running. I began lifting again, doing meal prep, back to studying, programming pet projects, reading, and it all came together.

It can hit you in waves, but one of the best ways to keep your head above water is to make sure those three things ElatedOwl mentioned are in check.

Re: The Depression Thing

#57

Post by owebmaster »

dogruck wrote: post #2

My view is that depression is a treatable medical illness. I've never been depressed, but I've lost friends to depression. Edit: to the down voters, I'm not implying it's any easier than, say, beating cancer.

> Edit: to the down voters, I'm not implying it's any easier than, say, beating cancer.

It for sure is and a lot less damaging. Only depressed people that can't pull themselves out of it think it's not, because they are depressed. Childish behavior frequently comes together with depression. I've been there, fixed it without meds, and would never freak my brain chemistry to not feel depressed with the shits of my life. Depression is a EVOLUTION trait. Get over it.

Re: The Depression Thing

#58

Post by Tushon »

owebmaster wrote: post #52
DanBC wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What your friend deserves is evidence based treatment. For depression that's a talking therapy (CBT), maybe combined with meds. The evidence for exercise as a treatment for depression is poor. http://www.cochrane.org/CD004366/DEPRESSN_exercise-for-depre... > Exercise is moderately more effective than no therapy for reducing symptoms of depression. > Exercise is no more effective than antidepressants for reducing symp…

Ex-depressed people that got out of it with exercises are a better reference than this "studies". Even more when you compare with depressed people currently taking drugs.

"Anecdotal data is better than a study" ... that's a big agree to disagree.

Re: The Depression Thing

#59

Post by AlwaysRock »

ElatedOwl wrote: post #15

I was diagnosed with "major depression" when I was 14, did the medication and therapy thing for a bit but the medication made me a zombie. Therapy helped me learn to cope a little better, but I was never "cured" of my depression. My 20s have been pretty bad, but in the last year and a half I've lost 100+lbs and have been running and lifting. It turns out the common sense advice to depression was really what I needed…

I can't support this enough. I'd add laying off alcohol. I haven't been diagnosed with depression but I can get in a serious funk if I haven't been exercising, sleeping enough, eating right, or if I've been drinking too much. Again this isn't a one size fits all cure for depression but it's worth a shot.

Re: The Depression Thing

#60

Post by marojejian »

Understandably, these threads are full of anecdotal cases of effective depression treatments. But why should we assume the there is is a one-size fits all treatment (or even 3)?

I think depression is akin to a common error code in the mind (and maybe body too). If the mind is at least as complicated as the biggest program we can imagine, why should we imagine one thing will likely fix this problem?

This is like suggesting the same code would always fix a given common error.

It seems more likely to me that there are many causes of depression. While there will be many commonly effective treatments, they will vary based on context. Sometimes the effective treatment will be very specific / personal.

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